The first time I ever participated in a Secret Santa was
Kindergarten. I loved the overall secret and the exchange of presents when I
was a five year old with all my classmates. As time has gone on I still enjoy
Secret Santa, true, but I feel it is almost a tradition to be apart of some
kind of Secret Santa, whether on a small scale or a larger scale. This year was
not much different from past years when my roommates and I decided to do Secret
Santa, except that it was much different from past years because I never had
done Secret Santa with someone who was Jewish.
As we picked
from the hat that would have who one of my roommates explained this was his
first Secret Santa. We were all shocked that he had never done Secret Santa
before until he told us he was Jewish and he never believed in Santa, which
seemed even stranger than him never doing Secret Santa, at least to me. As the
days went on we saw that he got increasingly more and more excited about Secret
Santa than any of us ever thought a 21-year-old frat boy could get about
exchanging gifts. But, in Secret Santa traditions, Secret Santa got ruined when
one of our roommates accidently told who had who one day. He was distraught and
I am not exaggerating. He was extremely upset his first Secret Santa had been
ruined but when he gave his gift and realized our roommate loved it; he was not
as upset any longer.
It was a
funny experience to see someone get so excited about Secret Santa when I had
been doing it since I was five years old. It was an experience for not just him
but also for me. It showed me that different cultures have their own traditions
and something that seems so normal for me is actually extremely bizarre to
someone else. These cultures diverging together and sharing your traditions
with friends is the best Christmas gift.
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