Secret Santa 2020!
Posted: Tue Dec 08, 2020 1:56 am
Hello everyone,
I hope that each of you has been getting through the incredibly turbulent year of 2020 with life, family, and general mental well being intact. It has been one big challenging year for everyone since the last holiday season we celebrated on MineRealm.
I think that makes it even more important to hold this yearly event once again in the hopes that in some smaller ways we can preserve some sense of normalcy in a year that has been far from anything normal. Whether you've been relatively unaffected by the events of this year, or have been devastated by the changes it has made to our lives I think it's nice to be able to hold this event and be reminded that we're still around people. We don't have to worry about sanitization or social distancing within the confines of a video game.
Now with all that out of the way I'd like to say Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to everyone in the community. I'll be hosting another secret santa event this year. I am always glad to do this event no matter how few entries are received. I am excited by the prospect of maybe having some new faces, and even a lot of familiar ones come back and, participate this year as the server(s) has seen a resurgence since everyone's been spending a lot more time at home.
If you're unfamiliar with the concept of secret santa it's basically an event where a group of people enter and are randomly assigned another person in the group to act as their santa. Ultimately this means planning out a gift to give them around the big day, or whenever both people have time after the names are sent out to the participants. For our event I usually take names for the secret santa from the time the announcement post is thrown up, all the way till the 21st of this month. I will then notify the participants the names of the people they will be getting a gift for. Since schedules are hard to work out with timezones and busy holiday seasons I'd say it's fairly flexible as to when you get your gift out to your assigned person.
All I ask is that you follow these simple rules:
1. DO NOT forget that you participated in the event.
2. Take some time to carefully consider what you're giving a person.
3. If you're having trouble finding time to get a gift together, or some other problem let either the person know, or let me know.
4. If you didn't get anything from anyone let me know.
5. If you're going to participate post here or get in touch with me on discord, in-game or otherwise by the 21st
I make these rules because it doesn't feel good to be forgotten about, even if it's in a digital context like this. I take the only complaints I've heard about this event to heart. Namely that the people sometimes say they never got anything, but they never told me about it. Don't be shy about it, I can be gotten a hold of on discord very easily. As for the second rule I must emphasize the importance of being thoughtful about what you put together for someone. I also don't want to give the idea that you have to include precious valuables in your gift. People will give away what they feel comfortable giving. I will say that the most memorable secret santas I've received were a couple of ones that used imagination. Imagination can go a long way.
Just like the previous years I will be allowing people to put their secret santa gifts by the Christmas tree at spawn, but you don't have to if you don't want to. People can notify me in game, or on discord that they're ready to set up their present. The speed boat ice rink is done up nicely with the tree as always except this year it's even more special because with Braden's help some redstone contraptions have been added so that the tree lights twinkle, and theres holiday note block songs to be heard. (Check the back of the Xmas tree, and the wood pressure pads at the entrance).
Here's hoping that we get double digit participants this year!
Merry Christmas!
One small side note: this event takes place only on MR Classic.
I hope that each of you has been getting through the incredibly turbulent year of 2020 with life, family, and general mental well being intact. It has been one big challenging year for everyone since the last holiday season we celebrated on MineRealm.
I think that makes it even more important to hold this yearly event once again in the hopes that in some smaller ways we can preserve some sense of normalcy in a year that has been far from anything normal. Whether you've been relatively unaffected by the events of this year, or have been devastated by the changes it has made to our lives I think it's nice to be able to hold this event and be reminded that we're still around people. We don't have to worry about sanitization or social distancing within the confines of a video game.
Now with all that out of the way I'd like to say Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to everyone in the community. I'll be hosting another secret santa event this year. I am always glad to do this event no matter how few entries are received. I am excited by the prospect of maybe having some new faces, and even a lot of familiar ones come back and, participate this year as the server(s) has seen a resurgence since everyone's been spending a lot more time at home.
If you're unfamiliar with the concept of secret santa it's basically an event where a group of people enter and are randomly assigned another person in the group to act as their santa. Ultimately this means planning out a gift to give them around the big day, or whenever both people have time after the names are sent out to the participants. For our event I usually take names for the secret santa from the time the announcement post is thrown up, all the way till the 21st of this month. I will then notify the participants the names of the people they will be getting a gift for. Since schedules are hard to work out with timezones and busy holiday seasons I'd say it's fairly flexible as to when you get your gift out to your assigned person.
All I ask is that you follow these simple rules:
1. DO NOT forget that you participated in the event.
2. Take some time to carefully consider what you're giving a person.
3. If you're having trouble finding time to get a gift together, or some other problem let either the person know, or let me know.
4. If you didn't get anything from anyone let me know.
5. If you're going to participate post here or get in touch with me on discord, in-game or otherwise by the 21st
I make these rules because it doesn't feel good to be forgotten about, even if it's in a digital context like this. I take the only complaints I've heard about this event to heart. Namely that the people sometimes say they never got anything, but they never told me about it. Don't be shy about it, I can be gotten a hold of on discord very easily. As for the second rule I must emphasize the importance of being thoughtful about what you put together for someone. I also don't want to give the idea that you have to include precious valuables in your gift. People will give away what they feel comfortable giving. I will say that the most memorable secret santas I've received were a couple of ones that used imagination. Imagination can go a long way.
Just like the previous years I will be allowing people to put their secret santa gifts by the Christmas tree at spawn, but you don't have to if you don't want to. People can notify me in game, or on discord that they're ready to set up their present. The speed boat ice rink is done up nicely with the tree as always except this year it's even more special because with Braden's help some redstone contraptions have been added so that the tree lights twinkle, and theres holiday note block songs to be heard. (Check the back of the Xmas tree, and the wood pressure pads at the entrance).
Here's hoping that we get double digit participants this year!
Merry Christmas!
One small side note: this event takes place only on MR Classic.
