Annual Yankee Swap
Before 2010 closes, I had to get in one last blog about the very important topic of…the CDBG annual Yankee Swap. I must say, I’ve never gone to a Christmas party at 7:30am before joining this group, but the December meeting of our Camden Downtown Business Group is always devoted to fun and this good old fashioned tradition.
I did a little (read: a very quick Google search) research, and learned that the Yankee Swap may have actually come from Civil War days when the Yankees and Confederates once swapped prisoners in a game-like style in efforts to have some lighthearted fun (because, really, nothing says “lighthearted” like prisoners of war). Other names for the Yankee Swap are White Elephant Exchange, Chinese Auction, Dirty Santa, and Yankee Doodle. (If you’d like more details, such as the rules, this a good information source.)
Drawing our numbers from the coffee cup, I discovered Christmas luck was with me that morning: I picked number one! As always, we had a lot of laughs, and the gifts were ALL good–no “white elephants” with this group. For the final swap, I did a slow walk around the room, hovering here and there before settling on the adorable and artsy Santa decoration made from old quilts: I’m already looking forward to unpacking him next December!
Happy New Year,
Elizabeth
Tags: Camden Business Group, Christmas, Meeting, Party, tradition, Yankee Swap