Pam Unexpected: The Work Christmas Party

When I think of Christmas the first things that come to mind are Christmas trees, carols, snow, Santa... you get the idea. So as the work Christmas party approached, that's what I had in mind, minus the snow of course. Well they do things a little differently down under. Apparently when they think of Christmas the first thing that comes to mind is costume party. In America we call that Halloween, but hey, who am I to judge?

Each year for the work Christmas party there is a theme and people go all out for it. This years theme was 'Nautical'. Brilliant! That's right up my alley. The funny thing is, last Halloween me and my girlfriend Nicole dressed up as sailors for Halloween. Unfortunately that costume is currently buried somewhere in my storage unit.

Now, what does nautical have to do with Christmas, you ask? That is a very good question. The answer is, absolutely nothing. But hey, it's Sydney, it's summertime and it's hot, so you just go with it.

Since Halloween isn't really a big deal here (I had no idea that Halloween was such an 'American' thing until I moved here) I was pretty excited to get a costume for a costume/Christmas party. The party was right after I got back from the states for Thanksgiving so I didn't really have much time to pull a creative costume together. And by not much time I mean I bought an outfit the morning of the party. It all came together at the end and I was sailor/captain of sorts.

The party was in Sydney CBD at a bar with a large outdoor space so a majority of the party was outside. The weather was great and it started in the evening so it wasn't too hot. It was so much fun seeing everybody I worked with in all of their creative outfits. The theme 'nautical' is pretty loose so there was everything from pirates, sailors, mermaids, Captain Jack Sparrow, and even Sponge Bob.

At this point I've been in Sydney for about four months. It was amazing to see how many people I really have connected with from both offices and how I've really made this my temporary home. It was a great party, in true Pam fashion I buzzed about and chatted the night away. The company had an after party planned for us at another bar so we all flowed over there to dance, dance, dance!

The night went by in a blink, and I enjoyed every minute of it! Just the beginning of my Aussie Christmas experience.