Winning is in the eyes of the beholder.
We had two large family parties for Christmas and both had a White Elephant Gift Exchange. We basically all bring a wrapped gift with no tag who it’s from, put it in a pile and all draw a number. We then each choose a gift in order from the pile, or you can choose to steal a gift that has already been opened. Each gift can only be stolen twice so the third person that gets it is the “owner.” You know, because nothing says holiday spirit like taking nice gifts from your family members.
As always, there are a few real gifts that are stolen the max number of times, and also terrible (but funny) gifts you couldn’t give away if you tried.
This year we were 1/4 with gifts we could actually use; my husband snagged a gift card to a bagel shop, but other than that we got some fabulously bad Christmas gifts.

Thanks to my Uncle, I got not one, but TWO fire extinguisers. In his defense he didn't mean for this to be a bad gift. He's been living in third world countries for a number of years, and he's also a big Costco shopper. After a few holiday cocktails, he begins to get an accent and said, "What? Dis is not a bad gift! Your house on fire? Here, now it not burn down!"
The fire extinguishers were actually my second pick after a “Polska” scarf, perogies rug, perogies ornaments and perogies string lights were stolen from me. I actually really liked the Polish scarf (this is from my Polish side of the family I should mention). Even if I wasn’t Polish, who would want to pass on such fine Polish food decor?
My Dad ended up stealing the Polish Perogi paraphernalia back from my uncle and trading me for the fire extinguishers…partly because he’s an awesome Dad and partly because he’s big on safety.
The other side of the family we scored real big too. My husband is a quick learner and I hope he picks this up fast:
I know, I know. You ladies are all jealous, but you’re significant others can learn belly dancing too. What a great gift for the guy in your life this Valentine’s Day!
And finally my other gift.
Really, this one is probably just what some people call karma. You see, last year my gift to an unsuspecting family member was a giant throw blanket with my picture on it. So this year, maybe it was fate that drew me to choose the gift that my cousin Bob had custom made:
Yes, Bob had a fabulous pillow made with his mug on it! And apparently, I have one of you to thank! Bob said he saw the website from a comment one of you left on a post about turning pictures into pillows. So a big thanks to Bob for the lovely throw pillow, and a big thanks to whomever shared that wonderful website!
So there you have it. Another holiday come to pass…and this year, again, we were fortunate to be winning yet again!
Did you get everything you wanted this holiday season? Get any stinker gifts? Leave me a comment and let me know what goodies you got this year! And while you’re here, click the link below to cast an automatic vote for me on Top Mommy Blogs. Just one click is all it takes! Thank you!
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