Over the Thanksgiving Day holiday, my family got together for our annual gift exchange. Since we're strewn all over the country, we've mooshed Thanksgiving and Christmas together so that we can spend Christmas at our respective homes rather than being on the road.

Anyway, the great part of the weekend was that we resumed a gift-exchange game that had died out for a few years.

I don't know what it's called, but I've named it The Grinchy Gift Grab, and it involves some good-natured gift stealing. If you're into that sort thing — if you think you can handle not getting anything but a Slinky for Christmas —  I'll offer you the rules, just in case you want to try the same.

THE GRINCHY GIFT GRAB

MATERIALS

+++ Every person particpating brings one gift of a predetermined value. (We did $10)

+++ Each family group brings one extra gift of the same predetermined value. Gag gifts are acceptable.

+++ Five six-sided dice. (You know, what comes in Monopoly.)

+++ Timer or alarm clock.

SET-UP

+++ The participants gather in a circle.

+++ Everyone puts their gifts in the circle.

GAME PLAY — ROUND ONE

+++ Each player rolls the dice. If the player gets three of a kind, the player grabs a present the center.

+++ The dice are handed to the next player in the circle and that player rolls.

+++ Round continues until all the presents have been removed from the center.

+++   Note: Some players won't end up with any presents in this round!  They get lots of opportunities to try for stuff in Round Three.

GAME PLAY — ROUND TWO

+++ Participants open presents that they won.

+++ Each gift is displayed and explained to the group.

GAME PLAY — ROUND THREE

+++ Set the timer for 30 minutes.

+++ Each player rolls the dice. If the player gets three of a kind, the player can take a desired present from another player.

+++ The dice are handed to the next player in the circle and that player rolls.

+++ Round continues until the timer buzzes.

RESOLUTION
+++ At the time of the alarm, all presents that the player has currently "earned" are the player's to keep.

...And yes, it might just turn out that some players don't get a thing!

The fun in this game is that your trying to get the stuff, churn up some long-dormant sibling rivalry, and knowing that you're not losing anything too fantastic if you don't roll well.

Through the game, you'll have some players vying for specific gifts while other players will be happy with some oddball prize. When two or more players start going after one gift, a fun rivalry ensues. For the lucky few, they might snatch a gift that no one else wants, and they can just wait out the timer. And for those stuck with a gag gift, well, at least you get something!

This year, we had two people going after a fancy hand mixer. We had a set of tools bouncing back and forth between the guys. And for the family-oriented folks, the big battle was for a set of Christmas DVDs. At other times, we had players making alliances to swap their winnings among one another.

And in the end, everyone had fun. That's what it's all about, not spending hundreds of dollars on every cousin, neice and tag-along from five states.