Aren’t the holidays about giving?
What’s it like to give the perfect gift or get the perfect gift?
Growing up in a big family and because it was costly to buy everyone a gift, our family practiced what we called Kris Kringle which went like this:
On Thanksgiving, we would all pull names out of a hat and that was the person you had to get a gift for. But there was a twist, you had to do nice things for the person for all the days leading up to Christmas. And, you had to do this secretly since your recipient was not supposed to know who had them as a Kris Kringle. The sneakiness made it all the more exciting as a child.
You would come home from school and your bed might be made. Or there was your favorite candy bar on your pillow at night. Your chore was somehow done without you doing it. I remember there was also this feeling of kindness in the house which wasn’t always the case with 8 children!
The tradition continued on Christmas Eve when we would guess who was doing the nice things for us. Some years it was hard because the person didn’t do much!
Our family tradition continued even when we were married and living in different states. Gifts arrived anonymously in the mail and the feeling and spirit was the same as when we were all living under the same roof. Guessing became more difficult since the spouses were included but the fun was the same.
I don’t think this is stretch to connect this to good service. The feeling you get when doing something for someone else is at the heart of kindness and good service (blog June, 2018). Or, the feeling you and the receiver gets when you surprise them with something they like is also the same with good service. In fact, this very idea relates to one of our top service concepts: “surprise and delight.
So, this Christmas season, think of surprising someone you know or even a total stranger with a gift or act of kindness. I promise you will benefit as well as them.
Happy Holidays!