For the devout Christians, it is the birth of God’s son that necessitates the largesse that comes with the celebrations of every 25th day of the month of December. Jesus’ birthday, like many other events related to his life,  is celebrated in pure grand style the same way a child’s birth brings more joy than death. This is why Easter is never as big as Christmas.To the capitalists, Christmas is a Godsend literally as they cash in on the heightened celebratory mood across the world. Christmas falls at the end of the year, something that people are naturally inclined to let their hair down and relax after the long year. It is a time people prefer to slow down their work dominated lives and review the year and take a glimpse into the year ahead. It is because of this that even non-Christians are known to embrace the Christmas season to the maximum. It also helps that the big day is always followed by the rather needless Boxing Day and a week later the New Year’s Day. With the mood generally a holiday one, some employees are often granted a longer holiday to spend time with their families. This is one of the ways an appreciative employer can reward his/her staff after the long year.  Others take things a step father and organise end of year parties where the best and long serving staff are handsomely rewarded. This often goes a long way in ensuring that long serving staff continue to work with the organisation or company as they are almost assured of a prize at the end of the following year. If you are lucky to work in a decent organisation, you may actually get a salary bonus for the holiday and in some cases, this is as huge as a whole month’s salary often referred to as the 13th month.  I know of an organisation that simply got the amount of money it saved after carrying out all its programmes for the year and then shared the surplus among all the staff. In other words, each employee whether the guard, receptionist or the boss all received a cheque worth Rwf200, 000.  This is much better than the 13th month salary since getting an equal amount best implies that every single person in the company is valued. And indeed, this should be the main point of focus. After a long year of work, the owner of a company reminds his/her employees that they are valued? How do you ensure that they feel they have done a good job this year and should be ready to do better the following year? Should it just be business as usual with them working from December to January as though it was May to June? With a New Year beckoning, making and handing out calendars to all your staff is another smart move that companies ought to try out. If the budget is small then give each worker a company branded calendar to take home. If more money is available, then each employee should be given more than one so they can pass it on to a friend to freely market your company. Merry Christmas and a happy New Year.