Hanukkah Gift Exchange

From Scratchpad

The Hanukkah Gift Exchange, created at the end of the 2006 calendar year by then Captain Ryan "T-Rex" Garwood, is a wintertime celebration for the Ship of Fools. Hopefully an annual event, the event reminds us all that " 'tis better to give than to receive".

[edit] Theistic Interpretation

The initial suggestion was a "Secret Santa"-type gift exchange, whereby each person randomly is assigned one of the other improv members to buy them a gift (the cost of which should not exceed an agreed upon dollar amount). They would only know the name they had chosen, not who was getting them a gift. The day of the exchange, all the "secret" gift givers would be revealed and much joy would be had giving thoughtful gifts.

Santa Claus, as it turns out, is not an idol shared by all 10 members (at the time) of the Ship of Fools. A small but civil religious debate ensued. A MerryChristmasHanuKwanzaa Exchange was ruled out, and a Politically Correct Religion Neutral Winter Holiday Gifting Process was deemed too wimpy. Finally, we settled on a Jewish themed gift exchange (jokingly dubbed the "Hidden Hanukkah Helper").

[edit] Controversy

Captain Ryan admits to rigging the outcome of the first exchange. He so strongly wanted to give a certain gift that that is why he suggested the formation of the holiday exchange. Openly acknowledging fraud, he selected the name he wanted and then made the other nine Fools pick names at random. Most Fools quickly figured out who Ryan selected, but most of the other names remained a mystery. The special gift that prompted the exchange was Benji's Sergeant Stripes.

[edit] 2006

Gift pairs were as follows:

• Beard -> SOG, received myrrh, incense, and pyrite
• SOG -> Kamikaze, received a book entitled Kamikaze
• Kamikaze -> T-Rex, received a Fisher Space Pen, a Hubble view poster, and a T-Rex toy
• T-Rex -> Hallway, received Sergeant stripes
• Hallway -> Cowboy, received ninja, policeman, and indian dress up outfits
• Cowboy -> Tripod, received the newest Weird Al DVD, bubble wrap, and a printout of pi to 1000 places
• Tripod -> Peace, received War and Peace
• Peace -> BO, received a clover belt buckle bottle opener
• BO -> Sweet Speak, received electronic talking parrot
• Sweet Speak -> Beard, received a flat cap with "Beard" and "SOF" written on it

Notes: no casualties. The projector was used as a tree. The Captain was thoroughly impressed by the gifts and everybody keeping true to the spirit of the exchange, even the new Fools.