Christmas Eve: Yankee Swap

On Christmas Eve, my parents always have a party at their house. All of our family gets together to celebrate. For the past few years, we have had a Yankee Swap. Each person buys a wrapped gift that they would want to receive. Each person draws a number in the order that they will choose their gift. Once they have chosen a gift, they may choose to keep it, or to swap with someone else. The person who draws number one has the advantage because they get to draw the first gift and then swap at the very end. Last year, after a person drew a gift, the immediately unwrapped it to decide if they wanted to swap. TJ had purchased lottery tickets, and they were swapped several times. At the end of the swap, my mom had ended up with the tickets. Then she went to scratch them and discovered that the tickets were already scratched! TJ had pulled a fast one on my mom!

This year, TJ suggested that we not unwrap the gifts. Then there would be more chance involved in the choice to swap gifts. No one would know what their gift was until the end. Some of us like the new way, others did not, so we swapped without unwrapping, but then did another swap at the end. I ended up with candles that are in little coffee cups that match my kitchen perfectly. TJ ended up with the Rubik's cube that he brought. My gift of a Dunkin' Donuts gift card was the gift that was swapped the most.