2010 details here
2011 details here
This year I was feeling stretched pretty thin so I just made some fleece hats from a pattern I made up. The girls want me to make hats for them, as does my mom. Easy peasy, I just have to get to it! I made vegan pumpkin bread as my food item. A few people recognized me as the girl with the globe last year and excitedly asked me what I did this year. I was embarrassed to say, "just some hats".
My display. There was a red light shining down on the table so the colors are a bit off!
My mom's fun display. She made lounging pants. Every year they have a theme for the exchange. This year it was "Girls just wanna have fun".
Everyone sets up and spends about an hour checking out the displays and sampling the baked items. Most people are walking around scribbling notes on pieces of paper (things they want to snatch up later). I bring a clipboard and first sketch a rough map of the room, then include what I'm interested it. Once everyone has perused the room, it's time for lunch.
Our lunches. I got the vegetarian option, a butternut squash ravioli topped with beets and parsnips. My mom and Millie had the same thing as the last two years, half a game hen, one carrot, two asparagus spears, a few roasted potatoes. It must be the Tulalip Resort special!
With lunch and door prizes over (didn't win anything this year), it's time for the actual exchange to begin. During lunch everyone at the table discusses our plan of attack. What will be the first item we try to get? I don't think we've ever all decided on the same thing.
Everyone gets a number when they register. This year I was number 52 which means I went in the 5th round of choosers. My mom was number 49 so she was in the round before me. I guess since she bought the tickets it's only fair for her to go first. There were 7 rounds of choosers total. Everyone gets to go around and choose something 12 times. It's quite a nerve-racking thing to sit at your table and watch the item you want disappearing as you watch earlier rounds of choosers select their item. When they call for your round, you hustle over to the item you want and hope there's still one left. You only get a few minutes before they need you to sit down so the next round can go. As you get to rounds 11 and 12, there isn't much left to choose from, especially if you're in a late group like I was. Some people are new to the exchange and don't know to bring a gift item and some gift items are pretty cheesy. I managed to get 9 things I loved, two things I liked, and one thing that was OK. I actually felt the selection of items this year was a lot better than last year even though the event was smaller.
Inside the ballroom before the event began. Everyone received a small bag draped over their chair embroidered with an image and a saying. Mine said, "Queen Bee".
I am happy with what I walked away with. I got several Christmas gifts for the girls and also got things they could give to friends for birthday gifts. The children were gone when I got home so I hid things away but as they arrived home, they were quick to dig into the treats that I'd brought home and give their opinions on the quality of the items. We had a party at church that night so I brought a lot of the things that weren't to our taste there.
One of the ladies at our table made these fun chicken wire crowns like the one my mom is wearing.
It was a bit of a stressful day. The produce driver called at 4:30 with our produce that we needed to unload from the semi and load onto our trailer. But, the early wake up wasn't the roughest part of the day. The toughest part was that I was also in charge of an entry in the Arlington Santa Parade. (Does it make me a true crafty maiden to have two creative things happening at the same time?) I had a friend filling in for me but I was still pretty worried about how things would turn out. Dode called me just three minutes to noon (the parade started at noon) with a question. He had to hang up before we got it fully worked out. How's that for adding to my stress level?! In the end, the parade went fairly smoothly and I arrived home to a quiet house, and six baskets of produce still waiting for me to put away!
I'm already brainstorming for next year. I'm thinking of taking the ruffled scarves I've been making and fancying them up by widening them, doing two layers of ruffles and adding rosettes.
It's a soft jersey knit.
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