Only Friends

Chapter 29 - Secret Santa

Christmas has always been my favourite holiday. The christmas spirit always makes me feel exponentially happier and livelier. As a team, we decided to do a secret santa. We set up a christmas tree in the common room and drew out names from a hat. Each person got another teammate who they would buy a christmas gift for. Although secret santa can sometimes be stressful, I love the idea of giving a gift to someone I might not normally give one to.
When we drew the names out of the hat, we didn't tell anyone else who we got. I went around with the cap, telling each person to pick a name. After everyone had chosen a name, I was left with the last one. When I opened it, I could only chuckle with annoyance.

Jill Roord

It's not the fact that I got Jill as the person I would buy a gift for, it's that I would have bought her a gift anyway. So, I decided against the rules and went to talk to Beth. Beth has always been a selfless person I could rely on. She is giving and kind, and will always put others ahead of herself. When Daan left Arsenal, I knew she was having a hard time. I tried to support her, but sometimes people need to deal with these situations in their own time and everyone knew that Daan needed a fresh start. Needed to find herself again.
"Bethy," I called out to her, as she was walking alone onto the training pitch, "can I ask you for a favour?"
"Yeah of course," she replied, "what's up?"
"Ok, so I know we aren't supposed to tell anyone who our secret santa is," I said, while lowering my voice, "but I need to swap." She stared at me blankly, for a minute.
"Do you like surprises?" She asked me, sort of out of nowhere.
"Um, sort of," I replied, somewhat confused.
"Well, I can't swap with you," she said bluntly, trying to allude to something else.
"So should I ask someone else?"
"Probably. I'm sorry, I definitely would if I could, if you know what I mean," she replied. I gave her a hug as if to tell her that I am not angry or mad.

I then decided to try someone else. I walked over to Leah, who was walking alongside Anna and Lotte.
"Leah, can I ask you a favour?" I said, while pulling her away to the side. Anna gave me a glare, but continued walking.
"Yeah sure."
"Ok, I know secret santa is meant to be a secret, but I need to swap," I said, "can we swap? I am sorry for being such a hassle."
"Totally fine. I actually needed to swap anyways," she said this while handing over her piece of paper. I gave her mine, and looked inside the folded sheet.

Jordan Nobbs

"Wow," I said, "we were both unlucky with who we got." She nodded in agreement.
"It's funny because I was going to ask you to swap also," she started to say, "I could see the worried expression on your face when you opened the paper. I have learnt to read your expressions." She said this with pride, smirking while giving me a tiny nudge.
"Well, I do pride myself on being a fairly transparent person." This was a lie. I'm not transparent, but people think I am. Hiding things for so long has enabled me to control my emotions and my looks, only letting people see what I want them to see.

Over the week, I had to figure out what to get Jordan as a gift. I have always found buying presents for people a difficult job. I overthink many ideas and gifts, and find fault in all of them. It's an unhealthy habit, but it's hard to break.

I decided, in the end, to get her a collection of small little things I thought she would enjoy. I bought her a disposable camera, and marked it as being only used for the team, an oversized shirt with a picture of the team printed on it and it captioned as "arse-nal" and an Arsenal themed bow tie for her puppy Blu. I put them all in a little box and signed it from her secret santa.

Jill was very secret about who her secret santa was all week. To be fair, I was too. We both wouldn't give anything away, and wouldn't even tell what we got our person. It was fun, hiding something silly from her, despite knowing she desperately was eager to find out.

When we all arrived at training, on the morning of the Secret Santa, we all placed our presents under the tree. Some are huge, such as the one addressed to Jill, and others are smaller and look square boxed. I pulled out the vlog camera, to record us all opening the presents.
"Ok so secret santa is looking good," I said to the camera as I panned the room of girls and the tree with its presents, "we are excited to open all the gifts. Are all the girls here?" I asked Leah, who was standing at the door.
"No, just waiting on Beth," she called back.
"Silly Bethy," I said, turning the camera around to myself, "always gotta be the one who's late."

Beth arrived 5 minutes later, and I recorded all the girls opening their gifts. Jill, from her secret Santa, who I know to be Leah, was given a giant teddy bear that was wearing a Jill Roord dutch playing shirt.
"Oh my god, I am in love," she said, while hugging the giant teddy bear.
"So, we have one more stuffed toy in the house," I said, jokingly.
"I know you love them," Jill replied back to me.

I saw Jordan open hers, and she looked very pleased. She started taking photos, using the disposable.
"Everyone smile!" She shouted, while standing on the coffee table in the middle of the room. Everyone bunched together, and smiled for her camera. After the flash went off, we all continued to open the gifts. I went over to the tree and picked up my gift. It was a good size, and soft, feeling somewhat like a hoodie or blanket. When I opened it, I was shocked that whoever knew what it was.
"Is this a hawthorn jersey?" I said, looking around at the girls. They looked up from their gifts.
"What's hawthorn?" Leah asked, from across the room.
"My AFL team," I said back to her,
"What's AFL?" Asked Wally, looking at Caitlin.
"Aussie rules football," Caitlin replied, "Are you really a Hawk?" Caitlin, jokingly, looked disgusted.
"Yeah my Dad played for them! But let me guess, you're a swan?" I said back to her.
"Of course not, I was from an NRL family. St George all the way. I had no idea your dad played though," she said back to me.
"Yeah, John Harrison."
"Your dad is John Harrison?" Caitlin asked bemused.
"And her mum is Liz Spratley!" Jill said, proudly. I told her about both my parents a while ago and she always forgot my mum's maiden name. So, she now brings it up as much as possible to show me that she remembers.
"Hold on, your parents are Liz and John Harrison?" Caitlin asked, surprised.
"Yeah," I said laughing.
"What does that mean?" Jordan asked.
"Why are we letting the Aussie's talk in code?" Leah replied back. "Speak English please!"
"Her Dad was one of the best AFL players of all time and her Mum was an elite netballer!" Caitlin exclaimed. My Mum played professional netball in the 90s, winning 3 World Cups and a Commonwealth game gold medal. She retired early to have me and then Luke. "Her family is the sporting family of Australia! How did I never piece these things together?"
"You are a little bit not intelligent sometimes," Wally added in. Caitlin went over to Wally, and started to tickle her, picking her up and kissing her neck. I love how happy Caitlin is with Lia.
"No wonder you're sporty?" Leah then said, unsurprised.
"Well, they weren't that good," I said laughing before I tried to start thinking about who could've known I was a hawk supporter. "I wonder who got me this?" I asked myself. I looked over to Beth, who was standing, smugly, in the corner.
"Bethy," I said, walking over to her, "How did you know I was a hawthorn supporter?"
"I wasn't your secret santa," she replied, obviously lying.
"Beth, you are the worst liar."
"Fine, I asked Sam," she said back. Of course it was Sam. Sam and I often talk smack about each other's AFL team. Sam, similarly to me, is a huge AFL supporter of the West Coast Eagles. She was named the Number 1 ticket holder a couple of years ago and her brother even played for the club.
"Of course it was Sam," I said, "thank you, I love it." I gave her a hug, holding her tightly and squeezing her slightly. "Is this why you couldn't swap?" I asked her.
"Yes you silly goose, how did you not realise?" She asked me.
"I don't know, sometimes I don't pick up on these sorts of things." I got my vlog camera out, and told the camera about my gift, and explained what it meant.

As the day wrapped up, the vibe filling the team was amazing. Everyone felt happy with their gifts, and I felt pleased that it went so smoothly. Jill's giant teddy bear found a place on the couch, and my hawthorn hoodie was my new favourite clothing item. It made me feel closer to home, which I desperately missed.