For a company as large as Cisco, we truly feel like an interconnected family every day, but especially when the seasonal traditions from around the globe are celebrated! Celebrating holidays to ensure everyone feels included, we make it is not just about Christmas or Hanukah, Halloween or Diwali -for us, it's Christmakahwaloween!

This year Diwali (one of the major festivals of Hinduism signifying the victory of light over darkness, good over evil, knowledge over ignorance, and hope over despair) and Halloween (a celebration before All Saints Day that includes trick-or-treating, costumes, and carving pumpkins) happened to fall on back to back days -October 30^thand 31^st.  Here at Cisco-Austin we saw this as a prime opportunity to blend these two wonderful holidays and create an unprecedented celebration called Diwalloween!

Our teams here like to have parties and initiatives that bring everyone together and strengthen our bonds....it's a big reason to as why we feel so much like a family! When my "family" asked if we were celebrating both of these holidays, how could I say no? I started to think about how I could pull this off and still stay within our monthly budgets -it meant I had to get creative!

That's when the idea came to me and Diwalloween was created.

With a little imagination and help from one of my Directors, Prasanthi Somepalli, we did it! Food was our first task to tackle -because what's a party without food? It's no secret that one of the best ways to share traditions with each other is through food! We asked our teams to bring in traditional Indian delicacies and ghoulish Halloween treats for Diwalloween -done! Our bellies would be filled with delicious noms!

Next, we moved on to the fun part of the party...the contest. Again, we wanted to incorporate the best of both holidays and so...a RangPumpCoo Contest was created. Teams of six were challenged to create a Rangoli picture, carve a pumpkin, and decorate a cookie that ALL fit into one theme. They had one hour to accomplish their RangPumpCoo and NO ONE disappointed. We had three great entries that left our judge scratching his head as he tried to pick just one winner!

Part of Ciscso's People Deal Manifesto says, "Weconnect everything-people, process, data and things -and we use those connections to change our world for the better. We don't just dream it, we do it every day."

Diwalloween is a small but wonderful way to prove just that! We came together to create an event that combined the traditions of Diwali & Halloween in a way that made everyone feel included, happy, and appreciated for who they are and what they believe. It bonded us together, and even introduced some of us to new traditions.

As an Executive Administrator, I get to celebrate every day by coming to work at a place I love and making everyone smile. Cisco always embraces my creative spirit, and allows me to share this with my co-workers.

With the holiday season in full swing, let's all take a moment to see how we can be more inclusive of one another and truly celebrate together! How are you celebrating your holiday season? What new traditions are you coming up with that enable everyone to celebrate together?  Tell us in the comments below, or share a photo on social media and tag#WeAreCisco!

Want to join a company that thinks every day is a reason to celebrate? We're hiring!