Christmas Memo

OUR office Christmas party used to start about eleven o'clock in the morning on December 24th. It always began when Charlie, in the office next to mine, tore the wrapping off a fifth (part of the loot his customers sent him every year), put a stack of paper cups on his desk, filled his water carafe from the cooler, and yelled "Merry Christmas--come and get it!" I had a bottle ready in my desk, too, but I never wanted to be the first to open it because, although I wasn't then ready to admit it, I had accepted the fact I was an alcoholic.