I participated in a "Yankee Swap" today.

[Raven]

Does everybody know what that is? I didn't until today. I got a lamp with a lady's stockinged leg holding up the light.

[MrCoffee]

1. you went to some swinger party and stole their FRAGILE italian lamp?

edited to add that, in spite of my confusion, this OP is the awesome.

[rug]

2. Does it involve oral sex with Joe Torre?

[redwitch]

3. I want it.

Hand it over. IT'S A MAJOR AWARD! IT'S THE MOST BEAUTIFUL THING I HAVE EVER SEEN! Series. Would you trade it for, say, a bowling alley?

[tigereye]

4. like they used to have in the back of Yankee magazine?

wait, that was a swop...

I guess I don't know what it is...

[flvegan]

5. a/k/a "The Dirty Santa Exchange" which sounds, well

kinda perverted.

[MrCoffee]

9. the first time i read that, i thought it said "Dirty Sanchez Exchange"

[flvegan]

15. I was hoping someone else would, as I did too.

[skygazer]

6. That's where you exchange baseball players, right?

What I wanna know is, which player wears the stockings.

[AllegroRondo]

7. I want a lamp like that!!!!

where did they find it?

[Raven]

12. I'm told they found the lamp at Walmart. Shame!

Now here's the deal...and it's kind of fun, actually. Each person brings a gift. You pick a number. Whoever gets #1 gets to pick first and last. Each person takes a turn and picks a gife. They get one chance to swap their gift with someone else's. At my Yankee Swap, the popular gife was 2 bottles of wine. The guy who was #1 picked it and then each person after that swapped for the wine. In the end #1 got the last pick...the wine, of course. I swapped the lady leg lamp for a Chia. Will's gonna get the Chia for Christmas!

[AllegroRondo]

13. well traded!

all I got was a shirt someone received for free from a vendor.

[trof]

16. Will will be absolutely thrilled. Over the moon.

"She LOVES me! She really REALLY loves me!"
'Cause nuthin' says love like a Chia Pet.

[Lasher]

25. I hear they give them out as major awards around Christmas n/t

[Rising Phoenix]

8. you scored

I got popcorn a couple of years ago at one

[trof]

10. I hated those.

When we were in NH one of our friends did that every year.
You'd get something you really kinda liked and some jerk would take it.
Damn Yankees.
After a couple of these we'd all find the crappiest gifts we could to bring.

[Sanity Claws]

11. No, I've never heard of it

Is it a grab bag of weird gifts, some of which are off-color?
If it's that, it goes by other names in other parts of the country. I remember one gift -- it was Embraceable Ewe. It was an inflatable sheep with a body cavity. Really.

[trof]

14. OK, here's a pic of Raven's 'prize':

She's kinda muscular, hunh?

[Raven]

17. Damn! That's it! The very one! The guy I swapped it to was

going to give it to his wife. Go figure!

[MrCoffee]

18. you traded The Lamp for a Chia?

you got robbed

[Raven]

19. Actually, I gave the Chia away to a woman who said her kids

would love it and I didn't want that Goddamned lamp in my house!

[MrCoffee]

20. but..but...it's a MAJOR AWARD!

this is my favorite thread of the day, btw.

[Raven]

21. Yup, mine too. The replies have made me giggle. n/t

[trof]

22. True. According to Ralphie's dad, "A MAJOR AWARD!"

And a lovely and tasteful accessory it is.

[Bucky]

27. How do you turn the light bulb on?

Nevermind. I know.

[Raven]

28. It's a candle lamp...if it had a light bulb I guess you'd have to...

Nevermind, you know!

[regnaD kciN]

23. I thought it meant you gave each other steroid injections...!

[Inchworm]

24. Bless yer heart... no text - none whatsoever

[SoxFan]

26. Was Johann Santana involved?

Is Ian Kennedy still on the block?

[Heidi]

29. Ha! I don't think that's strictly a Yankee tradition. My family gathers in Arkansas each Christmas

and does something very similar among the adults. Wine, Leatherman products and Estée Lauder stuff are always the most popular gifts.

I miss Christmas with my family. Sorta.

[DemReadingDU]

30. Our family does a yankee swap too

All ages can have fun. We try to select a theme, and keep the gift amount to about $5. One year we did a food swap, another year we swapped office supplies, this year the 'gift' has to be from a dollar store.

When I was working, we had a yankee swap with our entire group of about 50 people. The rules were a bit different. Everyone picks a number, but when it was your number, you could either take a new wrapped gift to open, or take an unwrapped gift from someone else. The person who had their gift taken, could either choose to take a gift from somebody else or take a new wrapped gift. The swap took a long time, and it was fun to see the gift that was taken the most often!

edit for clarity