One Christmas down

Tom has twenty four siblings and adding in their thirty multiple spouses and kids makes for a very large and noisy group. With all of us there were nineteen people and one via facetime for our Christmas which included a Yankee Exchange. We had a ham dinner that probably took longer cleaning up then it did making and eating it.

This group loves to play cards and multiple games were going on after the food was consumed. The kids were in one room playing. The adults were in another room playing. Oddly, not money is involved.

The Yankee Exchange got underway quickly. Each person purchases a gift within the price range, wraps it secretly, and puts it under the tree. We draw names and go in order. The seeker can open a gift or take one from someone else. If a steal is made, the person who loses the gift gets to either draw a new one or steal from someone else. Each year I always lose the best gift! I'm very bitter about it and so this year I had a plan. I would chose Darcy's gift, which I bought so I knew what it was, and sat quietly hoping no one would notice. I decided that if someone stole it someone else in our family would get it back because Darcy really wanted the game.

I drew number 2. I got the game. Everyone oohed and aahed which was not a good sign. I made a lot of whiny comments about how I never get what I picked. I think it worked. Plus being quiet was a good strategy since NO ONE is used to that.

Also, there were other cool gifts this year. We had two I Tunes gift cards, a Starbucks gift card, and a really cool hat that was getting stolen again and again.

Darcy ended up with it. She stole it from Maddy who stole it from her Aunt Beth. The gifts are suppose to be funny, crazy, and nice. Huh? I bought a pillow as my gift. It too was stolen a couple of times.

At the end of the game everyone went around trading for things they really wanted so I think everyone went home happy. Some gifts were multiple parts so we all ended up with lots of stuff. I took home the Reverse Charades game and some Sour Patch Kids candy. Win, win!

That is one Christmas under our belts with one more to go. We love having all of this family here and getting multiple Christmases! Merry, merry everyone!