Many years ago my now ex-husband used to work for a commercial construction company and the owner waited until 6:00 PM on Christmas Eve (and yes, they made them work a full day on Christmas Eve, until 5:00 PM) and then made them attend an afterhours Christmas Eve “party” at the office that consisted mostly of soda and pretzels and chips and dip just to get handed their “Christmas bonus”. And if you weren’t present at the “party” to smile and grovel for the boss - no “bonus” for you!
Some years it was a generous hand written check for anywhere from $50 to, in some years several hundred dollars, but being that the banks were closed by then as were most of the stores, was not very helpful for actually using it for Christmas live alone making the employees get home late on Christmas Eve whatever the bonus was. And in some years the “bonus” was a frozen turkey (Yea! A rock solid frozen turkey that won’t thaw out until at least New Years). One year, the boss handed out Christmas cards with nothing at all in it except for his “sincere thanks” that was clearly written by his secretary. Of course we learned not to count on getting anything so anything we got was more than we expected. But the bonuses seemed to have little or nothing to do with how profitable the company was that year or on how well anyone performed. It was completely random and at the whim and mood of the owner so it was like playing a roulette reel of “how much or how little of a jerk is he going to be this year” game.
Years ago I worked at a restaurant in Tulsa. Our Christmas bonus/gift from the owner was a $10 gift certificate to a western wear store. In Oklahoma City, where the flagship restaurant was located.