Holiday anticipation

Is it too early to be getting excited about Christmas?  This year, I’m foregoing the mad stress around buying a gazillion presents for our ever-growing extended family.  I’ve organised present draws for both sides of the fam.  Essentially, each adult buys for one other adult secretly and then if people choose to, they can buy for the children of the whanau.  I’m going to centrally manage ‘wishlists’ so that people feel that they can put forward some ideas to their secret santas.

In the past, we’ve also done a really fun present swap/grab game which is particularly great to add interest if you have ‘randoms’ attending your family Christmas celebration.

Each person contributes a present (something like $5 in value is a good level).  They’re all packed up into a box or basket which is passed around for people to look over, squeeze, shake, smell etc.  Then each participant gets a number.  Number 1 chooses a present and opens it.  Then the turn passes to number 2.  Number 2 can either choose an unopened present to open, or grab number 1’s present if they like the look of it.  If they grab the present from  number 1, then number 1 takes another wrapped present.  Then the turn passes to number 3 and so on.  Each person has the choice of:

1. Grab a present
2. Unwrap a present 

We set some basic rules like each present can only be ‘grabbed’ three times before it stays with the third person.  And partners can’t collude to get what they want!  Makes for lots of laughs and some surprisingly good pressies.  Past years we’ve had a gardening kneeling mat, a kite, a pasta serving spoon, and some yummy lip balme. 

But I digress….this year my early October excitement is all about family time together.  My mum has just bought a place on the coast with great outdoor areas – I can imagine the kids running around playing on Christmas Day.  And we’ve booked in dates for a trip to the Wairarapa in January with my Dad and extended whanau – 15 of us all in a 3 bedroom house – mad chaos but great memories for us and the littlies – sharing this with the grandparents.  Can’t wait to make  some wonderful memories with my cherished ones