It’s been quite the day here at the office. Firstly, and most importantly, it’s the WOW Report editor’s birthday today and when he showed up this morning, he found his workspace fully toilet-papered from stem to stern, fore and aft, his desk littered with a small tsunami of gifts, including a Barbie helium balloon and a tiny pornographic action figure. It felt almost as if he were – choke! – loved. (That squeaking sound you hear is him squeezing out a tear.) It was also the exciting denouement of the annual Secret Santa exchange program, executed directly after your editor blew out the candles on more chocolate cupcakes than he would have liked. Gifts were ripped open, Santas were exposed. And all the while, from as early as 7AM, WOW staff were being reviewed, spirited one-by-one into the conference room and interrogated on past and present performances, like the ghosts in that Dickens story. And lastly, but not leastly, Briton Fenton Bailey, co-master of World of Wonder, spent the afternoon downtown at the US District Court, getting sworn in as an American Citizen with the other tired, poor, huddled masses. And that, dear elves, may actually, ultimately, be more important than your editor’s birthday.

1) Holiday excitement on the fourth floor 2) Terrance and Randy anticipate gifts 3) James gets a certificate for goods 4) Thairin plays Santa 5) Devon and the JG 6) Nicole, Michael, and Liz

Photos: Aric Laferriere