Page Two

Friday, December 13 was the Chronicle's annual holiday party. We hold it at Chronicle headquarters -- though we probably outgrew this location a few years ago -- and it is co-hosted by South by Southwest, so all our family and friends come. If the weather is against us, to be huddled in the offices where we work all year, stuffed alongside hundreds of extra people and vast quantities of food can be disquieting. Watching people eat and drink over your desk, and then, later in the evening, the same people drink and eat more over your desk and somewhat on your desk, can be more than disquieting. This year, it was as warm as a spring evening; we ate and partied outside. There was turkey, ribs, brisket, and sausage from Ruby's, side dishes from Threadgill's, vegetarian fare from Curra's, and Steve Chaney's legendary (or is it the legendary Steve Chaney's?) Cajun cuisine. Dessert was pies baked by our favorite, K. McCarty, and a delicious cake from Virginia Wood.

Present staff, freelancers, friends, and past staff showed up. An unseemly number of writers were about, many crawling out from the woodwork, as writers tend to do. More people came in their own cars with their own families -- there seemed to be more people in general. Everywhere was talking and eating and talking. The scene was a little different than a decade or so ago, when the Chronicle began. There was no hard liquor and there were no obvious group trips into locked, small rooms for extended and periodic visits throughout the evening.

Instead, there were children running around everywhere; as terrifying as it may be to think of it, they are a new generation of Chroniclites. Clearly underfoot, they raced through the office and ran around the field as well as romping all over the designated children's room, wild and causing trouble, ready to follow in the family footsteps. Under the watchful eye of party host Deborah Wilson, not only was the set-up a breeze and the party wonderful, but clean-up and restoration was remarkably efficient.

Thus, the office was set to go Monday morning, rather than looking like a set for a dark comedy about urban guerrilla warfare, with scattered carcasses of turkeys and plates of rib bones hidden under desks -- our usual post-party, post-first cleaning look. This was good because besides producing this issue, we are hoping to finish the lion's share of the next two issues on Thursday and Friday. It should make for an unusually intense week, just as the widespread, deeply felt, emotional consequences of this holiday season intensify and the weather crashes into an extended below-freezing glide. Talk about timing....

Chronicle holiday schedule The staff will be working an abbreviated schedule:

Issue #17 is dated Friday, Dec. 27, 1996.

Issue #18 is dated Friday, January 3, 1997.

Editorial deadline (news, letters, listings, etc.) for both issues is 5pm, Thursday, Dec. 19.

Advertising deadline for both issues is 5pm Thursday, Dec. 19.

Classified deadlines will be each Monday at noon: Dec. 23 for #17, Dec. 30 for #18.

Distribution will be on Tuesdays, Dec. 24 and Dec. 31.

Office hours are as follows:

* Office and phones will be open Monday, Dec. 23 and Monday Dec. 30, 9am-7pm.

* Office and phones are open 9am-3pm, Tuesday, Dec. 24 and 31.

* Closed December 25-26, and January 1-2

* Friday, Dec. 27 & Jan. 3, the office will be closed, but phones will be answered 9am-6pm.

* Normal business hours resume at 9am, Monday, January 6.

Issue #19, dated Friday, Jan. 10, 1997, will be back to normal deadlines and distribution.