The small team stood around the conference room, the table now resembled more of a picnic table. It was covered in an assortment of food and a few drinks, with paper plates and cups set up at one end.

“I would like to thank everyone for another year,” Hank stood in front of the whiteboard. He then started rambling about their accomplishments for the year as well as their goals for next year. “Now enjoy the food and I’ll see you next year.” He finished as he stepped towards the table to grab a plate.

“Just a second,” Maggie, the newest team member, got up in front of the room. “I thought before we get started, we could do a Secret Santa,” she smiled as she held a container full of their names. “It’ll be a good way to get to know each other more.”

“Uh…” Hank paused. “That’s a good idea Maggie but it would've been a better idea to set this up earlier, the office will be closed until the sixth.”

“I know, that’s why I’ve set this one up a little differently, it doesn’t require anyone to meet up or anything, just wake up on Christmas day and find a present you weren’t expecting.” Maggie smiled as she held the container in front of Hank, who ended up taking out one of the names. She then went around and had each other co-worker until everyone had a name of someone else. Maggie smiled as she returned to the front of the room. “With the power of the thirteenth Friday and the magic of Christmas, everyone will spend twelve days in the body of their secret santa.” Maggie pulled out the final name of the container and read it aloud. “Looks like I got you Hank…”

In the blink of an eye Maggie was looking at her former body which now looked rather confused. She didn’t know who was in there but that’s what made this fun. She then looked around at the rest of the room as the situation began to dawn on everyone.

“Alright…” Maggie cleared her throat, her new voice threw her off a little. “Alright listen up. I know you’re all confused but this is temporary, you’ll all go back to your original bodies on Christmas morning. Take this time to get to know each other, give your current body a gift. Experience life from a new perspective and if that doesn’t convince you, I’m giving you all a Christmas bonus of a thousand dollars each.”

“You can’t do that!” Jillian stood up holding her belly awkwardly. Maggie smiled as she just found Hank.

“I’m the boss Jill,” Maggie smiled. “I can do what I want. Besides I was just saying how good a year we’ve had, so it should be in the budget.” She glared at him as he sat back down. Maggie couldn’t help but smile as Hank’s current body. “Now use this time wisely to give your former body a quick run down on your life. If you need me I’ll be in my office.” Maggie tapped on her former body’s shoulder and motioned for her to follow.

The person in Maggie’s body looked towards the rest of the staff then back at Maggie and nervously followed her out of the conference room and down the hall.

“So you don’t need to worry about my life,” Maggie said as she sat down at Hank’s desk and logged into the PC. “As I knew this was going to happen I took some precautions. I don’t drive a car, I live with two other flatmates, both of whom have done the same thing I just did. Oh as an apology we did book a tropical vacation, your flight leaves on Sunday. Other than that, enjoy the experience of being me.”

“Don’t you want to know who I am?” Maggie’s former body asked sheepishly as they took in the information.

“More fun that I don’t,” Maggie gave a playful smile. “Besides not the first time I’ve swapped with a man, if you were a man.” Maggie continued to type things out on the computer.

“What are you doing?” her former body tried not to react to that statement.

“Making sure everyone gets paid their bonus, and taking precautions so I don’t get fired when we go back to being ourselves.” Maggie explained without looking up. “You may go now, I’m sure you want to give your body a briefing too and I’m sure Jillian wants to speak with me.”

Her body stood there for a moment lost in thought. They contemplated what to do next but figured they’d listen to Maggie's suggestion. After a minute of lingering they finally left the office and returned to the party.

Maggie finished adjusting what she needed to do on the computer and sat back spreading her legs. It had been a few months since she got the opportunity to be a man. It took longer than expected for Jillian to walk in and she didn’t come alone, she was with David.

“Ah Hank, and I assume Jill?” Maggie greeted them as she leant back in Hank’s chair. “What can I do for you both?”

“For one you can get out of my chair,” Hank demanded. “And then you can give us our bodies back.”

“And you second this?” Maggie asked Jillian who looked rather uncomfortable but nodded. “Unfortunately I can’t accommodate that request, at least not fully. The nature of the spell is around the secret santa and you can’t have yourself. So I could take Jill as mine, but then Jill you’d have to take Hank as yours. Now which would you prefer, Hank in your body or you in Hank’s?” Maggie asked. She had done what she wanted to in Hank’s so swapping out of it wasn’t that big of a deal. “Of course you could ask someone else to take that body off your hands.”

“Wait, we can do that?” Jillian asked, excited about the possibility.

“At least until the end of the work day,” Maggie confirmed. “So for another hour…” Jillian practically ran out of the room and back down to the conference room to share the information.

Hank just glared at his former body. “You’re getting fired for this,” Hank snapped.

“Good luck with that,” Maggie said as she stood up and returned to the party. She suspected Hank would try undoing the changes she had made but she made sure he was locked out of the system and he wouldn’t be able to get back in without her help or the help of someone she gave a bonus to.

Maggie returned to the party in the conference room and found things to be more lively. People were trying to swap names. Others were enjoying new foods while some were disappointed that they no longer liked one of their comfort foods. This led to more arrangements of swapping. Then there were the Christmas plans, of course with the promise of a tropical holiday the person in Maggie’s body refused to swap out with anyone else, while others were trying to go onto other trips or avoid particular ones.

“If anyone needs someone to sub out this body is available,” Maggie announced as she took a seat. “Also those bonuses should clear tomorrow, use it as spending money while you’re in your borrowed bodies.” Maggie grabbed a plate of food and sat down, smiling at the chaos she had unleashed. It was always fun messing with people like this, some people enjoyed it, others hated it, everyone would get a new perspective on life. She couldn’t wait until she could try this again in June.