At the beginning of December the Huffington Post featured an article on the

 12 dangers of Christmas

.  The article focused on fire safety during the holiday season.  They covered everything from your Christmas tree drying out and catching the drapes on fire to burning down your home while preparing your roast beast.

The article got me thinking, what if there were other dangers during Christmas?  What if, aside from falling off your roof while working on your light display and over roasting your chestnuts, there were hidden dangers during the season of advent that most of us overlook.

Over the next 15 days I am going to share my 12 dangers of Christmas.  So here we go,

#10 - Holiday Office Parties

I have attended a total of 1 corporate holiday party.  That event was enough corporate schmoozing to last me a lifetime.  Nothing is more awkward than bringing a group of people and their significant others together once a year with an open bar.  From small talk about crap no one cares about to jabs from work rivals, nothing can make you work life more awkward than an office sponsored party with people you rarely want to see during work hours.

And while it might seem like a great gesture for a company to throw a celebration for its employees, if those employees are not careful this festive holiday get together into an evening full of career choices that might not lead you up the corporate ladder and instead send you down the corporate trash shoot.

So how do you navigate the office holiday party and avoid making a complete fool out of yourself?  Consider these guidelines from Essence.com:

1. Do attend
2. Do remember it is a work function
3. Don't over drink
4. Don't hookup with anyone
5. Do Dress to impress
6. Do mingle
7. Do avoid "shop talk"

For some holiday office fun, try playing Company Holiday Party.

If worse comes to worse you could always end up like this....