Deck the Halls with Boughs of Holly: Christmas Traditions in Your Workplace

Everyone is excited this time of year. After all...."It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year". There is the hustle and bustle in preparation and anticipation of all the holiday events. Can this excitement carry over to the workplace? Can a few simple workplace holiday traditions actually boost staff and patient morale? Nurses Announcements Archive Article

Deck the Halls with Boughs of Holly: Christmas Traditions in Your Workplace

"Deck the Halls with Boughs of Holly"......... "Tis the Season to be Jolly"....... Sure we all are excited and making preparations for the holidays. There are signs of Christmas everywhere.....lights, trees, ornaments, Christmas songs.......everywhere? Even at work??

Sure.....we can all whistle the songs of Christmas while we work. But do you deck you workplace halls for the holidays? What about parties and mini events? If your workplace happens to be in a hospital, chances are you have many fire regulations that will prevent putting a Christmas tree in every room. But there are other things you can do to bring the holiday spirit into those otherwise sterile environments.

Christmas traditions can actually boost the morale of staff as well as patients who would rather be anywhere but in a hospital at Christmastime. And it can put a lilt in the steps of workers.

Planned Christmas traditions will allow the staff to know what to expect and give them something to look forward to. After all, we've always heard that a happy worker is often a more productive worker. Making the workplace a little more festive will certainly help to make coming to work a little more pleasant.

Here are some Christmas traditions that bring a bit of holiday cheer to nursing staff in various workplace settings. Does your workplace practice any of these?

Secret Santa

The tradition of 'Secret Santa' exchanges works just as well in the workplace as it did in elementary school - and everywhere in between the two! 'Secret Santa' cuts down on the time and expense of getting gifts or writing Christmas card for all the staff. It also eliminates the hurt feelings or tension when some co-workers are left out of the fun. A voluntary program lets everyone who wants to participate, and a spending limit controls competitiveness and expense.

Decorating Contest

Most floors or offices try to personalize their workspace in some way at Christmas. Why not have a competition between the offices or floors. See who can be the most creative in producing a festive environment that can be enjoyed by the staff, patients, and visitors. Of course, there will be ground rules and regulations. But this can really be fun. Everyone loves a bit of competition.

Christmas Lunch/Dinner/Goodies

Everyone loves to partake of holiday food. A staff Christmas meal or just a casual get together can be fun. It is especially appreciated if the food is provided by the employer. Getting together for a staff Christmas lunch or dinner is certainly much easier for non-hospital staff, but Christmas foods can be enjoyed at the hospital as well. It can be a potluck, or employers can provide all or some of the food. No matter what.....Christmas goodies always bring a smile to everyone's face.

Some other things that help bring the festivities of the season to the workplace:

  • Christmas caroling by various community groups
  • Santa visits the children and children at heart
  • Special holiday meals in the cafeteria.....well as special a meal as you can have in a cafeteria
  • Holiday freebies and goodies throughout the season......cookies, spiced hot cider, candy canes, etc
  • Festive scrubs
  • Christmas bonuses -always appreciated!!

Working during the holidays does not have to mean that we do without the joyfulness of Christmas. Through the Christmas traditions we enjoy, we can bring happiness and joy into the hearts of staff and those who are not fortunate enough to be able to go home at the end of the workday.

What are some of the holiday traditions at your workplace?

tnbutterfly - Mary

About tnbutterfly - Mary, BSN

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Specializes in Emergency/Cath Lab.

Ugly sweaters are coming out christmas eve/day. Oh yeah!!!

Specializes in Peds, Med-Surg, Disaster Nsg, Parish Nsg.

Ugly sweaters?????? LOL

Do you have any pics of these ugly sweaters. HA HA HA or rather.....HO HO HO

Specializes in Cardiology, Cardiothoracic Surgical.

We put up a fake Xmas tree up in the office, hang ornaments precisely the height of our boss to annoy him as he walks into them, and bomb the rest of the space with lights, ribbons and wrapping paper. Even the fridge door got decorated with sleigh bells.

We bring in cookies and goodies to indulge in, as this is the one time of the year we're all not fussing over training or diets.

I have several practical jokes planned to 'wrap up' the working space of a coworker who is notoriously grumpy for no good reason,

and some awesome Secret Santa gifts planned. I even like the awful fruitcake that the boss's ex-wife sends to us every year.

I

Specializes in Peds, Med-Surg, Disaster Nsg, Parish Nsg.
We put up a fake Xmas tree up in the office, hang ornaments precisely the height of our boss to annoy him as he walks into them, and bomb the rest of the space with lights, ribbons and wrapping paper. Even the fridge door got decorated with sleigh bells.

We bring in cookies and goodies to indulge in, as this is the one time of the year we're all not fussing over training or diets.

I have several practical jokes planned to 'wrap up' the working space of a coworker who is notoriously grumpy for no good reason,

and some awesome Secret Santa gifts planned. I even like the awful fruitcake that the boss's ex-wife sends to us every year.

I

Would love to see some pics once you get the Grinch's place all wrapped up.

Fruitcake....... At least she tries. LOL

Specializes in Peds, Med-Surg, Disaster Nsg, Parish Nsg.

Ya know.......... maybe we could post some pics here......just to spruce up the place......make it more festive.

So if any of you have pictures of your workplace decorations, feel free to post them. Or pics of your home decorations are fine too. It might inspire some of us.

We do not decorate at work. T

I like Secret Santa. It's fun if you know people well. I got unlucky this year with someone I don't know really at all!

Ugly sweaters are coming out christmas eve/day. Oh yeah!!!

lol, slightly off topic to WORKPLACE festivities, but, my daughter is going with her BF to his family's annual "Ugly Sweater" family get-together, which was so funny, i spit my coffee out laffin over.

LOVE this article, TNbutterfly!!

Specializes in Peds, Med-Surg, Disaster Nsg, Parish Nsg.
lol, slightly off topic to WORKPLACE festivities, but, my daughter is going with her BF to his families' annual "Ugly Sweater" family get-together, which was so funny, i spit my coffee out laffin over.

LOVE this article, TNbutterfly!!

Ugly Sweater family get-together. Now there's an original. LOLOLOLOLOLOL Now what is your daughter going to wear?????? We want pictures. HAHAHAHAHA

If you like this article, there is another article over on the Break Room side....... What are Your Favorite Christmas Traditions?

Specializes in Peds, Med-Surg, Disaster Nsg, Parish Nsg.
We do not decorate at work. That is unit policy, not hospital. Our manager is a scrooge.

I like Secret Santa. It's fun if you know people well. I got unlucky this year with someone I don't know really at all!

That is tough when you get someone you don't know. Maybe we can get some ideas for you.

Male or female????? Is there a price limit? Hmmmmmmm.................

One thing our workplace did,

which we all thoroughly enjoyed so so much,

was "Adopt a Family" each year.

I can't quite recall, where we got the info on the family we were adopting, maybe some social worker? not sure,

but,

we were given a desciption of the family. Like, "Family of four, whose father has cancer and are broke. The mom is a size 12, likes needlepoint, and loves the color red. Oldest son, is age 15, is into Atari games, and wears size 10 pants,..." etc etc.

Then, each of the (nameless) family members,

would be listed on a separate piece of paper, like,

"Dad"

Bedfast, but alert, wears size Lg pajamas, interested in hockey, etc etc.

"Age 6 girl"

Loves Dora the explorer, the color pink, and ballet, wears size 4 clothes.

and so on.

Under it, all of us nurses would sign up under one member of the family, and sometimes, we'd write in what we got, so no one would duplicate the item. "I got Age 6 girl a pink coat" or whatever.

We'd always make sure, that EACH member of the family got equal amount of nurses giving gifts, so that not everyone would sign up under "Age 6 girl", lol!

We would bring the item already wrapped, with tags like "Age 15 son" which the social worker would take off, and write REAL name of person, prior to delivering to the family's home. It was kind of heartwarming to see the pile of gifts getting bigger and bigger day by day. By deadline, it always seemed a very impressive pile of gifts!!

Also, the admins would add in gift of money, or turkey dinner, etc.

WE LOVED DOING THIS.

Decorations are not allowed to deck our halls :( There is one very large tree in the main lobby. We are not allowed to decorate any area at any time. Our personal lockers cannot even have pictures on them. In many cases, our management seems to focus on the trivial while totally ignoring the important things.