Shall we play a game?…
I wish that had a suspenseful outcome but not during the holiday season. It’s that time of the year where everyone at work is willingly (and unwillingly) sucked into a wonderful (and dreadful) game of ‘Secret Santa.’
It is highly unlikely that you have never heard of, or played this game during the holiday season. For the uninformed, this game is played amongst a group of people where each person anonymously acts as a Santa for another person. This game is usually played over a week. The person will not be aware of who their Santa is until the last day of the game (or Christmas day) when the Santa reveals themselves. This game is played worldwide in offices during Christmas. Wow talk about global adoption! You must also remember there are only two consequences from playing this game. You are either going to find new respect and admiration for your Santa or you are going to hate them for the rest of your office tenure.
Like the myriad versions of George Michael’s ‘Last Christmas’ there are different editions to this humble game as well : some purely made to burn a hole in your pocket. The aim of this game is to spread Christmas joy by giving and receiving (I highly doubt everyone knows that). Ideally, since this is commonly played in an office, in order to not give an unfair advantage to those who earn more, there is capping for the gift amount. The gift value should not cross a certain amount which is usually on the lower side : to make it fair for every employee. While most follow this, there are many who don’t and in fact they mandate a minimum value for the gift and let’s just say, it’s not on the lower side! Good luck on your savings.
Like Santa there is an angel in the game. ‘Angel’ is the person who receives the gift from their Santa. No, the name ‘angel’ is not decided on the type of person you are gifting to (if they were angels they wouldn’t be in offices, duh!) and no we are not getting into gender neutrality.
There are two ways to play Secret Santa. One where you gift your ‘angel’ on a decided date which is usually Christmas eve/day and another format where you gift your angel everyday till the last day of the game where you reveal yourself. Ha! So yes, everyone goes with the latter way of playing this game.
The shopping rage that follows needs a special mention. Every gift shop in the neighbourhood that sells tons of useless junk throughout the year, suddenly sees a spike in their sales. Their untouched cutesy crap are a sudden hit. Even the shopkeepers go, “Really, you want that?” The secret Santas carefully look at each of the useless showpieces and pick them up thinking, this would be a great gift. I mean yes, a tiny message in a bottle or that ugly paper weight is,‘’all I want for Christmas!” God bless the soul who receives that crap!
Though the balance tips towards carefree Santas who buy gifts just for the sake of it, not all are like them. There are dedicated few who go out of their way to find out what their angels’ interests are in order to buy a suitable gift. Now, those are good Santas and you have to be a lucky angel to get them. So does the scrap buying Santas make them bad? Of course not. They are lazy Santas. The bad Santas are those who have reluctantly been pulled into this game and decide to go rogue on the day of gift exchange by showing up with none. They are nonchalant about it and even vanish without a trace (ooh magical). This is when the elves (game organizers) feel bad for those unfortunate angels and gift them goodies to cheer them up. How kind! There is one more version of this game where the Santa gets a return gift from their angel after Santa’s reveal. It’s more like an act of gratitude for buying them presents. However, this particular version of the game is highly dependent on how sweet-tempered your angel is so fingers crossed!
Annoying or not, Secret Santa is an inevitable game. The most beautiful thing about this game is the priceless expression you get to witness when your angel receives your gift (before the angel unwraps it, of course). I mean that really is something and it brings out the love, warmth and spirit of Christmas. That moment is totally worth it!
So, yes.. Game on and a Merry Christmas to all!
