Maybe I've led a sheltered life but until a few years ago I had never even heard of Yankee Swaps. (Here in Texas they're usually called White Elephant Swaps.) Then one Christmas my mother and my mother-in-law both announced that they were having them as part of their family holiday get-togethers. My wife had to explain the concept to me. It's interesting that each of the two swaps had a distinctly different set of rules and, ultimately, a different goal.

My wife's family is out-going, boisterous, rather loud and during the holidays they set the bar quite high in terms of having a good time. My family is smaller, quieter and, on occasion, we have been accused of not having the slightest idea of how to have a good time. (In my case I plead guilty-as-charged.) But in both instances the White Elephant Swap turned out to be a successful part of the Christmas celebration.

The purpose of the swap at my in-law's party was not to get a good gift but to have a good laugh. The rules were standard: everyone brought a wrapped gift and then drew numbers. The person who drew #1 started by opening the gift of their choice. The next person opened another wrapped gift. If they liked it they kept it, or they could "steal" the first person's gift. And so on down the line. In their version the person who drew #1 was not allowed the final selection; they were stuck with whatever they ended up with. There were no rules as far as the price of the gift. Most of them were chosen for their laugh potential. A framed photo of another family member caught in an embarrassing moment for example. Or an enormous pair of bloomers. Or two left shoes. Or a dog-eared old copy of "Everything You Always Wanted To Know About Sex". (Because some of the gifts bordered on being R-rated, children were shooed from the room during the gift exchange.) A good time was had by all, with lots of belly-laughs at the expense of others. Fortunately, they were rather gentle with me and I had a good time as well.

My mother's swap was designed to have a good time, get a nice gift, and save money. The swap took the place of buying gifts for everyone else. Except for the kids, we all just bought the swap gift, and there was a ten-dollar cap on spending.

Some of the gifts were a little goofy but most were nice. The rules were a bit different as well. After one person opened a present they had the choice of selecting a gift from the pile or "stealing" one of the already-opened gifts and letting that person pick another one to open. Then at the end #1 got to keep what he had or "steal" any of the other gifts.

Both swaps were successful and both families continue to have them every year. There are always lots of laughs, and a bit of good-natured grousing. One note of caution, however. We tried a child's version of the swap and I can't recommend it. To kids the gift's the thing, not the process of getting it, and we ended up with more tears than laughs.

Learn more about this author, Stanley Teater.
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