Come December and there’s Christmas and New Year cheer bursting out of everywhere in our city: in the cool morning mist, in the overwhelming smell of butter cookies and freshly baked cakes as you step into a mall, in the cheerful and familiar sounds of carols, in the warmth of families reuniting for a lovely feast (AND in the undying hope that our clients will go on vacation!)

Tucked away in our cozy, lake-facing office, we sure lived up to the yuletide spirit in style. We started with rolling up our sleeves and getting down to some serious cake mixing, complete with fruits, nuts and a generous splash of Old Monk Rum (which by the way, is the most coveted spirit in our office lately). However, our most awaited activity was Secret Santa, that always comes with its share of over-the-top Textie creativity, killer one-liners and anonymous letters! Nothing feels better than watching that childlike glee on someone’s face when they are the proud receivers of the most arbit and whacky gifts – like call bells, posters of Korean heart throbs and balloon pumps (yes, seriously!)

After all these were people we have known and grown to love over the years! As ‘tis the season to be jolly, we carried a little bit of our Secret Santa spirit to Omashram, a shelter for the elderly and spread the cheer among the inmates as well. The good times rolled incessantly at Ivy Rossa resort as we drank, ate, crooned, frolicked and dumb-charaded our way to a long and memorable night. Now who would ever want the year to end, when it gets as fun as this?? J

The party never stops as we roll out impromptu lunches, cookouts everyday as we count down to 2011: I guess, ‘to Exc1te’ is inherent in the DNA of Text 100. As another Christmas gets Ctrl+S’ed in our memories – we at Bangalore can sure vouch for the fact that, ‘We can do no great things – only small things with great love.’

Here’s clinking glasses and wishing everybody a wonderful start to the new year!!

– Mihika Shankar

PS: Don’t forget to click on the picture collage above – it enlarges!