How giving presents is really fun: Part 11 of our FR advent calendar.
Gifts are like the tax return. An easy exercise for the chosen ones, at the end of which someone is always happy; but for many it is an agony every year. Okay, giving presents to children is not difficult, they write wish lists or mention casually (every day!) How nice it would be to have this or that and that they would wish “nieeeee meha!” If … But what with please mother , Make brother-in-law and future son-in-law happy? How do people surprise who are perfectly happy?
This question has not arisen so urgently in our family for about twelve years, which is why we can be imagined as a community of happy people. At that time we imported a dice game from a Christmas party with part of the family living in Sweden, which – which has been refined over the years – is now the real highlight of every Christmas Eve get-together.
The principle is simple: the adults (now almost all children are included) each buy three gifts worth ten euros each – more is allowed, but can be interpreted as boasting or at least a lack of tact … These gifts are then given in the course in the evening in the gift room, in such a way that the others cannot see who is contributing what – sounds awkward, but makes it more exciting. The great thing about dice game is that the fun starts with shopping! You can buy things that you really like yourself – and when the dice are weighed, you can keep them.
christmas rituals
For some it is the goose on Christmas Eve, for others it has to be “Three Nuts for Cinderella” in the afternoon program. We all have certain stories, films or rituals that belong to Christmas – and without which our Advent season would only be half as festive. This year you will not only find the popular personal stories in the FR advent calendar, but also raffles every now and then. Good luck and in any case: Happy Holidays! FR
When dessert bowls and shot glasses are emptied around 10 p.m., the presents are placed in the middle of the table and round one begins: players roll the dice in turn, whoever rolls a one or a six can take a present. Take it, don’t unpack it! This round ends when all the presents have been distributed. But don’t worry, even if your sister-in-law grins, “Boris has the biggest mountain in front of him again”, what counts is what lies in front of you at the end of round two.
Now it’s going to be unpacked anyway. Whoever unpacks tells a little something about it, which is usually very funny. And spontaneous comments can hardly be avoided anyway. The brother-in-law says calmly: “Oh, a heavy package.” Then the mother-in-law: “It opens easily. do it now! ”- Apart from the entertainment value: The unpacking round becomes a gift for everyone – everyone is excited, everyone is amazed. And everyone gets (fits well at Christmas anyway) those presents during this interlude for which they will bundle all their luck of the dice in round two. It is always amazing what passion idiosyncratic decorative fish can trigger – or how many in the family are into wild boar sausage or vanilla hand cream.
Okay, round two. Now is the time. Timer on – and then in turn the dice are rolled. At one and six you can take a present from the other, if someone only has one in front of you, then you cannot take it away, you have to exchange one of your own for it. This ensures that you have at least one present when the time is up. Then it goes back and forth, sometimes up and down, sometimes so high that in some years I would not have been surprised if worried neighbors had called the police.
We have extended the playing time for round two over the years to ten, sometimes fifteen minutes, because it’s just unbelievable fun to see how the fine honey trio wanders from one to the other, how alliances are forged (“Let, if the Papa has the superless, we also get something from the million …! “) And disintegrate again (” I’ll take the cream! “), Like mother-in-law wraps her arms protectively around the presents that she receives after the game will be distributed to grandchildren and daughters anyway.
And when the time is really up, there is a brief jubilation before the room becomes solemnly quiet for a moment. In the background, very softly, the bell-like voices of the Kelly Family exult and the glittering stars on the window throw golden dots on the wall like little disco balls. And when the mother-in-law says: “Well, then we did it too”, one thing is clear: now it’s getting really cozy. For everyone, because everyone knows: The one with the gifts will be another hit next year.
