Every December, right about the time Santa’s elves kick it into high gear at the North Pole to make Christmas merry for kids worldwide, hundreds of other elves around the country do the same for college football players.

The announcement of this year’s bowl matchups on Sunday means the reveal of bowl gifts — “swag,” or “Stuff We All Get” as Michael Scott from “The Office” called it, is a much cooler term — for players isn’t far behind. It’s something that’s always fun to peruse, like the Sears catalogues of my youth.

The NCAA allows each bowl game to give $550 in gifts to 125 participants from each school. Most of the gifts are tied in to the bowl sponsor. So, for example, based on last year’s gift list Mississippi State’s players can expect a shopping spree at Belk (good) for playing in the Belk Bowl; Ole Miss’ guys will get a really nice watch and baseball cap (meh) for going to the Sugar Bowl; and Southern Miss’ Golden Eagles can look forward to receiving a backpack, beanie and commemorative football (hoo boy) when they get to Dallas for the Zaxby’s Heart of Dallas Bowl.

The most prestigious bowl games don’t always give the best swag, though. The Sugar Bowl last year awarded a Fossil watch and a cap. The second-tier Military Bowl gave each player an XBox One.

It could be worse. It could always be worse. The Texas Bowl in Houston gave away a duffel bag and belt buckle, in case any players wanted to join the rodeo afterward. LSU is playing in the Texas Bowl this year, so maybe gifts that encourage Les Miles to embrace his destiny and become a rodeo clown are fitting.

Of course, bowl gifts aren’t just for players. In the interest of full disclosure, many bowls give swag to the media covering the game. I’ve collected a Russell gym bag from the Mobile Bowl and a laptop bag from the 2002 Independence Bowl, both of which served me well for many years.

There’s also a windbreaker from the Cotton Bowl that’s been hanging in my closet for five years. It’s nice enough, but a bit too thin to do much good if the temperature is below 60 degrees. Functionality is often better than form when it comes to these things.

Come to think of it, maybe a watch and a backpack aren’t so bad after all.

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Ernest Bowker is a sports writer. He can be reached at ernest.bowker@vicksburgpost.com