This will be the second year we do a Secret Santa gift exchange in our family – which consists of 9 people: Mom, Dad, me, James, younger sister, older sister, older sister’s husband, brother, brother’s girlfriend. Whew! Our family is constantly expanding!
Here’s us plus an uncle and a cousin last Thanksgiving (or was it Christmas?)
{Wow, us girls in the middle are pale!}
Our new tradition dictates that names will be drawn at Thanksgiving. Everyone gets a piece of paper and writes their name and what they want (I think we said gifts would be about $50). Then we draw names and that’s the one person you buy Christmas gifts for that year.
It’s so much better than before because buying for everyone usually means they don’t get a personal or special gift – they just get something random because you “had” to get them something. We ended up with lots of stuff that was not needed, and spending more money than necessary. That’s not what Christmas is about – it’s about spending time together.
This year Rose (younger sister) is in Ireland for both Thanksgiving and Christmas, while Samantha and Andre (older sister and husband) are in Thailand for Thanksgiving. We’ve designated Victoria (brother’s girlfriend) to draw names on their behalf at Thanksgiving. They’ll have to email her what they want and she’ll let them know who they’re buying gifts for. Whoever draws Rose will ship their gift to Europe and she’ll ship her gift back to California.
I love our new tradition!
2 comments:
That is awesome! What a fun and great tradition! We do a gift exchange in my family too and it's so much fun.
Hello Chardonnay,
For your next gift exchange draw at Thanksgiving I suggest you this fun applet:
http://rumigaculum.com/index.php/miscelanea/65-applet-del-amigo-invisible-familiar-family-secret-santa-applet
Greetings from Spain.
David.
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