As one year wraps up and another year starts, it’s always festive and busy at Cars For Sale. First, boxes and boxes of Christmas decorations are unloaded and put on display after Thanksgiving. Then, small Secret Santa exchanges take place and potlucks (with lots of Christmas cookies) happen. Finally, there’s a full day of Christmas celebration for all the Cars For Sale employees.

It started with donuts, coffee, and an elaborate hot cocoa bar. As people ate their breakfast and sipped on a warm drink, they flipped through the pages of the 2023 Cars For Sale yearbook, one of the many Christmas office traditions to look forward to. The 60+ page book captures all the funny and pivotal moments from the past year.

After chatting, everyone gathered in the auditorium. Anyone who got married, welcomed a baby, moved to a new home, or had a child become a teenager this year was given a few mementos to mark the occasion. Ornaments were given to the new couples, baby wipes were given to the new parents, a key-shaped Christmas tree ornament was given to the new homeowners, and, appropriately enough, some Advil was given to the parents who now live with teenagers.

The Christmas Story was read, followed by a prayer blessing, and then Santa made an appearance, handing out an extra gift to everyone in the room. 

Up next was another opportunity to get a gift. This time, though, you had to win it. 10 teams eagerly answered a series of holiday-themed questions in an exciting round of Christmas trivia. After correctly naming Oregon as the state that produced the most evergreens each year, Team 3 won the bragging rights and some extra shopping money.

After getting some more time to simply catch up with each other, the entire Cars For Sale team sat down for lunch. To end the day, popcorn was served for the afternoon Christmas movie and then the entire team got to go home early and get a head start on holiday celebrations.

The celebrating didn’t end there, though. Just a week later, the Cars For Sale team gathered on the second level of the building and shot off confetti poppers to ring in the new year. Each employee has his or her own confetti cannon and sets them off one at a time. The result is some loud noises, a multi-colored cloud of confetti, and a lot of fun! 

Team members have a variety of resolutions for 2024, some professional and some personal: 

My New Year’s resolution is to get better at time management, but I’ll probably start on that tomorrow.

– Jesus R., Dealer Relations

My personal goal is to be more present in the moment, leave my phone in my car, and engage in better conversations.

– Austin J., Sales

Professionally, my New Year’s Resolution is to grow my dealership base and focus on creating good relationships with my dealers.

– Matt P., Sales

In 2024 I’m aiming to complete my degree program from SDSU that I started before I had a family. Personally, working towards being more mindful, expanding my home garden, and learning how to play drums side by side with my 10 year old! Because, why not?

– Randi F., Dealer Relations

Before any of those New Year’s resolutions completely got underway, though, it was time for lunch and a New Year’s Day pizza party (the cleaning and vacuuming happened later)!