White Elephant, Dirty Santa, Yankee Swap: blessing or curse?

Ah, yes. It’s time for the Christmas parties. Which is also the only time of year we like to pull out those silly Dirty Santa games (which could also be called White Elephant, Yankee Swap or any other combination of words that really don’t tell you anything about what you’re going to do). I’m not a HUGE fan of the whole thing in that most people try to bring the most TERRIBLE thing they can find and I end up with something crappy immediately, meaning no one trades with me and I’m forced to hide said icky item in a drawer in the living room of person who threw the party. Not that I did that or anything with the lovely cherub picture frame I got on Friday night. . . .

But I digress. In my department at work, we do a $5 DVD exchange and play Dirty Santa every year at the Christmas party. There are hard and fast rules about how many times the DVD can be stolen and when it is frozen, and these rules are always clearly explained and enforced. People actually have strategies to get the DVD they want.

But there’s been some differing ideas of what types of DVDs to buy. Most people think that since it’s a DVD and that’s kind of fun, you might as well get one you want to watch. Notice I said MOST. There are these few hold-outs who buy completely awful movies and think it’s funny. Well, it’s not when you spent money (I know it’s only $5) on a DVD that you actually like and you go home with something like Howdy Doody. Which is what I got last year.

But this year, our department took the whole thing to a new level of awkwardness. First off, one guy didn’t bring a movie, but played the game. When we got to the end and someone didn’t have a CD, everyone was like “‘Fess up! Who didn’t bring a movie?!” He meekly admitted he hadn’t and we all marveled that since he was the person who started the game, why he hadn’t just said, “Hey, guys. I completely forgot to bring a movie. I’m going to sit this one out.” But, no. He played the whole game and went home with a DVD, leaving one member of the fellowship committee (who had brought a DVD) DVD-less. We had demanded that he pay her $5 or give her the DVD, but he seemed unconcerned and oblivious to the fact that what he’d done wasn’t cool, nice, or right.

But that’s just one thing. As the fellowship committee, we stated that people had to bring movies that they would actually want to see or own. So why, then, did I end up with a kid movie/cartoon from the Christian bookstore next door called “Really Wooly Kids”? WHY? (On another tangent: Do I have radar for all the gross gifts? WHY DO I ALWAYS GET THE BLEH GIFTS?) And what part of “bring a DVD you like” do people misunderstand?

What I figure happened is that whomever brought this DVD forgot until the day of the party and hurried down to the bookstore and grabbed from the small selection there. And it’s fine, I guess. I mean it is only $5 and I could be able to give the DVD to my nephew at some point. But there is the fact that we were supposed to bring movies we liked and/or wanted to watch. And I really don’t think anyone in my department was going to be popping up some popcorn and settling in for a night of enjoyment watching “Really Wooly Kids.”

I’m just saying.