It was a very Merry Christmas

This year we had another big Xmas party. About 30 people crammed into our small apartment for food, festivities and friends. We had 4 chickens roasting in the oven, with stuffing, mashed potatoes, cranberries and salad for everyone to eat. Everyone brought snacks for dessert.

After eating we settled down to play a gift giving game. It is a variation of the popular Gift Grab, White elephant gift exchange, or Yankee Swap concept.

We have 24 people playing so 24 presents. All the presents were put in the middle and everyone drew a number. The person with "1" started by choosing a present from the pile and unwrapping it. The next person gets a choice of stealing any unwrapped present or choosing from the pile. If your present gets stolen you get a choice of taking a new one from the pile or stealing an unwrapped present (other than the one taken from you). That was the "Steal" round. This round is amusing because the most popular gifts are stolen a lot and passed around the group. It can last quite a long time because it keeps going until someone takes the last present in the pile.

In round 2 "swap", we start with the last person (#24 in our case); they get to keep their present or swap with anyone in the group. There is only one swap per person, and you can only swap when your number is called. So in the end #1 gets the final pick of the best present in the group. The swapping is quick because the person losing their gift has to wait until their turn to swap.

It was a riot. We had a good mix of gaijin and locals so it was funny to watch at the start because all the gaijin were chanting, "steal! steal!" While the Japanese were acting reserved and choosing from the pile. I can't remember when the dam burst, but after the first Japanese person stole something it went nuts and everybody had a great time stealing the presents they really wanted.

After getting everybody to help out we headed for a final night at Dunk. We went with Sarah, Naoyukki and Shigeki. Naoyuuki had a Rudolf hat and Shigeki had a fish egg hat and everyone on the street stared at us while we were walking to Dunk. At Dunk it was fun and crazy.

Of course, even with helping hands, there is always a clean up involved. We used paper plates and plastic cutlery but the sink was as full as ever and there was stuff piled on the stove as well. Whew! It was hard work but I washed them all.