This is really interesting.

We have a holiday potluck lunch every year, and it's lots of fun. There are people here from all over the world, so there's a good variety of food. Most people either are decent enough cooks or are married to decent enough cooks, and the rest bring something simple like veggies and dip. Someone brings Popeyes chicken every year and that's always a favorite. The desserts are also a mix of homemade and store bought, but it's all good.

My cooking skills consist of boiling water for pasta and "cooking" frozen foods in the microwave or oven. So I bring spinach dip and bread or crackers. I found a recipe on Kraft's website that includes garlic and parmesan cheese, so it's got a little extra flavor to it, and it only takes 5 minutes to mix everything together.

Every year we invite the cleaning people who work in our building to join us, and we all chip in and give them a gift card as a thank you for their hard work. Then they start the buffet line since they're our guests.

No one expects gourmet food or worries about whether all the different foods go together or whatever. We're just trying to have a little bit of holiday fun.