Tuesday, December 11, 2007

It's The Thought That Counts

You don't necessarily need to spend a lot of money on a Yankee Swap gift. A homemade gift from the heart can be just as special. To wit: a former colleague of mine once worked in the athletic department of a small Catholic college. The department held an annual Yankee Swap in which the majority of gifts exchanged tended to be alcohol and scratch tickets. This one year was no different except in the midst of passing around bottles of vodka and wine, someone had the fortune of opening the gift from the department's secretary, a kind old lady who had served the college for many years. She had given a meticulously crafted homemade nativity scene. Her lucky colleague (and each participant henceforth) then had quite a decision to make. "This homemade nativity scene that clearly took weeks to make is great, but I'm going to trade it for the lottery tickets someone bought on the way over here."

The moral of the story: You don't have to get a great gift, just one that will make people feel guilty about giving it away.

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