Work-Related Christmas Fun: Trivia and Practical Reflections

The Twelve Days of Christmas cover the days from 25 December to 5 January.

It’s a festive time of year, though if we’re not careful, these days can become overly commercialized, over-scheduled and super stressful.

We are well served to remember Sir Winston Churchill’s perspective that “Christmas is a season not only of rejoicing but of reflection.”

Reflections & Outlook

Every December, I distribute to the leaders of my three Vistage groups a version of a document first developed many Christmases ago by fellow Vistage Chair John Younker. I’ve tweaked the document to help leaders reflect on the past year and think about what they want to accomplish in the year ahead.

You can download for free the entire four-page worksheet.

The worksheet is loaded with dozens of practical, probing questions and here are six of them:

1. What was my most significant accomplishment of the past year? How will I replicate this success? My most significant disappointment? What will I do differently to avoid repeating this performance?
2. What was my best business decision of the past year? My worst? What did I learn from each experience?
3. What’s my outlook for the coming year from a business standpoint? Personal standpoint?
4. What is the most strategic priority I can attend to in the year ahead? How do I intend to communicate, measure and execute against this priority?
5. What practices (specific, measurable, regular activities over time) will I engage in to enhance my development as a leader? How will I be accountable?
6. What do I want to celebrate one year from now?

Christmas Fun

Christmas parties at the office can be a real hassle to plan. Starting from hunting for Bristol Christmas Party venues (or any other place where you want to organize the party) to arranging food, beverages, decorations, and a few games, there will be a lot of work before the fun begins. However, it’s Christmas, so it will be worth it. To be honest, arranging Christmas office parties can be fun. Those given the responsibility can highlight their creative skills by arranging the party in a unique way. For instance, one can decorate the party venue with neon signs like “Save water Drink Champagne”, or “Please Don’t Kill My Vibe” (those interested in purchasing these products can check out Neon Mama and its likes). Since it’s Christmas, they can play with all sorts of lights and lamps. Decoration with light certainly brightens up the entire space. It tends to give one of the best feels during a festival, all the more when it is Christmas. Along with lights, the walls can be decorated with Christmas tree decal wallpaper as well, in order to achieve the complete Christmas vibe. It certainly depends on the creativity of the party planner, and how he wants to bring his imagination into play. Besides this, the person can also opt for unique gift wrapping options (perhaps he can use custom-printed gift wraps). Multiplayer games could also be arranged by the concerned person, which could be an engaging addition to office Christmas celebrations, which can be either physical or online games. Since online casino (equivalent to oxi.casino/fi/) could be one of the popular indoor group activities, perhaps it can be played during the party as well.

For work-related Christmas fun, here are six questions I posed five years ago from some of my favorite Christmas films.

1. Q: In the 1988 film “Die Hard,” police officer John McClane (played by Bruce Willis) travels from New York City to Los Angeles on Christmas Eve to spend the holidays with his wife and children. During the Nakatomi Corporation’s office Christmas party, German terrorists seize the building and hold employees hostage. What is the terrorists’ objective?
2. Q: In the 1942 film “Holiday Inn” in which the song “White Christmas” was first performed, the character played by Bing Crosby hatches an idea to buy and run a country inn that’s open only on holidays. What steady job does he give up to become an entrepreneur?
3. Q: “A Charlie Brown Christmas” first aired on TV in 1965 with a terrific jazz soundtrack by Vince Guaraldi. Charlie Brown is despondent about the commercialization of Christmas and turns to Lucy in her outdoor make-shift office to help him come to terms with what’s happening around him. What conclusion do they reach?
4. Q: In the 1947 film “Miracle on 34th Street,” Kris Kringle (Edmund Gwenn) is hired by Doris Walker (Maureen O’Hara) of Macy’s as the retailer’s Santa Claus. In the course of listening to the Christmas requests of children, Kris does something that causes the head of the toy department to demand his immediate firing. What does Kris do?
5. Q: In the 1989 film “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation,” Clark Griswold (Chevy Chase) is expecting a Christmas bonus to help cover the cost of a swimming pool he’s installing. What happens with his bonus?
6. Q: In the 1946 film “It’s A Wonderful Life,” George Bailey (Jimmy Stewart) believes his talents have been wasted and his dream of making a mark on the world has come to naught. By the end of the movie, however, George has a new perspective on life and is toasted by his younger brother Harry as the “richest man in town.” What’s the moral of the story? (Hint: It’s summarized in the final scene when George receives a first-edition copy of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer with an inscription from his guardian angel, Clarence.)

Find out the answers and lessons we can learn from these beloved films:

Answers to Christmas Trivia.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!