Sadistic Santa
Dec 8th 2007
Sabrina JeffriesMy Life As A Plebe
Have any of you ever played this game, also known as Naughty Santa or The Best Gift or several other titles? If you’re not sure, read the rules to it. My old RWA chapter in New Orleans played it every year when I lived there (they still do, I think). Everybody brought a wrapped Christmas ornament that cost no more than $10, and then we commenced to stealing them from each other.
The game brought out the strangest behavior. First, there was the yearlong search for the right ornament to bring, since everyone wanted to have the most coveted one. Then there was the personality change at the party–generally kind and sweet ladies suddenly became sneaky and greedy witches in their determination to get (or keep) the best ornament. All the masks came off, and it was perfectly acceptable, because it was ALL IN GOOD FUN.
I loved it, but more than that, the writer in me found it fascinating to see how circumstances could temporarily change a person. That’s why I like Christmas. Because in the midst of a very harried time, people seem to rise to the occasion, as if the mere fact of a season imbued with so much sentiment and family tradition makes us all try to be a little better than usual.
One of the most famous examples of this is the Christmas Truce between the Germans and the British in WWI immortalized in several songs and movies (can you tell I just listened to “Christmas in the Trenches”?). For me, it’s the smaller things–the people you chat with in long lines, the random acts of kindness.
What about you? Have you ever been the recipient of an unusual act of kindness during Christmas? Have you ever witnessed one that made a lump rise in your throat?
23 Comments »
23 Responses to “Sadistic Santa”
Keri Ford on 08 Dec 2007 at 8:23 am #
We play ‘Dirty Santa’ at one of my grandma’s stopped. Girls brought girl gifts and boys brought boy gifts. You’re supposed trade with your own sex. It’s a lot of fun, and your right, the gloves come off!
One year, we had some family friends come and play with us. He brought a pocket knife for the boys (don’t remember the wife’s gift), the husband had his turn already, and I guess he wasn’t pleased with his gift, so when his wife took her turn, he very clearly, and nastily said, “Get my knife back.”
And she did and they never came back to play with us. We were all shocked.
Karen Rose on 08 Dec 2007 at 8:40 am #
Okay, have to think a bit on a noble gesture, but I have a somewhat embarrassing story to tell on the gift game.
I was oh-so-young, maybe 22, and went to my first holiday party for work after graduating college. We had to take a gift, and being relatively poor at the time, I picked a gift someone had given me. (Oh, the humiliation of this!! The woe!!)
My mom used to be a teacher and one year got a Precious Moments Christmas thingie from one of her kids and gave it to me as her shelf was full. I didn’t particularly like it (sorry to all the PM collectors out there) and wrapped it up for this party.
(cont)
Karen Rose on 08 Dec 2007 at 8:42 am #
It was THE fought over gift. Spouse of my male co-workers took the gloves off. I was 22-year-old flabbergasted. Afterward I went to the library and looked it up in a collector’s book and my jaw dropped. Back in ‘86, that little statue was worth a hundred bucks!
I could have paid a lot of electric bill with a hundred bucks back then. Whoa. So I learned early to be careful when re-gifting and chalked it up to a “teachable” moment.
Now, all these later, I’m wondering if the original person who gave it to my mother had any idea of its worth. Hmmm…
Sabrina Jeffries on 08 Dec 2007 at 8:44 am #
It’s funny, because people who play any sort of game together often develop unspoken rules, and when someone doesn’t appreciate them, we get a little annoyed. I remember staying with a friend’s family for Christmas in college (since my parents were overseas). We go snowed in and played monopoly. My family tended to be very follow-the-rules, every man for himself monopoly players. My friend’s family made alliances to eliminate players. I felt betrayed! But it was how they always played. I kept saying it was cheating–they got very irritated with me. It was really just a matter of what had evolved as the tradition in the family.
Sabrina Jeffries on 08 Dec 2007 at 8:47 am #
Well, gee, Karen, that’s a teachable moment for me, too. I have a couple of PM ornaments I was thinking of getting rid of. Maybe they’re worth something!
Lisa H on 08 Dec 2007 at 9:39 am #
I was recently at the post office, sending out a query letter, my bio, and synopsis. I needed to have my envelope weighed because I was unsure about the postage. My postage came to $.93. I didn’t have any cash, so I told the clerk I would write a check. No, I didn’t need any stamps, I had just bought 100 the day before.
Anyway, this little old lady in standing next to me offered to pay my postage. I thought she was so sweet, offering to give me .93. I thanked her, but told her writing a check was fine, that way I would have my receipt, but still I thought it was a very kind gesture.
doglady on 08 Dec 2007 at 9:47 am #
Dirty Santa is always a lot of fun. I think one of the most memorable Christmases of my recent memory is the Christmas right after September 11th. In my old neighborhood outside of Birmingham (where Mom still lives)Santa comes around Christmas Eve on a fire truck with a police escort. That year Mom mentioned she was going to make fudge, divinity and cookies for the firemen and policemen. Several of her neighbors decided to do the same. When they came down our street and my little 60 something Mama stopped them to hand them Christmas tins of goodies those big old guys just teared up. It took them forever to get to the end of the street as the neighbors came out and did the same. It has become a tradition now and the funny things is that those tins are returned to the givers empty and washed after New Years so they can be refilled the next year!! Even funnier, last year when Mama heard a prowler outside her 911 call had the ENTIRE Pelham city police force showed up at her house!
Lisa H on 08 Dec 2007 at 10:40 am #
doglady, what an awesome story. Our firefighters and policemen truly deserve love and kindness. They put their lives in danger’s way for us everyday.
Karen Hawkins on 08 Dec 2007 at 10:53 am #
Oh, Sabrina, I LOVE that game! My chapter used to do the same thing and I got in a way with someover over the CUTEST pink pig ornament. So cute! I lost it eventually but oh, it was mine for a few sweet moments!
My family plays canasta and, according to the rules, it’s perfectly ok to cheat so long as you don’t get caught. In fact, the whole cheating thing adds a lot of fun — you have to watch your cards to make sure no one has stolen them, keep the cards in your hand hidden, and tease whoevere you’ve cheated so that they’re paranoid for the next game.
We have SUCH fun and people who play with us are at first shocked and then jump right in.
Doglady, you’ve given me a great idea of a terrific project to do with my daughter for Christmas! We’ll take our Christmas cookies and do something a little more special with them. Thanks!
Your mother sounds like SUCH a great lady.
Sabrina Jeffries on 08 Dec 2007 at 10:54 am #
Aww, doglady, that’s so sweet!
I do believe that you reap what you sow, what goes around comes around. Karma or whatever you want to call it. This isn’t a Christmas story, but when my grandma was still alive, she used to give candy to all the children in her trailer park. They would just come to the door and knock and she would give them a handful of candy. She kept cheap candy for that purpose, and we would all give her bags of candy to help keep the expense of it down. The kids called her the candy lady, and they would come get candy and tell her their troubles.
One day, one of the kids knocked on the door, and she didn’t come to the door. The girl looked in, saw that she was lying on the floor and called 911. Turned out that she’d had a heart attack. The little girl saved her life. It would never have happened if not for her own kindnesses, though.
(cont.)
Sabrina Jeffries on 08 Dec 2007 at 10:56 am #
BTW, she lived for several years after that, but when she did die a few years ago, they found stacks of romance novels in her trailer. Which goes to prove that romance readers are the best!!!
I once asked her if the sex in my books bothered her, and she said, “You gotta have a little spice in life.” Then when they found the books and there were a number of Sandra Browns, I realized that she DID like her spice!
Lisa H on 08 Dec 2007 at 11:06 am #
Oh Sabrina—you’re making my mascara run and I have to go to a baby shower!!
Grandmas are the best, and yours sounds like a wonderful one.
On the issue of sex, God created it, and I believe he intended for us to enjoy it or else he wouldn’t have made it feel so good! Just read the Song of Songs in the Bible!
Karen Rose on 08 Dec 2007 at 11:26 am #
Okay, here’s a Christmas kindness story that is TRUE, because it happened to me. Some of you might know that Mr. R had cancer years ago, when oldest daughter was a newborn. He is fine now, no worries, but at that time, they told us we’d never have any more children. It was a devastation that would outlast the pain of chemo and everything else we went throught that year.
We tried everything to have a second child - every medical procedure available, multiple times. Finally, we gave up. Our oldest was 3 1/2 at the time. Well, it was Christmas and oldest was terrified of Santa. She’d already tried several times that year to sit on Santa’s lap. We’d stand in line and at the last minute she’d run, crying. We lived in Cincinnati at the time and the Zoo has this Festival of Lights that is quite beautiful. They also have a Santa. And it is quite cold there. You guessed it - oldest child wanted to have another go at asking Santa for her heart’s desire.
(cont)
Karen Rose on 08 Dec 2007 at 11:27 am #
We waited in the cold again, and sure enough, she was too scared to approach him. But this Santa was different. Even though there was a line, he took his time with our daughter, coaxing her not to be afraid. After a few minutes, she overcame her fear and climbed into his lap. We were amazed and so touched!
Then we were shocked when she asked Santa for a baby brother! Santa looked at us and we shook our heads. I think I may even have been crying a little. He found some way of getting around it without dashing our daughter’s dreams. She was so proud that she’d sat on Santa’s lap!
Well, that would be a nice end to the story, except … a week later, on Christmas Eve no less, I found out I was pregnant. Our second daughter was born the following summer.
Not a baby brother. But I still wonder about that Santa
darkshire007 on 08 Dec 2007 at 11:39 am #
I been the recipient of one act of kindness. I wrote an email (I won’t say to whom) and ranted/raved about some things going on in my life. This person wrote back with some very encouraging and happy words. She didn’t have to. She could have wrote me off as some kind of lunatic. I have never witnessed an act of kindness. I find most people to be rude, demanding, bossy, pushy, and with the “all about me attitude” during the holidays. That’s a big part of why I stay inside from the week before Thanksgiving until after New Year.
Kay on 08 Dec 2007 at 2:54 pm #
I haven’t played that game, but it sounds like fun! We do an after Christmas “atrocity” gift exchange. You bring one (wrapped) gift you got for the holidays that was AWFUL, and then we trade, and retrade, until we wind up with the one we want. We tell each other about our holiday & unload about the relative from H*** and drink too.
The act of kindness I remember at Christmas happened several years ago. I went to have same-day surgery two weeks before Christmas, and wound up in the hospital through Christmas Eve. While I was in the hospital, a mother of one of my son’s classmates had people bring meals to my family & took my kids off my husband’s hands some afternoons and Saturdays. They provided meals through New Years for us. (I was still pretty sick when I left the hospital) Many of the people who brought the meals were strangers to me then.
There are lots of kind people out there.
Lisa H on 08 Dec 2007 at 5:03 pm #
Oh Karen R—what a wonderful story! I am so glad you were blessed with another child, and happy to hear your husband is well!
Karen Hawkins on 08 Dec 2007 at 5:13 pm #
You guys have reminded me of why I believe in the spirit of giving. And of miracles!
Great stories — and Karen R, what a DELIGHTFUL Christmas miracle.
Nicole Jordan on 08 Dec 2007 at 5:53 pm #
Funny you should mention generosity at Christmas time, Sabrina. I was awakened at 7 a.m. this morning by a parade of sirens — the local police dept was taking a bunch of underprivaleged kids to the mall for a shopping spree.
And these other stories are lovely!
cail on 08 Dec 2007 at 7:12 pm #
Karen, you totally made me tear up! What a great story.
And doglady, love the story about the cookies.
claudia dain on 08 Dec 2007 at 8:04 pm #
What wonderful stories! I love them.
I was at a Christmas party once where we did the snag the gift game and someone had brought a Swedish horse. I don’t know if any of you know what those are, but it’s a decorative painted horse in a very specific style. My mother had one on our mantel from my earliest memories. When my mom’s stuff was split at her death, my little sister got it. So I’m at this party and no one knows what the Swedish horse is but me and I’m so excited when I get it as my gift.
And just because I was so excited about the horse, some woman thought it must have a value she just couldn’t see and took it from me. Can you believe that? Sheesh.
doglady on 08 Dec 2007 at 9:51 pm #
Wow, what great stories!! Sabrina, your grandmother was another of those rare women who did things just to bring joy to the lives of others and she probably knew that as much joy as she gave it would come back to her ten fold. Karen R, never underestimate the power of Santa Claus! Okay, Claudia that woman was just wrong!! I hope she got coal in her stocking!
My Mama is indeed one incredible lady. I think because she grew up with so very little she tries very hard to make sure she helps anyone she can. Being a full-blooded Indian in rural Alabama in the 30’s was NOT a good thing to be. Being a military wife she admires people who believe in duty and honor, the kind that run into a burning building when everyone else is running out. Not to mention the fact that she makes all of her Christmas goodies from scratch! Rumor has it that the last one of her potato chip cookies has caused several fights in the firehouse!
Sabrina Jeffries on 08 Dec 2007 at 11:43 pm #
Doglady, what’s a potato chip cookie? You have to tell us. That sounds really interesting.
These have been great stories. After going to a party, I went to check my e-mail and the blog, and just at that moment the power went out! ARGGH! For no reason, too. But it’s back on now, thank goodness. I can’t live without power. *G*