Decorations Hung by the Chimney with Care
By Jeff Moffitt
@moffittjc (128833)
Gainesville, Florida
December 7, 2015 5:24pm CST
As I was getting ready to head into work tonight, my boss texted me and said she wanted me to finish decorating the office with the holiday decorations, because we are expecting visitors from our corporate office tomorrow morning.
So I show up to work tonight, and there are literally 35 boxes full of holiday decorations sitting there waiting for me, and absolutely no direction as to how I should put any of it up.
I am not a decorator by trade. I'm not even a decorator by hobby. I'm a guy. About the best decorating I can do is to put up the lights on the outside of my house. How in the world do they expect me to put up 35 boxes of decorations? Boy, they are in for a rude awakening tomorrow!
Because I'm a dedicated employee, I will do my best to put together some type of decoration ensemble tonight. I can't promise it will look good, but I'll try!
Have you ever been asked to put up your office decorations? Or, are you good at decorating? I think I'm going to be in a lot of trouble tonight! lol
12 people like this
12 responses
@JudyEv (381960)
• Rockingham, Australia
8 Dec 15
Good luck with this. The trick is to greet anyone who comes in once you've finished with remarks such as 'doesn't it look great? I'm so proud of it. It took me hours but it was worth every minute, etc' Hopefully they won't want to burst your bubble and will go along with how lovely it looks.
2 people like this
@moffittjc (128833)
• Gainesville, Florida
8 Dec 15
As much as I was griping about having to decorate, I actually had fun doing it, and it turned out really beautiful (at least I think so!). I guess I'll find out in the morning how well everyone likes it!
3 people like this
@JudyEv (381960)
• Rockingham, Australia
8 Dec 15
@moffittjc Another accomplishment to add to your CV!
@moffittjc (128833)
• Gainesville, Florida
8 Dec 15
@JudyEv My list of accomplishments is growing! I should have a pretty good CV soon! Let's see, I can procrastinate very well; I can waste hours on the internet myLotting; I can clog toilets (don't ask); and I can lay on a couch for weeks on end recovering from surgery! I'm quite the well-rounded guy. A keeper, as the ladies would say!
2 people like this
@Poppylicious (11134)
• United Kingdom
8 Dec 15
We have advent calendars in our office. That's the extent of the decorations, although there is a tree in reception! You must post a photo of your decorating skills!
2 people like this
@moffittjc (128833)
• Gainesville, Florida
8 Dec 15
I am always the worst when it comes to taking photos! I always forget to take pictures! Maybe I'll remember to take a couple of photos next time I'm in the office!
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (128833)
• Gainesville, Florida
8 Dec 15
Do you still work at the pub? I need to come visit!
@Asylum (47893)
• Manchester, England
8 Dec 15
@moffittjc I retired from work 18 months ago and have not worked in the pub trade for over 20 years.
@moffittjc (128833)
• Gainesville, Florida
8 Dec 15
@Asylum That's too bad! I would have bought you a pint or ten!
@simone10 (54180)
• Louisville, Kentucky
12 Dec 15
@moffittjc That's great! I bet once you got over being overwhelmed, you had a lot of fun.
@moffittjc (128833)
• Gainesville, Florida
12 Dec 15
@simone10 Yes, I did have fun! I just thought, "what the heck, I might as well make the best of it!"
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (128833)
• Gainesville, Florida
8 Dec 15
I may have exaggerated a little bit on the number of boxes, but there were definitely a lot of them! But I got through it all, and the office really looked festive by the time I was done!
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (128833)
• Gainesville, Florida
7 Dec 15
Don't you want to come out of retirement and enjoy the start of another wonderful and lustrous career as a holiday decorator? I mean, think of all the fun you'll have putting up Christmas trees, stringing up the lights, hanging stockings and ornaments, and all the other fun stuff that comes with the job?
1 person likes this
@VivaLaDani13 (60812)
• Perth, Australia
26 Feb 17
@moffittjc I enjoy decorating. No matter what it is, I just love it. But I do get a bit overwhelmed if there are too many decorations because that means I have to try to pick a certain pattern or whatever. I get way too many ideas which can be hard to pick one and stick with it.
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (128833)
• Gainesville, Florida
27 Feb 17
If I have time to think it through, I can manage to come up with a plan to handle large amounts of decorations. But in this case, I had no notice that I was going to be asked to put up all the decorations, and I also had no time to think it through to come up with a plan. But I still somehow managed to make it all look nice.
1 person likes this
@hereandthere (45628)
• Philippines
8 Dec 15
so who decorated the office last year? hope you remember to take a pic.
@moffittjc (128833)
• Gainesville, Florida
9 Dec 15
Usually, we all work together to do it as a team, but this year we have been so busy that we haven't had time to all get together to decorate. They asked me to do it because they knew that I was probably going to have a slow night at work with very few customers.
1 person likes this
@garymarsh6 (23998)
• United Kingdom
8 Dec 15
I absolutely loathe this task. We only put up the decorations on Christmas eve thankfully not this early.
@moffittjc (128833)
• Gainesville, Florida
9 Dec 15
I usually will wait until the first weekend in December to put up decorations. Some people will put there's up right after our Thanksgiving holiday (end of November), and some people will even put up their Christmas decorations right after Halloween!
@Pattitude (1286)
• Newton, North Carolina
8 Dec 15
I have been asked to, in the past, but it always turned out to be a group effort.
@moffittjc (128833)
• Gainesville, Florida
8 Dec 15
At least you had help! Decorating is so much easier when you have a group of people to help. I had to do everything by myself tonight!
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (128833)
• Gainesville, Florida
9 Dec 15
I'll keep that in mind for next year, and I can invite you down to help with the decorations! lol
@moffittjc (128833)
• Gainesville, Florida
9 Dec 15
I moan and complain about it, but once I start I usually have a lot of fun doing it!
@1967Colt45 (8)
• Johnston, Rhode Island
8 Dec 15
Wow! That's a lot for your boss to ask of you! I'm happy to read that you ended up enjoying yourself and can be proud of the job you did. I agree with everyone though, wish you had a picture to post of the decorations or the 35 BOXES! How big is your office?! Way to go!
@moffittjc (128833)
• Gainesville, Florida
9 Dec 15
It's a big open office space. Actually, at this particular location there is a lobby area with four offices around it. I decorated the lobby area and the outside of each of the offices.
