{"id":7985,"date":"2011-01-01T14:06:25","date_gmt":"2011-01-01T19:06:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/?p=7985"},"modified":"2011-01-01T14:06:25","modified_gmt":"2011-01-01T19:06:25","slug":"holidays-bloody-cutthroat-holidays","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/2011\/01\/holidays-bloody-cutthroat-holidays\/","title":{"rendered":"Holidays — Bloody, Cutthroat Holidays"},"content":{"rendered":"

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[Note: I don’t know any of the people in the above image (click on it to see it where I first did, in its original form). I found this Santa quite unnerving, though.]<\/em><\/p>\n

T<\/span>he RAMH<\/em> regular who goes by the handle “whaddayamean” commented<\/a> yesterday on a post from back in November. She referred there to a game called a Yankee Swap, which I gather to be the same one enjoyed by The Missus’s family for many years. Down here, though, it’s called the “Dirty Santa” gift exchange.<\/p>\n

The idea is that everyone attending a holiday get-together brings a wrapped gift. But you don’t know who will get your gift; indeed, you might even wind up with it yourself.<\/p>\n

All the gifts are piled in the center of the room, and everyone draws a number from a hat or bowl. Then you go around the room, in numerical order, as follows:<\/p>\n

Aside: in the instructions below, I’ll drop for readability’s sake my usual obsessively gender-neutral practice of s\/he<\/em>-ing all the pronouns. It was starting to make even me crazy.<\/p>\n

Player #1<\/a> picks any gift at all from the pile, and opens it. Everyone oohs and aahs, or laughs, and then things get really interesting…<\/p>\n

#2 may also pick a gift from among those remaining in the pile. In this case, play moves to #3<\/a>. But #2 may<\/em> choose instead to “steal” the gift which #1<\/a> opened. In this case, #1<\/a> returns to the pile of gifts, and opens another.<\/p>\n

Okay, now it’s #3<\/a>’s turn. She may pick from the pile (you’re seeing a pattern, right?). OR, if desired, she may steal either #1<\/a>’s gift, OR #2’s. The stealee can now steal someone else’s gift, or return to the dwindling mound of gifts for a fresh one. And so on, and so on.<\/p>\n

As with any good game, some caveats are in place to keep things (haha) civilized:<\/p>\n