Holidays 2011: Post 2 White Elephant

This year my dad came up with the great idea of having a White Elephant Christmas party with my in laws. It. Was. Fun. New annual tradition? I hope so!!

My sister, Alyssa, and I headed out to the Cypert household before my parents to play a little Bingo. Bingo is a Cypert Christmas Eve tradition and it is so much fun. Mama C has always called out the numbers at the head of the table, don't breathe or you may miss one and she doesn't like repeating!

Once my parents arrived, and after we finished munching on tamales and pie, we started our White Elephant gift swapping.

If you have never played White Elephant, the first thing you do is draw numbers to decide what order everyone goes in. We decided that whoever draws number one gets to choose from everyone's gifts in the end since they didn't have the option of "stealing" anyones gift at the beginning. Dad, of course, drew number one. He opened up a Lego set. (We had a $10 maximum amount set for these gifts.)

The Cyperts always wear Santa hats on New Years Eve. So every year that I have done Christmas with them I got to wear one. I like that idea, it's fun and makes for cute pictures. This year, with my family there, there weren't enough Santa hats to go around so we just wore silly hats. Hence the Sea World hat my mom is sporting. She looks cute!

She got a $10 bill.

And then it was stolen from her by her very own daughter. Shame on you Alyssa! : ) So she got to go again. This time she got a Sonic gift card and ended up taking it home.

Look at the mischievous face my dad is making in the background.

Julie got a big coffee cup that she ended up keeping. They love coffee so I think she was happy with it.

Then it was Garrett's turn.

His present was one that my dad put together. It was a raccoon hat that my dad uses to scare my cats when I bring them home, some lottery tickets, and a bottle of sparkling cider.

Perfect for silly hat night at the Cyperts.

Aunt Diedra (Garrett's Aunt) opened up a package of bath stuff.

Yates, oh lucky Yates, opened up a toothbrush and some handmade fabric cats. I say lucky because awhile back I had spotted the cats in Mama C's house and told her I loved them. I love anything cat related.

Yates doesn't. Look at the "what the heck" smile on his face. I love it.

So when Brett stole the gift I had opened, shoe polish and a shoe brush (my face probably looked like Yates' when I opened that), I immediately stole the fabric cats I had been eyeballing.

YAY!

Ok, now what made the night worth it all. Not that it wasn't already. I guess what I mean is this is what made the night hilarious.

Then, it was Mama C's turn. There were two presents left, one of them was one that she had brought and one was from Garrett. Not wanting to choose her own present she chose Garrett's. Earlier that day Garrett and I were talking about how bad we would feel if Mama C got that particular present...so of course she ended up getting it.

The box was big and heavy. It looked like something she might enjoy.

Then she figured out what it was.

Mama C doesn't drink.

Lucky for her, my Dad took the box of beer and wine and gave her the Lego set. I think more than anything he felt bad for her because then he gave her some lottery tickets that he brought.

Mama C told Yates that she would be giving him the Lego's for his high school graduation this year.

Needless to say, this was a fun night!

Garrett and Mama C didn't win a single Bingo prize this year. Usually Garrett wins everything.

I know, I know, I took WAY too many pictures, but you kind of have to if you want to remember it all.

I hope that the White Elephant gift swapping is something that we do every year from now on. It was fun and a neat way to bring our two families together.

What kind of Christmas family traditions do you have?