You better watch out. You better not cry. You better not shout. I'm telling you why: Secret Santas have come to town.

And Santees beware, for some Secret Santas refuse to settle for mundane gifts such as chocolate, alcohol or flowers. Not content with an under-the-door present, creative St. Nicks go for the public approach.

Melissa Glen '88 was eating dinner in Winthrop House on Saturday night when the male cast of Grease came over and picked up her chair. They carried her to the front of the dining hall, where someone dressed in a Victorian coat sang, "Melissa Ma Belle". The lead singer gave her a carnation, while the other guys kissed her.

"I've never turned that red in my life," says Glen.

The Winthrop dining house was also the scene for Matthew J. Kaufhold '86's present. Two women dressed in black sunglasses and short skirts placed a sign on Kaufhold that read "Sean Penn" to the tunes of Madonna.

On the more romantic side, Kristin K. Williams '89 received a red rose and a kiss from a "cute guy in a tux." Luke J. Fleckenstein '87 had dinner in Adams House with "the woman of [his] dreams." His Secret Santa also supplied a waiter, music by a live soprano in black dress and boa, and flaming liquor that Fleckenstein was forced to drink blindfolded.

For a more classical Secret Santa present, Janet Korins '88 was led to the Lowell House high table one night where she was fed grapes by a togaed elf. "I was embarrassed, but I though it was a riot," she says, adding that friends were snapping pictures.

They Know When You Are Sleeping

Quincy House's Jordan Fieldman '87 says that he might have missed out on one of his best presents. His roommate told him that a beautiful woman in a short red dress came to his door to give him a backrub. Fieldman was asleep, so his roommate didn't wake him. "I was made about that," he says.

But Fieldman says he felt better when his Secret Santa called "all the women in Lowell House and asked them to give me a big kiss." He says, "That's when I started to love Secret Santa."

"Mr. Funny," hot chocolate, and a reader appeared at Matthew Hong '86's South House room one night. Eleanor D. Clark '89 woke up one morning to find a baguette, pear and brie on her desk.

In Penny packer, Nancy M. Lutz '89 woke one morning to find her door wrapped in red paper, "the official one-of-a-kind Pennypacker door."

They Know When You're Awake

Lutz also received pennies taped together into the shape of a cane. "My Secret Santa called it the first penny pack from Pennypacker," she says.

Just in case one student in Evolutionary Biology had a tendency to drop off, his Secret Santa ascertained that for at least one lecture, be would be awake. She slipped a frame which read "Merry Christmas, Lewellyn" onto the projector and the whole class saw the result, according to Maizie Chan '88.