Merry Christmas Eve, now with sand toys.

On Christmas Eve, we went to Cat's place in Gorgona to enjoy a beautiful sunset view of the Pacific Ocean, the company of great people, and a killer meal like only Cat can prepare.

(Seriously, when it comes to hostessing, there is no better role model.)

We each brought a white elephant gift and played a gift exchange game.

I'm a huge fan of gift exchange games, as you might remember from my Sinterklaas experience in 2006. This one was a little different, but every bit as fun.

First, we all drew playing cards. The number on the card indicated who was first, second, third, and so on. The first person was allowed to choose a gift to unwrap. Each person afterward was allowed either to choose a new gift, or to steal one that had already been opened.  However a gift could only be stolen so many times before it forever belonged to the last person holding it.

With so many couples present, it became incredibly strategic, as one partner stole a present so that the other partner could steal it from them, and so on. We kept a close watch on the bottle of rum, and we came home with it in the end. That, and a bucket of sand toys and other random dollar-store items.

Other gems that our friends took home included five rolls of colorful duct tape, volleyballs, and blow-up pool toys.