Work From Home Couple

The holiday season is here. As much as you might wish otherwise, there is no avoiding it now. Halloween is gone, and so are the relaxing times of the year.

Thanks to the economy, this holiday season isn’t expected to be one of our merriest. And employers across the country are doing their part to help throw a little gloom our way, too. Sure, there’ll be the usual round of layoffs and the depressing news stories that follow, with employees shell-shocked that their companies would let them go during the holidays. But to make matters even worse, a growing number of employers are now cutting out their traditional holiday parties.

The Chicago-based outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas, recently reported that almost 25 percent of companies have decided not to hold holiday parties this year. That number was only at 10 percent last year. Happy holidays, everyone!

If you’re like me, you don’t necessarily view this as bad news. One of the benefits of working from home is that you don’t have to go to an office holiday party. Do you really want to spend an hour talking with your boss about how difficult it was to make plane reservations to Utah this year for his annual ski vacation? Do you want to hear the guy in the cubicle next door whine about how far the value of his 401(k) plunged this year? Or how about the worker on the floor below you who has already bought extra rolls of film so that she can snap photos of her children opening every single one of their presents this year?

And, worst of all, you might hear someone mention how you can’t say “Merry Christmas” anymore. Is there any worry on this earth of ours that is lamer than fretting over whether the Wal-Mart clerk says “Merry Christmas” or “Happy Holidays”? I mean, what that poor Wal-Mart clerk would probably rather be saying to her customers probably can’t be printed. It sure isn’t “Merry Christmas!”

The best holiday parties happen away from the office. They happen at home with your own family, or at a friend’s house, or even at a fancy restaurant. You can drape as much tinsel over your cubicle as you want. There’s still no such thing as Happy Holidays at the office.

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