Fr. Sibley posted the other day about a weird little kitchen gadget called the Octodog.
I realized today that this looks like the ideal gift for one of those "Yankee swap" party procedures.
For the uninitiated, here's how they operate: the participants each bring a wrapped present. These all go into a pool. Each participant in turn then does the following:
1. Choose a package from the pool.
2. Unwrap it in plain view.
3. If someone else already has unwrapped another gift that one prefers, one may take it in exchange for the gift one originally chose.
It's a marvel that this little war-of-all-against-all became the central event of office Christmas parties. Well, maybe not.
Comfort and joy, everybody!