WHITE ELEPHANT PARTY

Rachael picks #1 and opens Ratatouille with the option of

taking home a used TV. (from the Whitcombs)

The annual White Elephant was held last night at my parent's home in Belmont, MA. We started the night off with a wonderful dinner prepared by mom. Some of our siblings weren't able to make it along with my husband who had to work. It was a mild night with a few good laughs. Before I tell you who got what, I will fill you in on how we play this fun little game. We all pick a number from 1-9 and the person who picks #1 gets to choose first and last. We have a rule that you can either pick from the pile or choose somebody else's gift. Each gift can only be stolen no more than 3 times and number one gets to choose from anyone's pile. Some years it has gotten pretty crazy but this year we were good. This is how it went...Rachael got #1 and opened Jenny's gift, a movie called "Ratatouille" with the option of taking a used TV that they brought. Zach got #2 and picked Aaron's gift which was a box of used DVD's and all the stuff needed to throw a Luau. I picked #3 and got Zach's pile of used books. Lets just say that no one was eager to steal my gift. Mom picked #4 and chose dad's gift which was the coveted gift of the night. (his usually are) It was a tote filled with crafts for scrapbooking and such. Aaron was #5 and picked mom's gift which was a brand new frying pan. Roger was #6 and instead of choosing an unopened gift, he stole Aaron's frying pan which meant that Aaron had to open a new gift. He happened to choose mine which was a container of homemade granola along with some stuff that I tried to get rid of last year but ended up with it by the end of the night. He was groaning when he opened that part of the gift. (hee,hee) Jen was #7 and stole the tote from mom. Mom had to open another gift and chose Rachael's, which was a bunch of stuff for young mother's. (she happily shared with Alana afterward) #8 was dad who stole from Aaron because he wanted the homemade granola. Aaron again chose from the pile and picked Roger's gift which was a book on tape and the promise of homemade maple syrup in the spring. (yum) Alana was #9 and she decided that instead of opening a gift whe would steal the movie from Rachael with the option of also taking the used TV with it - she declined and kept only the movie. Rachael was the last one to go and had to open the remaining gift from Alana. It was a CD from the Tabernacle Choir called "The Lillies of the Field" and along with that she made a homemade cheese cake. Rachael decided to steal instead of keeping her gift and took the coveted tote from Jenny. Were you able to follow all of that? The pictures below are in order from first to last with a few steals here and there. We ended the night with homemade icecream (pumpkin and twix) that Zach and Alana had made in mom's new icecream maker. It was YUM!! Looking forward to next year when we'll have more siblings present.