poledo, if it's not too personal, can I ask what you do for a living? And are you hiring?

It sounds like you could ditch the Christmas Bonus and hand out a February "Thanks For Sticking Around" bonus.
Not hiring... although there is one guy I wouldn't mind seeing go... he's been giving me headaches for the six months or so and it wouldn't surprise me if he tried to file a frivolous workers comp claim. I hope he just walks off the job after the Christmas bonus checks arrive instead of dragging me into a workers comp defense (I've got everything well documented on this fella), I'll probably be passing those xmas checks out on 12/12. I also have a waiting list of people who really want me to hire them, and I personally know most of the people on the list right now (due to the economy, usually I have to interview strangers.)
I've never posted my occupation online because that would give away my anonymity, there aren't many like me around the Pensacola area. Although, Zach, you did get some emails to the AL media page from me a while back my real name and enough information for a sleuth to figure me out. Please don't post anything online that you may know or find out about me Zach.
I'm in an industry that's part agriculture and part construction. I'm also a part time farmer and a part time landlord. I pay a large percentage of my revenue (from my primary business) to insurance companies (the bastards audit me to make sure they milk all they can from me). I've got a whole lot of licenses from the state and also hold the Florida record for highest test scores from anyone without a masters or doctorates degree in my field (there are only a dozen or so (with upper level degrees) out of 100,000 or so that scored equal or higher grades than I did and I didn't even finish my bachelors degree (I came home when my dad passed)... I'm either a natural or (god forbid) a savant... I didn't study and I was stoned when I took my licensing tests

but unfortunately I can't tell my "peers" about that and my friends just don't get it... those test are pretty damn hard.
I know that less than 20% of businesses still give out Christmas bonuses and I am not a religious man (I can do a good job of faking it if the girl is cute enough.) As far as I know none of my employees are religious either but they all have families and the Christmas bonus just seems like the right thing to do because they all have to pay excessive bills to keep the wives and kids happy this time of the year and the bonus was also something my dad (rip) set up and I never really changed any of his business practices when he passed and left me with a boring business that I never wanted to begin with. I did do away with the company Christmas party (daddy died 2 day before xmas 1991, so I don't want to throw a shindig on that anniversary.) So I took the annual company party fund and padded the employee bonus checks (ain't I nice!) I don't give any employees gifts or throw any parties or even bring in birthday cakes. I just give them cash because in my opinion, "Cash is King."