Thanks, Cris. 
My extended family has historically been pretty clumsy with the whole gift giving hooplah too. Usually we draw names at Thanksgiving, then it's a mad scramble trying to figure out what to buy for that person. Even I get confused for those - some of my relatives I really only see at Thanksgiving and Christmas, and so many of my cousins seem to remary annually that I frequently ended up buying something for someone I hadn't even met!
This year though, they've decided to do something new, which I think will be a lot of fun. We're each just bringing *something*, not for anybody in particular, just something that we think someone might like. Then we'll take turns either opening a new present, or stealing one that's been opened that we like. Should turn into quite the riot - most of my family is pretty good-natured, so I imagine a lot of craziness and laughter. And it's a lot more likely that everyone will end up with something they like.
My extended family has historically been pretty clumsy with the whole gift giving hooplah too. Usually we draw names at Thanksgiving, then it's a mad scramble trying to figure out what to buy for that person. Even I get confused for those - some of my relatives I really only see at Thanksgiving and Christmas, and so many of my cousins seem to remary annually that I frequently ended up buying something for someone I hadn't even met!
This year though, they've decided to do something new, which I think will be a lot of fun. We're each just bringing *something*, not for anybody in particular, just something that we think someone might like. Then we'll take turns either opening a new present, or stealing one that's been opened that we like. Should turn into quite the riot - most of my family is pretty good-natured, so I imagine a lot of craziness and laughter.
And it's a lot more likely that everyone will end up with something they like.