Better late than never — or so the saying goes. On Tuesday, my Studio finally got around to having it's annual holiday party. Having worked through the official Ogilvy holiday party toiling away on what would turn out to be a failed business pitch, this was really the only party that most of us got. We gathered at Jadis — our favorite pinkies-out watering hole — for Champaign, wine and foie gras. Hey, if you're going to wait a month for your holiday party, you might as well live it up.

While it's always a pleasure to be in the company of such good friends, this year's gathering had its bittersweet overtones. With a string of bad luck that's plagued Ogilvy over the last couple of years, we've lost a lot of good people in Studio — the most recent being Mike and Lena. For a lot of complex reasons the Studio has been hit pretty hard by agency layoffs, and with dwindling numbers in a group that's so tight it's almost family, that means a lot. Hopefully in time, Ogilvy will get back on its feet and the Studio will follow suit.