On the buffet you will see cookies, a brownie shaped like a Christmas tree, Martin's Golden Fruitcake Bars, German Chocolate Thumbprint cookies, Buckeyes, etc...
Above this is my cousin Cyndi, and her hubby and son. We did a White Elephant gift exchange this year, where you re-gift something that you already own. Old. New. Used. Dusty. Doesn't matter. Martin's gift that he brought was a 1958 Car Repair Manuel. Cyndi got it but her husband, Grayden loved it! Martin printed out clip art of a '57 Chevy that he changed the color of to Bronze/copper, and taped them all over the gift box in hopes that Dad would choose it! But, he did not.
Robert received a Hunting game, where you plug the rifle with into the TV. Kinda perfect for him! I read off Christmas trivia questions and the person who got the answer right got to choose the next gift. They could pick a new, un-opened one or to take one from someone else. Most everyone was nice about it, until we got to Dad. He took a nifty cutting tool from Martin. So, when it was finally my turn I took Dad's nifty cutting tool and he got the final unopened gift...
Stephanie got the gift that I brought. It was 4 Christmas mugs and 4 different packs of hot cocoa. Pretty nice White Elephant gift, if I may say so!
Dad's final gift was a gold cherub filled with bath salts!!!! We were all cracking up! What in the world would he ever do with that??!! HEE HEE!
We also gave the Cantrell family a kite. A huge cow kite! Martin loves his kites and has flown some of them with Robert. They now live on a ranch and Halie loves cows, so they got a cow kite! Look at their faces! Cracking up!
Aunt Ruth got both little girls a gift of a stuffed animal. Halie got a horse and Emma got a teddy bear. But, her bear was special. "Natalie" was ordered and delivered from Harrod's, in England! She has a pink Harrod's ribbon around her neck. Someday we hope to take Emma to see Father Christmas at Harrod's. THE Harrod's, per martin, as it is THE only one in the world. By the time we got to open the stuffed animals, Emma was asleep. So, Mommy opened it.
Nana gave both girls a pink piggy bank, as well. They have a digital counter in the lid that counts each coin based on its size. Keeps a running total. Emma now has 5 banks. Where are the coins to fill them???
After the gifts were opened and the mess cleared away, we cleared off the table and got down to business! We love to play games when we are all together! We started off the evening with Blurt! A reader reads off a description and you BLURT out the answers until someone gets the correct one.
Then we moved on to Uno Attack. There were 7 of us playing, including Dad. We did 1 round normal play and then made up some new rules and turned it into Dirty Uno Attack! Mom came in later and joined in for one round. We ended the evening with a fast paced game of Dutch Blitz. I won that one!! YAY! Mom played with us and Martin sat that one out. He was our score keeper and picture taker. Moves way too fast and has too many things to watch at one time for him! Women can play this game better and we have decided that it is because men really do have a one track mind. This is true for my hubby anyway!
We cleared up just before midnight! I helped Mom clean up and then swept all of the floors before we headed home. We drove home, emptied the car, put Emma to bed, cleaned up my own house, got ready for bed and looked at the clock and it as 1:15 AM. UGH! Not enough sleep for me! But maybe I'll hear Santa by going to bed this late... :)
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1 comment:
That is a neat idea for a gift exchange. We do a $1 gift exchange the same way at the yearly party at my Aunt Avon's.
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