I’m later than normal getting this out, but there is still 6 weeks until Christmas, so there is still lots of time.

The drawing of the names has been done, and the results are below. Most people are buying for people they haven’t bought for before. Three people are buying for people they bought for before, with the most recent being 3 years ago.

• Alisa buys for Andrea
• Andrea buys for Mom
• Brianna buys for Alisa
• Dad buys for Graham
• Graham buys for Nanny
• Jason buys for Dad
• Lisa buys for Brianna
• Mom buys for Lisa
• Nanny buys for Jason

Note: Please look it over and let me know if there are any mistakes. We don’t want people buying for each other as part of the gift exchange. We also don’t want spouses buying for each other as part of the gift exchange.

Here are some guidelines:

• Five of us talked about it, and we decided to up the limit to $60. We’ve had it at $50 for the 10 years we’ve been doing it, and it’s time to increase it.  There is no rule about spending exactly $60 to the penny, and no rule about whether it is $60 including tax or $60 plus tax. Just get something nice for the person that is close to $60.
• Try not to get a gift card for the person (or give cash, or equivalent) unless that is what they specifically ask for
• It would be good if people could provide a list (more than just a couple of items) to the person who is buying for them. That way the person receiving will be getting something they want, but if the list is long enough, they won’t know which it is.

We’ll be hosting the Christmas Eve party and Christmas Day dinner. We’ll send around another email later with the details of who is bringing what.

In case anyone is wondering, we are definitely getting in the Christmas spirit. It looks like we’ll be putting up our Christmas trees (we have 2) on Nov 19 as part of Family Home Evening.

Lastly, this is the kids favourite song/video at Christmas: