So Cameron's work Christmas party was on Saturday. I wasn't sure what to expect, but usually at the very least the parties are an excuse to dress up! His first Christmas party with University of Phoenix was ok...just dinner at a nice hotel. There was dancing, but no one danced, everyone just sat around. The second year was better. Still a nice hotel, nice dinner, but they brought in a comedian, which was fun. We left before the dancing, because most people were leaving and based on last years experience no one remaining would. So with a new company, who knew what to expect?
Well the first difference was we received an actual invitation. This was a well thought out, multiple insters for different things, nice cardstock invitation. Impressive. But still could just be a nice dinner with "dancing" that no one would do. Well last week we received a huge gift basket in the mail, full of godiva chocolates and yummy cheeses and things of that nature. A nice perk. Then this past week, we learn that a contestant from American Idol is going to come and perform! Nice! This could turn out better than we thought!
So we get there last night, it's at a super nice hotel. We had received a raffle ticket so we could choose one of 25 prizes to be drawn later that night. The cheapest of the prizes was $100 with at least half of them well over that amount. There was also a raffle we were entered in to win a trip. Then they had photographers there taking pictures...and they were free! Nice matted pictures, not just flimsy photo paper (which is still fine, but we got more than I expected). Our photographer gave us 2 extra pictures to send to both of our parents, because I'm so hugely pregnant and she thought it was cute! All free. (Maybe I'm used to cheap things, but I couldn't get over it!) Then we had a great dinner with a nice program showing all the billions (yes billions) of dollars worth of projects that had been done over the past year. And oh yeah, bonus? They are changing their 401k match from 125% (awesome, we know) to 150%. Unheard of. Starting January. So then they announce the American Idol singer...it's Kristy Cook from this past season, she made it to the top 10! She was really good...much better in person actually! Then as a surprise, we had two of the dancers from Dancing with the Stars come! They danced and performed a few numbers for us. We also had retired 4 star generals there, one of whom who spoke, senators...and lots of bigwigs who work with the department of defense. All in all it was a fantastic night, people danced/moshed, it was hilarious to see professional adults moshing to Lady Gaga Poker Face! Someone proposed to his girlfriend on stage, which was fun, anniversaries and birthdays were celebrated. It was such a great evening, and such a great time to reflect on what a fantastic company Cameron works for and how lucky we are to not only have a job, but this one AND that Cameron loves it. We're so blessed! Plus I got to dress up again, and what's not to love about that?!
