Years ago my father, the manager of Paine Webber’s Charlotte office had an office prankster and a running joke that started on the 1st of December lasted until Christmas Eve.
Just after Thanksgiving the staff put up the a Christmas tree. Not bad for a 12-foot fake tree, but somehow without presents it just looked bare. So dad sent an email to everyone suggesting that should someone feel the holiday spirit and want to wrap up a box or two, he’d be happy to approve the nominal expense.
Two days passed with no replies or offers, and the tree remained giftless.
Then on the 1st of December a very small package, no more than a six inch cube wrapped in gold and red paper, with a perfect red bow, showed up under the tree. It was without a tag and after each available employee checked out the gift box, it was determined it was just a nice wrapped but empty box, as Dad had suggested.
But the box was so small that it was dwarfed by the tree.
Hoping to encourage the responsible party to perhaps make another box or two, Dad hit the reply to all button and thanked the mystery gift provider for their work and the holiday cheer it brought to the office.
A few days passed and as Dad was walking the tree, he noticed the package had grown. He nearly stumbled into a co-worker also looking at the package that had ever so slightly expanded overnight.
The six-inch-by-six-inch square box was now eight or maybe nine inches, same holiday wrapping paper different color different bow and just a little bit bigger and only one.
From then on, every day the package would grow, the wrapping paper and the bow would change but it was always placed in the exact same place as it was the night before, just a little bigger and only the one lone package.
Soon the mystery package became the talk of the office. How big will it get, who is behind this mischief, and what is the purpose and where did the smaller boxes go?
Two weeks before Christmas the package had grown into a box that was 2 feet square. The package that once was overshadowed by the 12-foot tree now looked pretty good but the package continued to grow. The weekend before Christmas, they had the company Christmas party and sometime during the party the package increased to nearly 3 feet square. On the 21st it was bigger yet, and on the 22nd and 23rd it grew again.
Then on the morning of the 24th much to Dad’s surprise the lobby was filled with 24 packages all square and in ever increasing sizes. Each of those wrapped boxes that had made an appearance on one of the preceding days now surrounded the company tree. All perfectly wrapped in reds, greens and golds, and the original one, the smallest, had a small envelope attached.
The tiny card inside the envelope read:
“One alone does not make a team, but together we put on quite a show. Merry Christmas”.
To this day no one knows who was behind the fun and the Christmas “team” message. But I have my suspicions.
Merry Christmas!
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