Happy Holidays from the LiveWorkPlay Staff Team!

We all love the work that we do, but it poses certain challenges that people might not realize – it means travelling all over the community each and every day, often not seeing other colleagues in person for several days.

Part of the answer is being hyper-connected through technology. We check in online every morning. We meet together on video for an hour every Tuesday. And we have dozens of channels on Teams where we share information about supports, events, conferences, projects, training, and more. Our community and employment supports teams also organize their own online and in-person meetings. But getting together as a full team is difficult and we aren’t able to do it very often – but when we do, we have certain rituals that form the core of our time together.

One of our lasting traditions is how we celebrate the holidays. Years ago, we moved on from having a dinner celebration as this was a stress for those with family and other evening commitments. We also don’t “close for the holidays” (another reality of supporting people, instead of running programs) so whatever we do, it has to fit in with our ongoing work.

The answer is that we now carefully schedule a weekday morning and afternoon with a celebration centred around having lunch together and some time to appreciate each other.

At the heart of it all is the Secret Santa appreciation videos! Through a random draw, each staff member makes a video to appreciate a colleague, and it is revealed at our watch party lunch. The videos are astoundingly creative, moving, and funny, depending on the approach! This year was no exception! We cannot share them as part of what makes it special is that it is something just for the team. But here’s a screen capture collage that showcases the spirit of it all! Happy Holidays from the LiveWorkPlay team!