Office Christmas party

**Katief1976** · 12-22-2010, 02:35 PM

Felt pretty bad today at our office christmas lunch... the boss pre-ordered pizza and salads with dressing...I ate a buttered roll for lunch...Next year I'll eat lunch before I go. How are you all dealing with the holidays?

***kadi*** · 12-22-2010, 02:52 PM

I usually bring my own food. My coworkers I'm close to know about my IC and understand. The coworkers I don't know, I tell them I have food allergies. The key to that kind of discussion is to be very confident, act like it's a boring topic and to immediately change the subject to the other person or something you have in common. "So, how long have you known so & so?" kind of thing. I actually had to practice with my best friend until I got confident with it. She pretended to get nosier & nosier until I got the hang of deflecting the attention. Best Christmas gift my best friend ever gave me

**wagamama** · 12-22-2010, 07:40 PM

I just started a job and they have a lot of lunch meetings where they bring stuff in. I just bring my own lunch with the explanation that I have a strict diet for medical reasons. Most people just shrug and get on with their own lunch.

For potlucks, I bring something I can eat. I find that I can be creative and bring stuff like white chocolate eggnog fudge (seriously, I'm still loving that) that people have never tried before.

My local IC support group had a potluck during our December meeting and I was so excited to go because it was the only potluck I had been to in a long time where I knew I could eat pretty much everything. It was awesome!

**valkay18** · 12-23-2010, 01:40 AM

Well, the last couple years, my boss has taken us to Ruby Tuesday's for Christmas lunch, and luckily I can just order a plain piece of meet and eat salad & potato or something like that. If they were going to order pizzas, I would ask for them to order me a small one without sauce. I know my boss wouldn't mind. We've done that at other work celebrations in the past. Luckily, I have a very close relationship with my boss and am able to tell him the honest truth about what I can and can't eat and why. I think that really helps. At potlucks, I just bring my own stuff. Pretty much everyone knows that I can't eat most things. People still ask and probe me about why though, which is annoying.

**Katief1976** · 12-23-2010, 10:44 AM

The frustrating part is that I've had IC for almost 5 years and my boss is aware of it. I guess some people just dont give a hoot about dietary restrictions of others. I didnt want to make a big fuss because the whole meal was pre ordered and when we all sat down they brought everything right out for us to eat. I was shocked my boss didint get a white pizza, I guess people are dense.

***kadi*** · 12-23-2010, 11:40 AM

Yeah, I don't even expect anyone to get it anymore. I just bring my own food & try not to think about it too much... It bothers me, but I try to do something special for my own food that day or the next, so I won't feel totally deprived...