T’was the night before Christmas; why some traditions are worth continuing as long as possible
Before I write this week’s blog, I need to add a disclaimer:
If you are, or ever have been, one of my nephews (or any other small children who share Christmas with my family) please stop reading now…
Right, now that’s out of the way, I’m ok to keep writing 😅.
The reason I don’t want my nephews reading this is because I’m about to reveal a family secret: I am Santa Claus 🎅
What? You’re the big man?
Well, that’s not strictly true. What I mean to say is that every year when Father Christmas visits my family on Christmas Eve to hand out presents in person to everyone, that big, jolly chap is in fact me (stepping in for the OG Santa obvs) 🎄.
Every year, post the Christmas Eve family meal, I go and have a long bath 🛀 (to wash away the day’s stresses). It is at this time that Santa magically appears at the front door/gets stuck in the fireplace 🔥 shouting “Ho, Ho, Ho” for help. Everyone gathers round for the annual routine of rescuing him and then, in return for their help, he asks all children in the house to validate if they have been good that year, handing out presents based on their answers 📦.
Having handed out the presents, Santa says goodbye and then heads off up to the roof 🏡 to continue his rounds to visit all the other children. A few minutes later, I come down dressed in a robe, having completed my bath and ask “What did I miss?”
So, did you do the Santa/bath routine this year?
Hell yes!
I have been doing this routine for 14 consecutive years and my nephews now are 14, 13, 12 and 10.
In their own words:
“We are 99% sure it is you in the Santa costume but because there is 1% of doubt we will go along with it so as not to jeopardise the chance of getting presents”
Smart boys!
Why do you do this?
This is a tradition that goes back over 40 years to when one of my uncles would do exactly the same routine for me and my siblings (we still use the same Santa suit that my mum handmade all those years ago).
Although we took a hiatus during the years when there were no kids at family Christmases, when I first became an uncle 14 years ago, my mum threw me the suit and told me it was my turn (that first year was definitely not my best).
Now that my nephews are all grown up, we have debated whether it is still worth doing but every year we come to the decision that, even if they know it is me, it is absolutely worth continuing for the intimacy, the bonding, the creativity 💡 and general enjoyment 😊 that it brings. Each year we continue to adapt and build on the tradition and we all love it because of that.
The power of traditions
It’s not just in family situations that traditions have such a range of benefits. I regularly establish and leverage traditions within companies and teams that I work with to accelerate the level of engagement and teaming that exist.
As long as you continue to validate their benefit and get people involved, they can deliver so much value.
If you don’t have any traditions, then it may be worth looking around the things you and your team do regularly/semi-regularly and making one or two of these things a bit more special or creating a new tradition from scratch.
If you already have a tradition amongst your team then lucky you, you already have a good platform for increased levels of EQ and that can only mean good things.
Roll on next year
As for me, as long as my nephews continue to enjoy it, I look forward to my 15th year as Santa next Christmas. I also look forward to working with more clients on their range of IQ, EQ and FQ challenges :)
Faris is the CEO and Founder of Shiageto Consulting, an innovative consultancy that helps firms and individuals sharpen their effectiveness.
Success = IQ x EQ x FQ
