Christmas party

Trey had a Christmas party at school this afternoon. He brought home a gingerbread house that he personally envisioned and assembled. Well, assembled anyway. It's pretty much consumed by now.

But it took me back to the Christmas parties we used to have at good, ol' FCA. Those were the days! I don't know if anyone ever felt this way, but I always got ripped off in the gift exchange. Every year they would pass around a hat containing slips on which was written the name of a classmate. This was top-secret, or at least was supposed to be. It was usually a secret until, O, I don't know, the first recess at which time everyone eagerly compared names. There was money to be made if someone wanted to make a trade. Anyway, we would then go out and buy a gift that had to be around $5 (someone can correct me on this if I'm wrong). I took my task seriously. I spent quite a bit of time scouring K-Mart for the perfect gift. You know, something like a purple and yellow whistling Nerf football. This was important. I also was known to spend a little more that $5 for the present. However, I inevitably ended up receiving a gift from a person who apparently did their shopping at the gas station on the way to the school party. I remember the year that I tore off the wrapping paper to reveal a plastic car with sour-smelling cologne inside. Pretty disappointing to an 8-year-old. That whole "it's more blessed to give than to receive" thing was pretty overrated to me.

We did have a fantastic time at the Christmas party, though. I still remember the time we decided to have a burn-out competition. Burn-out involves taking turns slapping each other's hands until someone finally gives up from the sheer pain of it all. David Fry and Jonathan Bailey both ended up with broken blood vessels one year. A great time was had by all.