I know it’s post season for a Christmas post, but I can’t let the moment go unnoticed. One of the most fun and funniest nights we’ve had all year was our December 16 Christmas Eve with Dad and Mary Ellen. We wanted to celebrate with them before leaving for France, so they came to our house to toast the season and gamely brought dinner so we could focus on final packing and wrapping.
And of course, when I say “gamely,” of course there was quite literally, a game. They brought in bag after brown paper bag, used and assorted from a variety of department stores and shops, and placed them not under the tree, but on the dining room table.
Christmas Eve dinner was a game of White Elephant. “Natch,” meaning naturally, to use my grandmother’s colloquialism. (I have to mention Grammy because her birthday was on Christmas Eve, and because she was indeed always game for something fun like this.)
So we each picked a number out of the proverbial hat—actually just a crumpled but clean brown paper bag brought for the occasion—and in that order, picked a bag seemingly from Macy’s, the Apple Store, or The Paper Source.
The first person to code was Tatum and her bag proffered a lovely looking Caesar salad with fresh croutons that had only spilled a little. Blitz then picked a random bag and found yummy looking orange beef and rice from a Chinese restaurant. She kept the beef.
Marley went next, saying, watch, I’m going to get a hot dog or something. And…bingo! Marley’s mystery bag held a rather cold hot dog from Costco.
Other bags held a gyro, other bonafide Chinese dishes, an entire pizza. It was hilarious! There was some swapping and stealing of preferred dishes, but people were mostly so excited to get their mystery dish that they kept their own. Marley kept the hot dog.
The best non-food gift was made by Clara, who found a box of loose photos in the basement storage room and made a collage for Poppy. It was a thrill to see photos from long and short ago. She’s super creative and loving.
And in other Christmas news, Rob won the contest. You know which one.
@theterrace 