How to Conduct a "Secret Santa" Gift Exchange

 

Many people have gift exchanges at their school or work this time of year, in which people purchase a small gift to contribute, usually with a dollar amount ($15-$20 is common) suggested, and then those gifts are matched up.

A common way to do this is called "Secret Santa", in which everyone who wants to participate signs up on a list that is posted up until a deadline to participate. When the deadline passes, all the names of people who want to play are collected, and then each person is given someone to buy for (usually you pick names randomly out of a bag). The 'secret' part is that you know who you are buying for, but you don't tell them, and you don't know who is giving you a gift.

This makes sense in two ways: knowing who you are getting a gift for may help you figure out what to get--you can tailor your choice based on the gender, age, and interests of the person. And of course, because you are Santa, you can do so secretly!

After you have purchased the gift for your designated person, you wrap it with a tag that has only their name on it. At the party, the gifts will all have only who they are for, but who they are from can remain a mystery (sometimes people will tell each other later). Normally, people take turns opening their presents so that everyone can see what they got. This can either be sweet, on the "ooh and ahh" side, or it can be funny, if someone gets an entertaining gift (gag gifts occur sometimes at these things, since one can escape blame)!

This is a fun way for everyone to participate and not leave anyone out who wants to participate. Also, some people may not want to join the exchange, and so they are not forced to, and everyone is happy. Add some drinks and food, and this makes for a nice little party!

Image credit: https://www.pexels.com/photo/man-in-gray-blazer-holding-a-christmas-gift-14524113/

Why Do Americans Look Forward to Black Friday? It Sounds Scary!

I realize that in other parts of the world, seeing all these items on the internet about Black Friday probably confuses people who are not from the United States, or from English-speaking countries, anyway. I am pretty sure that everyone is smart enough to suss out that Black Friday is the day after Thanksgiving here in the US, and that it is associated with Christmas shopping and with large sales. But why do we call it "Black Friday"? That sounds like something bad happens. 

We do tend to associate black with bad stuff, and we even had a "Black Friday" before in our history that was bad--a financial crisis in 1869. But in this case, black is a good thing. See, most of the year, stores don't make a profit, and financial losses were traditionally recorded in red ink. But when Christmas shopping increases sales, stores finally become profitable, and profits are recorded in black ink. So it's called "Black Friday" because this is usually when stores start to operate "in the black", meaning "at a profit". 

So, now you understand why retailers are very, very happy to see black, even though Black Friday can be a little scary, with all the crazy shoppers running over each other to get the best deals. They might have to re-name it "Black Eye-day!" 

Image credit https://pixabay.com/en/words-wordcloud-cloud-black-friday-1797603/