No Star Trek References

And so it begins.

For most people, the Christmas season starts the moment the last witch's head is packed away and all the pumpkins have been reduced to a puddle of orange goo that nobody wants to clean up. But for me, the official kickoff to the season is the moment we get receive our annual box of See's candy from our Department Director.

I hesitated to write about this, because I know that some of you do not receive such extravagant benefits from your employer, and will immediately petition your congressman to raise taxes so that those of us who wallow in the chocolate-covered opulence of corporate largess will be forced to share our candy with illegal aliens. Well, I say that while ALF and ET and all those big-eyed Roswellians might be cute and funny, I don't want to give them my dadgum chocolate.

I realize that some employers believe that things like recognizing and rewarding performance, respecting personal time, and promoting career development are enough to keep employees happy. But me? I prefer an annual box of candy.

OK, so here's my plan: I'll eat one piece of candy each evening until the box is empty. I'll choose the day's morsel at random, take time to fully savor the taste, and then will write about the experience in this space. That way, I'll have topical material to fill a daily blog through New Years, and will have a delightful holiday treat to enjoy as a nightcap after every dinner for the rest of the month.

Exciting, isn't it?

And I plan to enjoy this box o' chockies as if it were the last one on the planet. For the sad fact of the matter is that it might as well be just that. You see, we had a meeting with our Department Director earlier this week, and she announced that our annual tradition of a department luncheon and gift of candy is a tradition destined for deletion. Next year's budget, she said, will allow for one or the other -- either the luncheon or the candy box. And since she feels that social interaction within the group is more important than take-home deliciousness, she's planning to keep the lunch. Ugh.

Of course, it'll be a moot question for several of the folks in our group. She also mentioned that there will be significant layoffs in January.

Oh well, that won't stop me from enjoying my holiday season of daily taste treats. Yum. And you, my loyal readers, will be treated to a description of each nugget within the assortment.

Let us begin, shall we?

Chocolate number one: A rectangular-shaped, dark-chocolate-covered coconut piece. It tasted like, well...chocolate-covered coconut.

Hmm, perhaps I'm not cut out for writing on the gourmet beat. I don't have all that much to say about choco-1, really. It was good. What else can I say?

Oh well, maybe tomorrow's piece will generate multiple paragraphs of flowery prose, and I'll wax poetic from dawn until dusk. Tune in to see. And in the meantime, have a great day!