Sometimes, it’s nice to get to know what really matters to people. That’s more than just knowing the name of their children or what shows they are streaming this weekend. With the holidays approaching, it was pretty important for most of our team to celebrate, we all knew that our boss was Jewish and would be celebrating Hanukkah. She never says anything about it, knowing that she’s one of only a few people in the company that celebrate the meaningful holiday.

Hanukkah is much different in terms of celebration than the traditional Christmas events, but this boss never says anything about the decorations, the music that’s glaring from the radio, or the endless amount of foods that come in with obscene red, green, and white colors. At first, the thought was, “when is Hanukkah celebrated?” The realization that I did not even know this left a bit of a hole in my heart. If this person – who pretty much always goes out of the way for others could deal with a Christmas song about a hippo, I surely should be able to show some respect for Hanukkah traditions.

That’s when it hit me. This year, without saying anything, we should find a way to incorporate Hanukkah into the festivities. I didn’t want to reveal to her that this was my plan, so I talked to a group of people who I knew I could trust and decided to set up an interesting, respectful, but meaningful celebration for someone I knew would appreciate it.

The right items from a curated box may help. Then I thought about more than just gifts. How could I turn this into a meaningful celebration for someone that does so much for so many other people?

First, I needed a bit of education. When is Hanukkah 2023? I learned it is an 8-day celebration that, this year, will run from December 7 through December 15. That was my first win in this battle. How long is Hanukkah? I wasn’t quite sure about the various days or the ways that people celebrated. After learning as much as I could – when is Hanukkah and then when does Hanukkah end, I set out to get a few more people involved in this process.

I created a Google spreadsheet and invited a few people to it. I wanted as many people to contribute and make this special as I could, and I also didn’t want to have to spend a small fortune myself. I got some ideas together and shared some links about the traditions, food, and how to decorate for the event.

There’s no doubt we had to be creative. We also had to be as secretive as possible to make sure we are were pulling this off to surprise her. I wasn’t too sure I could do it because, in an office setting like this, people talk, often too much.

Our manager is a very nice person named Lily. She’s the one that leads by example, listens to everyone’s opinions, and steers people away from the bad decisions they often make (me being one of those constantly in her need). I also knew she was not dumb. That’s why I set out to gather some research to help people who were helping me to set up this event know what we were doing.

I wanted to understand the Hanukkah candles meaning, and the Hanukkah meaning itself. One of the worries I had was not wanting to insult her with a mistake or a misunderstanding about this day.

I tried to hide my interest in this holiday but just showed a bit of caring during a meeting. We were discussing schedules, and I wanted to try to play dumb. I asked, “When Is Hanukkah?” My thought was that I could act like none of the team had any idea about this day.

I thought she was clueless about the entire thing. Later I would learn that she already knew what was going on – and it wasn’t because of my question. Rather, she’s the Super Admin on that Google Doc! Can you imagine how dumb I felt learning of this? 

Lily didn’t say anything at all. She’s such a good person she wouldn’t have known what to say to confront us. So, she just went along with the entire thing.

She did play a bit of fun with us, though. She presented herself as an employee and shared an idea for the event in the document. She initially asked, “Who celebrates Hanukkah?” But no one answered that one. She then made a few interesting statements that in retrospect should have given her away. We had no idea this was anyone but another employee, remember?

She left notes about the Hanukkah celebration with simple suggestions like having an authentic Hanukkah Menorah in the office so that everyone could stand around it and pray. While we were wondering how to share “Happy Hanukkah” in an appropriate manner, she was spewing ideas about the colors used and where to find the perfect foods.

We were working towards hosting this celebration, and the topic of Hanukkah gifts came up. Now that we thought this employee had lots of knowledge about the intimate details of this experience, we wanted their viewpoint on the use of Hanukkah gift boxes and what type of Hanukkah food to bring.

Lily chimed in with some pretty interesting details. What we did not know then was that she was providing some outstanding insights and really educating us not just about what food is eaten or why gifts are given but really getting people involved in the conversation. We all were so proud of ourselves – we thought we were planning a fantastic event that was going to so impress Lily, and here she was actually educating us!

I initially wanted to keep things simple, like some swag and simple gifts for our company, but we learned more about the actual meaning behind these gifts and what was really important. 

All of the info we learned had me, in my off time, learning the story of Hanukkah, understanding what the Menorah was, and what each of the Hanukkah candles represented. I also found that the Hanukkah story was not just about what occurred in the past but has a direct impact on the world we live in today. 

After all of this, we set out to host our surprise when Hanukkah was set to begin. We were all so very confident in what we had done and planned for Lily, the person that we thought we knew so well and would be honoring. She didn’t say anything. She allowed us to share our knowledge – the knowledge she imparted on us – right back to her.

Later, after the holidays were over, I saw an update to the Google Doc, just closing it off to prevent any access. It was from Lily. At that moment, I thought about what had happened and realized, from the start, that she was fully aware of everything that was happening!