Senators Play Secret Santa for One Night

WASHINGTON–On Tuesday night, the Senate turned from its bickering and dysfunction to a Secret Santa exchange to spread some holiday cheer on Capitol Hill.

For the third year in a row, Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., organized the official Senate Secret Santa exchange, where 23 Republicans and 42 Democrats swapped small gifts.

“Anything that brings Democrats and Republicans together and builds relationships is a good thing,” Franken said. “That’s why three years ago I came up with the idea to hold a Secret Santa in the Senate and I’ve been doing it ever since.”

“It’s something that we did back in grade school in St. Louis Park and I think it genuinely brings some much necessary bipartisan cheer to the Senate,” he added.

And Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., probably had the scariest gift – fake rattlesnake eggs and a real scorpion lollipop which he presented to Sen. Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii.

Read the entire piece here: http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2013/12/senators-play-secret-santa-for-one-night/