The time between Thanksgiving and the New Year is hands-down my favorite time of year. The holiday spirit warms the winter months and is a time where even the pessimists can cherish a bit of positivity. However, no matter how much I find myself wrapped up in holiday cheer, I can’t seem to find the appropriate gifts to wrap.
Confession: I’ll come clean. I have a gift-exchange complex. It can be in the form of Secret Santa, White Elephant, or just general one-for-one gift exchanges. It likely stems from a White Elephant gift exchange I participated in with some friends from high school where, instead of being the Grinch who stole Christmas, or at least the Grinch who stole someone’s gift, I opted to end the game by opening the final gift...a Polly Pocket. Ever since this traumatic milestone, I have had a gift-exchange complex.
This gift exchange complex did not serve me well the other day. And to make matters worse, it was combined with my new-employee-judgment-phase phobia. As December rolled in, I rolled onto a new consulting project, finding myself surrounded by a new group of soon-to-be friends, or so I hoped. Approximately three hours into my first day of work I received my first test; an invitation to participate in the office Secret Santa.
Sidebar: I was first acquainted with this new-employee-judgment phase in my first week with the firm. A fellow young employee approached me on Friday afternoon and asked if I would participate in an inter-firm game of flag football. Eager to make new friends and demonstrate my ability to be a part of a team, I blocked off my entire Saturday. I was told the game started at 1pm, so I arrived fifteen minutes early, erring on the side of caution, only to find that my teammates had been there “warming up” for the past hour. Someone forgot to tell me our team was warming up. Whoops. No sweat. Jamming out to Final Countdown on my drive to the field was a comparable warm up. Once the game got started I was keen on demonstrating my superb athletic ability, but faced my second set-back of the afternoon upon entering the huddle. Apparently the entire team had also been practicing for months and had committed the playbook to memory. Longhorn Split. No problem, I’ll just prance around the field and try not to draw too much attention. I guess I didn’t meet to the team’s expectations; the words flag and football have not been used in combination in my presence since this fateful Saturday afternoon.
But back to the gift-exchange. Seasons and festivities aside, the one thing I unequivocally struggle with is gift-giving. Maybe I’m just selfish (like the time I went Christmas shopping and the only gift I left the mall with was one for myself…) This year, instead of brainstorming thoughtful offerings for my roommates, I opted for the Something Store. The premise; I pay $10 and in exchange, the Something Store will send me something, which, in all likelihood, was probably more thoughtful than the something I would have found.
After drawing my Secret Santa, engaging many in friendly debate on gift-giving, I opted to give Lindsey Cranium. Unfortunately, I’ll have to wait until next Christmas to determine if I passed the new-employee-judgment test.
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