SAWITU Secret Santa

SAWITU Secret Santa

SAWITU’s Secret Santa begins late October and runs through the end of November – early we know, but we like to miss the Christmas mail rush. Posts are posted, emails sent, and packages mailed. This practice is named “Secret Santa” because the gift receivers have no idea who the sender, their “Secret Santa,” is.

Larry Dean Stewart, who was born in 1948, is thought to be the original “Secret Santa” as he came up with the idea of giving anonymous gifts during the December holiday to bring cheer to people at Christmas time. For 25 years, Stewart, secretly donated $100 bills to people in Kansas, and apparently also donated $25 000 in the form of $100 bills to New Yorkers after 9/11. In 2006 he came out as the Secret Santa everyone had been wondering about for so long.

The definitive rule of “Secret Santa” is that the gifts must be given anonymously. Who doesn’t like a surprise gift, and the idea that someone thoughtfully picked an item out for you, makes you feel warm and loved. It’s a classic game often played in an office, for holiday parties, sometimes family gatherings and, now more and more often, within Facebook groups.