happy chatter

As I rule I don't buy raffle tickets. To win something in a raffle would be to not come by it fairly and squarely - to gain something by chance and not by hard work. I've dutifully complied with this ruling and never bought a ticket - this necessarily means I'm never in the running to win anything.

All that changed this week.

I decided it was time to support my workplace raffle by buying a ticket. Not just one ticket, but three - they were three for the price of two after all!

First prize was a massive hamper full of goodies that we'd all donated to the cause. Every one of us was longing, hoping, planning on winning! The nearer it came to the draw, the more tickets were sold, the higher the stakes became.

On Thursday afternoon we gathered together for our traditional ward Christmas Party with the usual food and exchange of Secret Santa presents.

And then the moment came. The drawing of the biggest and best raffle in the world - or that's how it seemed with the frisson of tension and excitement in the room! The crowd-produced drum roll only served to increase the anticipation.

The ticket was pulled out of the bucket but... someone from another part of the hospital won first prize. A collective sigh of disappointment ran around the room.

Still there was one more chance, and we quickly moved our attention to the drawing of the second prize. The ticket was duly selected from the bucket and we each waited with baited breath. The colour matched my ticket, the number matched and...

... I won my first ever raffle prize! An ecclectic collection of books that included a couple of great looking recipe books plus some excellent children's books.

I'm quite chuffed. Maybe I'll start buying raffle tickets all the time - next time a car?! This on top of my NaBloPoMo prize surely counts as a winning streak!

My wine charms arrived in the mail this week and I'm tickled pink. Thankyou Acoustic Lel for a fabulous prize. I think they're beautiful and I can't wait to use them.