For me Christmas is the most wonderful time of the year. Yes, I’m one of those people who start counting down from the end of August - 70 days until Christmas... 35 days until Christmas... 23 days until Christmas and so on 😋 - and start buying Christmas decorations online when I'm still on the beach. 😎

To be honest, I used to think that the worst time to go to the office is Christmas. Who wants - I wondered - to leave their warm house and tackle the traffic jam every morning, to reach an office that has anything but a festive atmosphere? But when I joined Up, I realized I was wrong! Because here, the Christmas season includes a series of events worth experiencing! 👏

Secret Santa – Discovering the gift 🎁

Gifts, gifts, gifts – without them there is no Christmas at all! That's why the festivities began this year with Secret Santa, the ultimate Christmas game. Secret Santa is one of the most fun and popular ways to get into the holiday mood. So, in one of our usual morning meetings, we pulled a colleague's name from a bowl in order to get him/her a present without revealing our identity until the day of the gift exchange! The result? Everyone wondering and searching for who their Secret Santa is with an indescribable feeling of excitement! 💖

The Christmas Tree Decoration and Choco 🎄

Then we have the decoration of the tree, which in Up is an important ritual. On the occasion of our new offices, we bought new Christmas equipment: tree, lights, ornaments, decorative Santa Claus, nutcrackers, chocolates, hats and many more Christmas props.

On December 5th, we all gathered to decorate the office and exchange the gifts we had gotten for our colleagues. Already from the morning of that day, there was a lot of movement in the office. Our beloved Nelly made falafel for everyone, people came in and out carrying stuff, drinks, melomakarona and kourabiedes while we also had a special guest... Choco. Choco Bastien's dog that came to give an extra hint of joy and without a doubt is the most festive dog we have ever met! 💖

What we had achieved with this decoration, wasn’t only to make our office more beautiful than ever. The real success was that we all came even closer through simple moments of love and generosity.

Τhe Absolute Christmas Party 🎉

After the decoration of the Christmas tree, it was time for the Christmas Party.

The Christmas party of Up Hellas is something of a tradition. It happens every year (a few days before Christmas) and everyone is looking forward to it. Preparation starts many months in advance. Shortly after the summer, the discussion about the appropriate venue, music, invitations, menu and decoration begins.

Our goal? What else? The team to have a great time! 🎀

The party was on December 16th at Faust, a wonderful, warm place in the heart of Athens, able to make true everything we had imagined. The calls and discussions were many and daily in order to organize even the smallest detail, both with the owner of the venue and with the record company ΜINOS-EMI, (yes, you read correctly 😋), with which we collaborated for the two artists who entertained us, Giorgos Tsalikis and Kostas Martakis. The evening was special, with a lot of dancing, fun, surprises, plenty of laughter, gratitude for what we achieved together but also impatience for what awaits us in the upcoming year.

Christmas at Up is more than just a celebration 🌟

Christmas for everyone at Up is an opportunity to rebalance our daily lives. The end of the year and the beginning of the next one fill us with hope for what is to come. We evaluate our progress so far, observe our actions, our feelings and congratulate each other for what we have achieved. But don’t think that this mood exists in Up only during the Christmas season... On the contrary it exists all year round! It's just that in Christmas is even brighter! ✨

By Chara Varvaresou, Marketing Coordinator of our super team!