My Secret Santa [✔️]

/ F I R S T / / C H A P T E R /

Oh the festive season has arrived. The time of year where everyone comes together to celebrate the end of the year with divine food and cherishing gifts. A typical holiday I am well acquainted with. At least I thought I did.

The usual principle when I was young was that I had to decorate the house with my siblings and we had to make a wish list so that "Santa" knew what to get us. Sadly enough, I believed in Santa for about six years until one night. I caught my mom wrapping the presents downstairs by the kitchen table. The natural outcome of this incident would be for me to confront my parents, but I didn't. I knew that they tried their best to hide the truth. Instead, I played along until they gave in. I liked to believe that it was my reasoning behind it all other than wanting to keep the thrilling imagination of a powerful entity handing out presents that were desired.

After starting off my accounting job in a massive law firm in London, flying back home to Switzerland wasn't an option until I had a steady income. My parents obviously opposed, as well as my siblings, but I believed this was the right path for my life. I bunked with a roommate in the city for the time being, as it was quite convenient. Cheaper rent in the capital, who could ask for anything better? We both had distinctive careers. Karina works as a real estate agent in the south of London. This means she has to take the train early in the morning to avoid rush hour. She has been in the field for four years, but yet, she still lives in a livid based apartment with me.

At first I found it awfully suspicious that she would need a roommate if her job pays stupendously higher than mine, but she later on explained that she had family debt to pay off. Based on that sole reason, I instantly knew that I would get along with her. We're both kind of on the same boat.

My father's job, in recent years, didn't have as great of a salary as it once offered as the company he was working at began going bankrupt because of COVID impact and other minor factors. As many know, coronavirus heavily influenced the economic status of many countries. Although it is no longer considered a threat to our society, many still fall victim to it and its impact can still be felt to this day. My mom was forced to work which did help in the long run, but was very risky since had history of issues surrounding the health of her body. My older brother Henry, at that time, had just started his first job after graduating, my oldest Aaliyah sister was just about to finish her master's degree, my older sister Lucy was still in university and I was still in high school. Life at home was difficult, financially and I went through a lot because of it. It's not a time I enjoy reminiscing.

Fast forward to the present, I spend Easter and sometimes holidays with family, but Christmas and New Years are off limits. Karina and I made it a tradition to spend those days together with some of our other friends. There was a time where I was against this proposal of hers. I couldn't imagine spending it without my family but now, I've grown to have a family of my own. Karina means the absolute world to me and everyone knows that, so they have grown to respect my decision. It did take a while, I won't lie.

Now the question remains: How do we celebrate Christmas and New Years? We celebrate them in a very cliché manner but I'll explain it either way.

For Christmas, we do secret Santa with our friend group which consists of Megumi, Yuuji, Nobara, Sabrina, Saige, Nails and Karina's boyfriend Kento. Every year, we settle at a coffee house to discuss secret Santa and the budget. Sometimes, we will have someone that wants to invite an extra guest into the group, so it is always a wise to have a meeting about it. Next, we pick a name from a pile of scrunched up pieces of paper and then we have to buy a present for that specific person before the 24th. We usually begin organising during the first of December.

Then, on the day of the eve, we all gather at someone's apartment and spend the entire night at their place. We usually end watching a movie together. Finally, on Christmas Day, we open our present and reveal who offered each gift.

For New Years, we all meet up at someone's place the night before around the evening time to have dinner together. We are all obliged to bring something for the party as we are all typically broke. But also to lighten the load of the host. We would generally celebrate until every last one of us is asleep and every last bottle is emptied.

This year shouldn't be any different from the others. Just least year, Nobara had hosted both nights and it went smoothly even though it was her first time. What makes it more impressive is the number of guest present that year. We had each brought a plus one. Knowing all of this, I fail to see how this year would be any different. Everything should fall into place.