Normally we're not that bad (two 5-to-7/happy hours a week, and the always beer on tap from the kitchen - gifts from our American and our Japanese beer accounts - that doesn't really count) , but this year there was this activity where each of the 12 teams in Creative would host a breakfast for the 11 others from 8h30 to 9h30 on the 12 last week days before the vacations. The first team put the bar very high for the food, but no booze. Our team replied the next day by pimping our food with mimosas, and a bottle of Bailey's for the coffee. It went seriously downhill from there.. by the end it had gone through pretty much the whole list of more and more breakfast-inappropriate spirits and classic cocktails (Granola, yogurt, fruits and a White Russian anyone?). The bosses were last and went all the way, with the kitschiest 70s' brunch they could come up with (think of those old Kraft booklets) which they served with... Single Malt Japanese whisky.

All that, plus a few lunches, the two bottles of wines everyone got as a gift (most of which ended up opened and shared at the end of a work day), the few actual parties... it's almost a relief it's all over, or so my liver claims.. It kept the worst of the heavy stress away, I must say.