the Gift of the Christmas Party

The annual Christmas Party – whether it be at the office, with friends, or with family – tends to a be a time for memory-making! I was hosting this year’s Christmas party for my fellowship group. For some reason (which I cannot remember now!) we had decided it would be a good idea to do a white elephant gift exchange.

(Photo Credit)

You probably know the drill. Everyone selects something from their home they no longer want, wrap it, and bring it to exchange. Each person draws a number to determine the order of picking their gift from the pile. Those who draw number 2 or higher have the option of “stealing” an already opened gift, rather than risking unwrapping someone’s castaway item.

Now, you need to know this about me. I LOVE the anticipation of unwrapping gifts to find what is hidden beneath ribbon, paper and tape. This “love” was about to lead to my downfall!

The night of our party I drew number 3. Not bad. When my turn came, someone had already unwrapped a blue-tooth speaker. Now, I’ve been thinking I would like a blue-tooth speaker for my computer. Should I “steal” that speaker and have a sure thing or go for one of the half dozen wrapped gifts still on the floor….

I made my selection, determining it was probably a good choice based on its size, weight, and alignment in the pile of gifts in relation to the current phase of the moon.

My calculations served me well. I opened a rather large bag of Hersey bars!

Alas, moments later my best friend took his turn and showed no hesitation as he stole my bag of candy. (Please note that I do still refer to him as my best friend, even after his chocolate thievery. I’d say that’s a rather generous concession on my part!)

I now had to choose another gift. Once again, I could have opted to steal from someone else. But three or four packages remained, beckoned….

I closed my eyes and grabbed. After all, none of the gifts had actually been too weird so far. No frozen trout or wads of used Kleenex.

And once again I did pretty well…a LED lantern. (Batteries included!!!) While not quite as sweet as Hershey’s bars, a lantern is pretty useful to us country folk. We need to be able to see the critters lurking in the shadows; the wild cats, cougars, bears. Plus we live in Big Foot territory….

As I was admiring my latest gift, I felt the burning light of another friend’s gaze cutting between me and my lantern. My lantern would never light my way. One minute later and I was picking out yet another gift!

I could have picked from 8 unwrapped gifts. Or, I could pick that one remaining wrapped package.

I went for it boldly. (Oh come on, you know you would have done the same!)

It was large. (No wads of Kleenex.)

Not too heavy. (Not a frozen trout.)

I released the decorative clips.

I broke the seal of tape.

I lifted the flap.

I peered inside….