Christmas and The Game

My family has already begun discussions on Christmas and The Game.

If you’ll be seeing relatives this Thanksgiving and The Game is something you play, you might consider discussing it.

The sooner the better.

What is The Game?

My family has been playing it ever since the grandkids (my generation) outgrew the need for toys at Christmas and dollars shrunk among the adults.

It basically is the “trading game,” whereby everyone who wants to play brings a wrapped gift.

We draw a card from a deck of playing cards and take turns choosing and opening one of the wrapped gift.

(Deck of cards hierarchy: Clubs is lowest followed by Diamonds, Hearts and Spades. The numbered and face cards also have an order: by number of course, followed by Jack, Queen, King and Ace. The Ace of Spades is the top card. You can also just number pieces of paper and folks can draw them out of a hat.)

And then we start.

The trick is, if you like what someone else has already unwrapped, you can “steal” it.

The person who lost their gift can either steal another gift or pick another wrapped gift to open.

You work your way through the numbers and pictures to that Ace of Spades–or whatever you use.

In our family we extend grace and whoever went first, gets another choice. But only that person.

A gift can only be stolen three times.

It’s not fair to get into cahoots with a family member (like you, Mom), and steal something you know they really want.

(Still looking at you, Mom).

My family always left it with a price tag. The first years it was up to $10.

I think it’s up to $25 now.

You obviously can buy a cheaper gift.

Among the gifts that caused a stealing riot over the years were an umbrella, a family photo album with pictures of all of us, a calendar; and various records, tapes, CDs or gift cards depending on the year.

My grandmother’s hand knit slippers were also popular until someone just made a bagful for whomever wanted one.

Oh, wine and liquor are always popular in my Italian family, too.

The game is so popular with the adults, the children requested a version themselves!

We’ve only been playing the game the last five years on my husband’s side of the family. We’ve had a good time recently by making the gift a book. One year the most stolen gift was The Black Count by Tom Reiss.

This year someone pointed out most people read on their Kindle apps.

How about DVDs?

“Most people don’t watch DVDs anymore and have Netflix.”

The youngster explaining this had another suggestion: “what about gadgets?”

I’ve already begun shopping . . .

How does your family handle Christmas gifts if there are a lot of you?

Tweetables

How to play The Game for family Christmas presents. Click to Tweet

How to handle Christmas gifts in a large family. Click to Tweet

Amazing what Christmas gifts someone will steal from their family! Click to Tweet