We already have the office party on our calendar for December, how about you? Sometimes this event is a potluck, sometimes there’s a ‘Secret Santa’ gift exchange involved, sometimes there are cocktails involved.

How do you navigate this road full of potential etiquette potholes? I’ll share a few mistakes I don’t want to make again:

Don’t miss the office party. I know many folks that don’t do parties well, and simply prefer to avoid the experience. The holiday party should never be required attendance, but I definitely believe that if at all possible, you should make an appearance at the holiday party. It shows that you are a team player, and that you are trying to fit in with the team you work with during the day. One of the important reasons for the holiday party is to celebrate and strengthen team cohesion, and missing out on that puts you a step behind.

Don’t try a new recipe for the potluck.I’m no Martha Stewart – if you are, the rules are different. If it’s a potluck and you’re not a chef, get to the to-do list early! Volunteer to bring a dessert you can pick up from a local bakery or see if you can bring soda or the paper plates and napkins.

Secret Santa should not be extravagant nor too personal. Fast Company suggests that meaningful gifts are the best way to go for the office gift exchange. I often look around the counters at the bookstore and the Container Store.

Don’t talk too much about yourself. The most important phrase for you to remember might be “How about you?” If you find yourself stumbling for a way to explain how you are related to a certain cousin, you have said too much.

Don’t drink too much! Keep it to a minimum. Remember this is an opportunity to make a good impression, to learn more about your colleagues. Don’t drink so much that you will have trouble remembering what you talk about with your coworkers.

Spread some good cheer when given the chance, and you may find it catches on.

Happy holidays, and a prosperous new year to you!

I learned a long time ago that expectations can be real killers.

I’m not saying ‘aim low.’ My philosophy is about keeping an open mind. Too often we go into situations with a predetermined vision of how things should play out. When you hang on too tightly to a singular view of how your day should proceed, it becomes impossible to meet your expectations, only because none of us can tell the future.

I first came to this conclusion in college as my roommate and I bemoaned losing our boyfriends. These weren’t live-in boyfriends, and this wasn’t going to change our daily routine. When we broke down our feelings to the root, we realized that all things said and done, we had to repaint the picture of our future in our head. Tedious but not earth-shattering.

Had we left the future open to interpretation, there would have been much less stress involved in the breakups.

Some people I know map each day out in their head. More of us would envision how our wedding day or a birthday would go. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, but I warn you:
The more detailed your expectations, the easier it is to be disappointed. (And the harder it is to be pleasantly surprised.)

Free yourself from expectations. Que sera, sera – whatever will be, will be.

Being a Washingtonian means looking at the election in a very different way.

Our unique perspective, living all cozy up to the White House, means that we don’t crane our necks when a motorcade goes by, we just drum our fingers or thank goodness for an excuse to be five minutes late to our meeting.

But every four years things can change up. There are those of us who live here and there are some people who just work here. And for those who work ‘at the pleasure of the President,’ it will be sayonara in December. There are contractors that are already working hard on transition packages; these are instruction packets for the next team, whoever it may be. And for the first few months of 2009, even old Washingtonians will be craning their necks when the motorcade goes by, because it will look a bit different than W’s did.

One of the first things that changed when W. came into office was the license plate. He would not carry the “Taxation Without Representation” license plate on his limo. So when the Presidential limo dropped Clinton off at the Capitol, it had to swap license plates before George W would get into it. That was a big deal for some Washingtonians.

Something else changed when W came to town. The parties slowed down. Since W doesn’t drink, the parties went dry. As a result, the cabs had a lot less business.

Inauguration parties are coming, and everyone will be having one of those, whether they’re happy or sad about the outcome. Now we can’t even serve anything that requires a fork to a congressman, due to new ethics considerations. But I hope that doesn’t mean we can’t serve anything that requires a glass. I’m really hoping the parties increase in the next administration.