Shhh... Secret Squirrel

To celebrate Christmas and everyone leaving for the holidays, The Monkey's household organised a Christmas dinner with wine, food, and a Secret Santa arrangement. (photos available) Roberto the Italian gave me a backpack with the price inside.

By the way, a tip for playing Secret Santa with people you don't know: make sure everyone agrees on what is to be kept secret and why. mumble mumble.

Also, Italian olive oil smells like Play-Doh; British olive oil doesn't smell like anything.

My work also threw a Christmas party with a Secret Santa draw—it was a drunken blast. I heard that the bar tab last year was around £15,000 (remember, my company has well under 50 employees). It was nice to talk to some of the people outside my little room.

Someone got me a fake beard and a Ming the Merciless t-shirt. Awesome.

Oh, and one more Secret Santa note: the cheesy Christmas special movie I watched on television today—Flight of the Reindeer—had an orignal US title of The Christmas Secret, and told of a scientist researching how reindeer can fly. (hint: it has to do with the power of believing)

Update 03/01/2006: I've uploaded a few photos of the flat celebration to Flickr.