December 4, 2005:
NEMO christmas party 2005
Another snowy day for the NEMO christmas party, just like in 2003 (which was actually in early 2004 due to snow on the original date); I missed the real 2004 party due to last years MINIs Making-A-Wish. About six MINIs and one classic Mini showed:
Sadly GBMINI is once again very dirty!
The “usual suspects” showed up, including both Daves, Ken, Greg, Paul, Hrach and of course Faith & Bruce:
After a seriously garlic-laden lunch, the Yankee swap proceeded with just a few popular items this year - a clock made on a wooden cutout of a classic Mini changed hands about 5 times, and some Guinness glasses also proved popular. Here Faith is laying down the “new” ground rules for the Yankee swap - but they were soundly rejected and we kept to the old & better rules 
Giacomo (2005/12/04 @ 9:42 pm)
Being a SoCal bread and born boy what the hell is a “Yankee Swap”?
I know of the “Valley Swap” but that can’t be done in a public place.
Ian C. (2005/12/05 @ 9:25 am)
“Yankee Swap” - new to me when I arrived in USA too
At the end, depending on rules, the first person (who was unlucky being #1 since there were no open gifts to steal), gets the chance to swap their gift with ANY other.
People bring wrapped gifts.
First person picks & unwraps a gift - shows it to all.
Next person *either* picks & unwraps a gift, or “steals” an open gift from someone else. If you have a gift stolen, you get to pick/unwrap another.
Repeat.
Popular gifts will be stolen many times
Giacomo (2005/12/05 @ 1:23 pm)
OK then.