Secret Santa delivers excitement and Christmas spirit

With the end of the year approaching, the Christmas season is now fully upon us. While people all around the world celebrate the holiday in different ways, one common method of displaying love and cheer is the act of gift-giving. For many years here at SMIC-I, we have participated in a classic gift-giving activity — Secret Santa. Hosted annually by the psychology club each year, the Secret Santa event was a great opportunity to engage with our peers and spread the holiday spirit. The instructions to the activity were simple: Each person randomly picked out a scrap of paper submitted by someone else involved, which will provided a gift idea by detailing what the receiver would like to get and also what they don’t want. The minimum value of the gift was 20 rmb, which ensured that everyone receives a decent and thoughtful present.

Secret Santa gave us the chance to connect to others that we may not know, and expanded our warmth to students in other grades that we would not have typically acquainted ourselves with. Christmas is not limited to celebrating with our close family and friends, it is a chance for us to gather as a community and spread cheer and joy. This event gave us the perfect opportunity to celebrate Christmas with our fellow SMIC-I students with the addition of an element of mystery.

According to Psychology club member Sophia Sze (12A), those who participated in the gift exchange this year are mainly freshmen and sophomores, who she states are “a lot more enthusiastic than the seniors,” noting that the reason for this discrepancy is most likely college applications. Nevertheless, each year many SMIC-I students are eager to be involved in this exciting activity.

The gift exchange occurred on the 22nd of December, just in time for students to surround themselves with the holiday spirit before the Christmas break. Students had a great time extending the Christmas spirit onto school grounds by engaging in this exciting activity!

Featured Image – Gifts are waiting to be taken by their recipients Courtesy of Jessica Choi