#2297 traditions

My office has many wonderful traditions that happen in December, most of which have been around for lots of years. Today was the final day of one of those traditions: The Secret Santa Reveal Luncheon.

We take our Secret Santa action seriously. We usually start the secret gift-giving right after Thanksgiving. Gift-giving season usually lasts two or three weeks, then we all get together for lunch (catered) and we have to guess who our Secret Santa was. When you guess your Secret Santa, you get the final gift from them. The most Secret Santa gets a prize.

It's fun to try to guess who has been giving you little gifts over the weeks. I always try to be sneaky and it's hard in an open office where people are always kinda watching. Everyone regularly uses "elves" to deliver gifts. It could be someone who isn't playing, or it could be someone that you have an alliance with and take into your confidence.

I had three people who I thought might be my Santa and I guessed right on my first try. That was fun! The person I gave gifts to guessed it was me pretty late in the game. I wasn't the most secret Santa, but I still felt that I did a good job of being sneaky.

The woman I was sitting next to, Marta, was hilarious. She really thought she knew who her Santa was. Every time she made a guess and was told no totally crushed her. She had a list of all the people that were playing and she was crossing off names whenever anyone was named as a Santa. Somewhere along the way, though, she got flustered and crossed off every name, so she guessed her Santa last, and that person, Tara, was named the Most Secret Santa.

That Santa's game was masterful. She deliberately tried to fool Marta in many clever ways. Her gift to Marta at the end was also spectacular, putting together all of Marta's favorite things. It was very fun to watch it all go down.

The work traditions continue over the next couple of days with our customer appreciation luncheon tomorrow followed by the employee luncheon on Friday. Our department's Christmas breakfast is going to be on Monday, and then we'll be off for a couple of days to celebrate the holiday.