'Tis the Season to PARTY!

We hosted our 3rd Annual Christmas Gift Exchange with friends.  Thankfully, each year the number of friends increases, but our house is beginning to feel a little smaller every year, as this year we had 11 in our little living room!


We continued with the rules we used last year to keep the activities more exciting and drawn out. Instead of just opening gifts and stealing, we play games for the gifts. After our experiences last year, we decided only store manufactured games are allowed (Jason’s made up battleship was a NO GO this year since it took nearly 2 hours to play last year!). Each person brought 3 gifts: a gift from home, a $10 gift and a $20 gift. Each round we make a random "pot" of gifts with one from each pile (based on value).  We play a simple game such as Scattergories or Boggle (only one or two rounds) and whoever wins that game is the winner of the pile of gifts. You get to steal if you win multiple games. Sometimes this goes on a little too long and I feel for the poor person 5 hours later that still hasn’t won a game and opened gifts…poor Matt!

I happened to be the first one to win a game and just as my luck would have it, someone picked 3 of the gifts that Jason and I brought. So no surprises for me! I did like my $20 gift that I brought (now I know why I shop for things that I would want)…a super Waterfall Finders book for Washington. I was less than thrilled about my home gift coming back to me…a lava lamp that I have been dying to get rid of!!!

The best part about this gift exchange is that the same home gifts come back every year!!! Oh how fun it is to see that Beer Dispenser that we thought was so funny to give 2 years ago come back every year. Please don’t ever let me end up with it!