A New Version of an Old Game

We spent Christmas Eve at the home of my sister the ex-mayor's wife. Sis and Ex-Mayor work their rumpuses off preparing an evening feast. So many delectable treats. Ham, sausage and cheese filled crispy wontons, meatballs, little smokies, pizza snacks on rye bread, rolls, and other items I can't remember, because I asked The Pony to bring me a plate with just a few that I really wanted. Can't go overboard during the holidays, you know. The desserts were plentiful as well. The sugary cookies topped with a Hershey Kiss, buckeyes, Rolo candy on pretzels, turtles, peanut clusters, a new cookie designed like a snow globe, fudge. I only had one, my new favorite (surpassing the turtle) of the peanut cluster.

Anyhoo... Sis had a new game this year. She had prepared us the week previous, commanding everybody who attended to bring two gifts. The gifts had to be something already IN YOUR HOUSE. It could be something nice... or not. As Sis said, "I don't care if it's toenails you just clipped, or a piece of jewelry. As long as it's something you already had in your house, and you wrap it or put it in a bag, without putting a name on it."

As you might imagine, this game was a hoot. It's like White Elephant, or Dirty Santa, in which gifts can be stolen from other players. But this version uses dice. Sis had big dice that LIT UP. A red one and a green one. Niecy's daughter Babe was in charge of collecting the dice from the middle of the floor after each roll, and giving them to the next player.

The only gifts I knew were Hick's, and my own. Hick took the stuffed guitar doorstop, 

and the sweatshirt-material Mizzou Tigers purse that he won at bingo. 

I didn't get a picture of my first choice, which was a furry pink flamingo hat that I used to wear when we had Hat Day at school. The body of the flaming fits your head, and the long neck can be bent in assorted positions. Mostly, we just wore it so you could lean over and peck somebody on their head with the beak, heh, heh.

Anyhoo... my second choice was that Frisbee thingy that we got in the swag from closing on the Bargain House.

It came in a handy little pouch.

That shows you the size, perched on HIPPIE my laptop.

There it is, freed from the pouch. Am I the only one who sees this as a Frisbee? It's just a disc of windbreaker material. Very light, and suitable for flinging through the air. When you're done playing, you twist it and it reverts to a small circular shape again, to put back into the pouch. Well. After much struggle, depending on how good you are at twisting the wire rim.

Anyhoo... we had to roll a 7 or 11 to have a chance to choose a gift from the pile. Some were wrapped boxes. Ours were in gift bags taped at the top to prevent peeking. Hick was lucky, and accumulated a stack of FIVE gifts! You couldn't open one unless you rolled a specific number. Same with having a chance to steal somebody else's gift, whether it was open or closed. Some numbers required that two people trade their gifts, and others had us passing them right or left. We had quite a good time playing. I can't remember all of the gifts, but here's a random list of some others:

set of three screwdrivers

Mandalorian figurine

2X black T-shirt with an orange-haired turkey saying Make Thanksgiving Great Again 

can of tuna

baggie of bandaids and wipes

bidet in a box

blueberry muffin

two foil tabletop Christmas trees

dish towel

box of chocolate-covered mints

bottle of coconut shampoo

pouch of powdered dip mix

mini planner for 2025

tube of tissues to fit in car cupholder

bottle of glitter nail polish

The Pony got the T-shirt, and was itching to unload it.

Hick had the glitter nail polish.

Genius got the blueberry muffin, and started eating it right away. Then was fighting to obtain the tube of car tissues.

Friend got the flamingo hat, and wore it throughout the game, until it was stolen by Babe. Friend coveted the mini planner, but it was passed around.

I got the baggie of bandaids, but traded it for the bottle of coconut shampoo. Which was a big rip-off, because it smelled like CITRUS, and only had coconut water as an ingredient. I took it from Niecy, who had brought it, and misrepresented it as COCONUT.

The bidet in a box was a hotly contested item being traded among three people. The foil Christmas trees were the least wanted, but only because somebody actively went after the 2X T-shirt with the intent of giving it to someone else.

The box of mints was taken from me, and swapped around.

Ex-Mayor's sister-in-law got Hick's Mizzou sweatshirt purse, and LOVED IT. Of course you know what that meant. SIS stole it from her! I tried my best to steal it back, and restore it to somebody who would love it and not just possess it for spite.

Sis got my Frisbee. Yet she opened it up, and declared: "I got a FAN!" And proceeded to flap it back and forth in her face. Seriously. If that was meant to be a fan, it would have been shaped like a fan!

Turns out Sis's son brought the blueberry muffin. He only had one item to bring from home, so picked up that muffin at Casey's on his way to the party. Genius said it was delicious.

Anyhoo... that's how we spent Christmas Eve night, after The Pony's amazing jackpot at the casino that morning.