The highlight of my evening was walking from Tuileries metro station along the rue de Rivoli (under the covered arcades) and up the rue de Castiglione to Place Vendôme where the party was. It was a cold, clear night and the Christmas lights and shop windows were dazzling.

As usual, I was the first to arrive. It should be known that Parisians are notoriously late. I think it’s called “fashionably late”. As for me, the invitation said “7 pm” so I was there at 7 pm. What’s more, we had all been given the wrong address. “It’s beside the Ritz Hotel at number 19 Place Vendôme,” we were told. I showed up, then, at this elegant building located in a lovely courtyard.

When I told the people at the door that I had arrived for the “soirée”, they didn’t know what I was talking about. When I gave them the name of the company I work for, they didn’t recognize it. In the end, it was sorted out and I was directed towards number 7. I warned them that they were about to receive over a hundred people, all showing up at the wrong address. Oh well, not to worry. Nothing that a glass of champagne can’t fix. I arrived at the venue, ditched my coat and headed straight for the bar.

“Une coupe de champagne, Madame ?”

“Mais oui !”

Now that’s what I call service. People started drifting in at around 7:45 pm. Due to Covid, it wasn’t a sit-down dinner but rather trays of “nibbles” served to us by waitstaff. Finger food, I guess you’d call it. Washed down with champagne à gogo. Here’s a colleague with a million dollar smile. I love her velvet dress.

Here’s me in my sparkly top that I bought specially for the occasion: Monoprix, 39 euros.

We chatted, ate and drank and then listened to the CEO’s Christmas speech. I left at around 11 pm. Taxis were available for us, but I jumped on the metro. When I got to the office this morning, the floor I work on was completely empty. I later learned they had all danced until 2:30 a.m. then took cabs to a nightclub at Place Pigalle and continued to dance until 4 a.m.

It was a quiet day at the office.