Shhhhhh.

It's a secret. And it will stay a secret for 12 months.

For 52 weeks, we connive. We sneak presents and cards into mailboxes and onto doorsteps.

Sometimes we enlist the help of a trusted confidant to deliver a special gift or message. But the confidant must be sworn to silence.

For 12 months, we gather clues and try to correctly guess who's giving us the gifts.

What is this club? It's a group we call Secret Sisters. Each year we gather at one of our houses, share a meal, and anxiously await the great revealing. It's when we tell who our secret sister has been for the last 365 days.

Tonight was the night. And the majority of us were surprised.

Some say a secret club is silly. But for us, it's a way to form bonds with people with whom we don't normally socialize. It's fun. And it can be meaningful, too, as we share notes of appreciation throughout the year with one person - and she doesn't know who we are!

Being part of of a collective effort to build each other up and support each other benefits us all.

This isn't an online or snail mail scam. This group of women is a group of friends, and friends of friends who commit to "clandestine thoughtfulness" toward one woman. We're allowed to write down what we don't like or are allergic to. And we can write down a few things we love doing in our free time.

Most of the time you get random information: read. sleep. talk to friends. So you need to be observant. To be creative. To figure out what she likes. And do it on the sly.

I've been a part of this group for several years. And after each year, I feel I've formed new friendships.

If you're not part of a women's group - be it a book club, cooking group, or secret sister club - I encourage you to form one. You'll make great memories and good friends.

Photo by Rod Waddington from Kergunyah, Australia - Two Girls, Tigray, CC BY-SA 2.0.