Fritshaw Family Christmas

We always do a Chinese gift exchange* at my Mom and Dad's. It is always SO fun. This year's highlights included Hugh's gift. He framed some photos of himself and my Mom happily stole for it. I am calling it Hugh's gift because it was his idea. Please know that it would have never came to fruition had I not nagged for weeks, picked up the frame myself and finally on Dec. 23 gave Hugh the ultimatum that if he didn't pose for the pictures that day, the gift wouldn't be happening! I then edited all the photos and put them on a flash drive as it was too late to order through Costco.  Other highlights were the Despicable Me Fart Gun that Luke and Brittany put in the exchange on behalf of Calder. I won that item. I actually stole for it thinking Calder would definitely steal it from me. I was completely wrong. Calder loves opening gifts WAY too much, so every time he had the chance, he picked a new gift to open. In the end, he ended up with a baking pan and cutting board. He wasn't one bit upset. In fact, on the way home, completely out of no where, he exclaimed, "DID YOU REMEMBER TO PACK MY PAN?" When Hugh assured him he did, I asked Calder if I could store it in my cupboard for him. Nope. He was going to use it. He then told me that he wanted to make something in it and I was able to delay one day once we were home before he nagged me to the brink of insanity and we baked a cake in it together! I will say the great thing about my fart gun is that the boys are having fun playing with it, but when I start getting sick of hearing farts, I get to say, "I want my fart gun back." Calder is surprisingly cooperative when this happens!

A couple of other highlights include when Hugh, Calder and Luke were laying on the recliner couch on Boxing day enjoying some quiet time. Luke leaned over to Calder who was sitting in the middle and began singing, "If you're happy and you know it rub Calder's head" and simultaneously ruffling Calder's hair. Calder giggled. After a couple of renditions Calder decided he was going to sing his own song. He turned toward Hugh and sang, "If you're happy and you know it slap Dad in the face." And you guessed it. Calder simultaneously wound up and gave Hugh an open hand slap right in the face.

On the way home, Boone said, "More crack". He was referring to crackers and it was the first time he strung two words together. We haven't heard 2 in a row since, but it was pretty cool nonetheless!

Oh, and I missed a photo of my Dad's cousin Barry and actually, come to think of it, Hugh and I, but all three of us were there! I did not miss taking photos of my sister, Jes, and her husband, Nate. They are in the Bahamas. Lucky souls.

*The name "Chinese gift exchange" feels a bit strange, but that is always what we've called it. I did some reading about it and this sort of gift exchange can also be called "White Elephant" or "Yankee". It seems this kind of exchange does not originate in China, but rather in the early 1900's it was used in North America to make the gift exchange seem more mysterious. At that time anything Asian was very secretive and exotic. So - your thoughts. Is calling this kind of gift exchange "Chinese" racist? After reading a definition on racism, I'm inclined to think it is not racist. It likely isn't an accurate descriptor of the game, but there isn't anything negative about the game therefore it shouldn't reflect negatively on the use of Chinese. I am not an expert on these things, so I welcome any other thoughts. One of my pet peeves is the oversensitivity we can sometimes have around race, gender, age, religion, etc. I'm not saying it's okay to be racist, sexist, ageist, etc. Those things are NEVER okay. I'm just saying we shouldn't take ourselves too seriously.