It was late in the evening, one December night in the first week of December. The time when we all begin thinking about Christmas and start make mental plans about what to do, what gifts to get for the loved ones, what gifts we would expect.  His shift was almost over, a tiresome late shift with the usual challenges specific to his work.

His mind was travelling somewhere far at the meaning of Christmas, the feeling of a warm home in the night when Santa needs to come, snow, a tree with fairy lights and gifts for the ones he loved.

Another idea flew in – how to make his colleagues feel the same – because giving is more rewarding than receiving. How about try a new strategy to bring them together, bring back the joy of giving – the real joy of giving – and bring back the Secret Santa to the team.

Time for action, the next Monday he organized the secret Santa drawing with the colleagues and it was a true success. Everyone received the idea with enthusiasm, even if in the past the secret Santa was not a success story.

Rules have been made, everyone had placed a wishlist and the time passed. The week before Christmas was here and the Secret Santa was here.

He told her his idea of giving an unique gift to the selected colleague, a handmade friendship token gift and she agreed so they started working at the handmade gift piece.

And below the result:

Even if the team is larger than the number of “birds” that sit on the wooden stick, due to space restrictions, they decided to use only 7 small pebbles. They selected from the pebbles collection 7 black pebbles from black marble. 7 because number 7 has a strong signification and means quiet, tranquility, peace.

Friendship was stamped on a cardboard of different color as the background for a good color contrast and they managed to find a very nice frame that suits the personality of the receiver of the secret Santa gift.

All set – the handmade gift was ready to be delivered – the Secret Santa Day came with the same great December holidays feeling: warm, friendship, love, peace and tranquility. This time he felt he had made a good choice in a gift for this year’s team’s secret Santa.

It was a good day and a nice bonding between colleagues, absolutely everyone was happy about the gifts they have received. The handmade gift provided by him had a great impact but all other gifts were received with happiness and all were exactly what everyone expected.

Success!

And that is the story of a perfect Christmas gift – a handmade Friendship Frame!

P.S. – Actually there were 2 frames made  as he participated to yet another Secret Santa drawing – and why not a similar gift – but with different pebble stones – multicolored pebbles with the signification of a diverse team.