We at the White Collar Warrior will be taking a hiatus for the holidays. In the meantime, we thought you'd like to know that even Scrooge himself is celebrating the season. Financial and technology companies raking in giant revenues are living large in Manhattan. 29 year old Internet guru Michael Jacobson said of his own firm's shindig, "I give this party an 8.5. It reminds me of the dot-com era. What would make it better is if they had a Santa dancing in a thong on the bar. That would be like a 9.5."

Corporations have been booking up the Russian Tea Room like Bolsheviks clamoring outside the Kremlin, with caviar and vodka service at $500 a person. The decor for other company parties is even more sumptuous and pricey. One investment concern is doing it all in Art Deco, with a red, white and black color scheme - a presumably black-tie and white gown affair for the swells with a red carpet at the entrance. Some hedge fund high-rollers are doing up the J.P. Morgan Library as an Aspen chalet (with a soupcon of Ralph Lauren) at a cost of $100,000. They even had fake animal heads mounted on the walls. Considering how many wage slaves their efforts have helped downsize though, those heads might as well have been human...

Happy Holidays to all, and to all a good night...

"Corporate Christmas parties more decadent than ever" from The Times Argus (Montpelier, Vermont)