My Hungry, Hungry Hippos game was a hit. It got stolen 3 times and was finally retained by my cousin. My cousin’s gift was stolen 3 times, and was finally retained by me. For anyone who has never participated in a white elephant exchange, it’s a gift-giving game in which each participant brings a wrapped gift, then numbers are drawn by lot to determine the order of the turns. The first person up picks a wrapped gift and unwraps it for all to see. The next person can choose to either steal the first gift, or to take a chance at another wrapped gift. The third person up can choose either to steal any exposed gift, or to unwrap another gift. This keeps going until the last gift is unwrapped and everyone has had a turn. If someone’s gift is stolen, the now gift-less person can steal another gift, or take one from the wrapped pile. Once a gift is stolen 3 times, it’s locked to the 3rd person and can no longer be stolen. This was my first white elephant exchange party. My wrapped selection gave me a bottle of Bailey’s, which I love, which Mr. W stole from me to force me to steal from someone else. The reason he did this, he said, was because when this game was explained to me last week, I expressed my inability to steal a gift from someone who really wants it. It’s just mean. I’m more apt to let them keep whatever they want, and I’ll just take from the wrapped pile, which is what I did! When my Bailey’s was stolen from me, I was just gonna take the last wrapped pile present, but everyone yelled that I would end the game and they apparently wanted to keep going, so I finally stole from a guy the gift of a cream-colored chenille throw and the DVD The 40 Year Old Virgin. I’d really wanted to see the movie, anyway.

I had fun. Lots of great food and people. And a hyper Jack Russel terrier named Mr. Burns.