Monday, October 01, 2007

Christmas Craziness Continues

Okay, it sounds like the cousins would like to draw names and do the calendar. I agree that doing families would be great, but there are only six families - Rika/Mark and family; Hannah/Jerry and family; Bri/Peter and bebe; Matt/Kelly and boys; Meg/Ryan; and, Randa/Nate and Emma. If you six would like to exchange families, we can do that and throw the rest of the names in the hat. If you want to do Randa's idea of a fun little something on special days, then I will do individuals. Unless you six want to do individuals, I will draw the six families and then the rest of the cousins. You have until Friday and then the drawing will begin. Thank you for responding to the interference on the part of the aunts/uncles. Maybe next year we will just do this at Ben and Katie's wedding!!
Have a great day. I will mail some money to you, Hannah, but would you put Gramma and me down for calendars, please??? Thank you!
Love

13 comments:

mattandkelly said...

I think that families should be thrown in with all the cousins. All the families still have pretty young kids who would still enjoy a family gift (i.e. family friendly movie, a family night pack (popcorn, movie rental gift card, and some candy), a family board game, etc.). If people feel like $15 is not enough for a family then maybe we could take a vote to increase it to $20. I think $15 is plenty. Meg and Ryan can chose whether they want to be separate or together.

Hannah, pictures and money are coming ASAP. You can put our family down for one. Thanks.

Matt

meg and ry said...

I agree with Matt. It would be fun for some singles to buy a gift for families and vice versa. I would say cap it at 20....a little more flexibility. Ry and I will be a family.
Whew!

Maurika said...

I'm in, that sounds like fun!
$20 sounds fab, and the kids are happy to be involved too...

We're down for a calendar too hannah belle, and pic's are on their way this week i promise!

Jen said...

good...families get families and us single cousins can hook each other up!! :)

mattandkelly said...

No jen. You missed that whole "families get thrown in with all the cousins" part of my comment. The entire cap is now $20 and you are just as likely to get the Buyskes as the Wells are. The family gift is one gift for the whole family. There is zero expectation to split the $20 to get gifts for each individual in a family. Families make sure you post some gifts under the $20 cap as part of the lists.

Matt

Jen said...

what? ok...now i am a little confused.....i thought the families were going to draw for eachother...and then the rest of the cuzes would be thrown into a different hat...apparently i misunderstood....as long as i know who i am buying for..i could care less!!

Jan said...

Matt, I think that the way we were going to do it is the way Jen thought. I was going to throw the six families in and draw and throw the single cousins in and draw. That is how I understood everyone who commented on what they wanted. You guys will have names on the blog by tomorrow. It will be what it will be and it will be fun, right?? With this rain, I am getting excited for Christmas already!!
Jan

Maurika said...

Hmm...I was on the same page with Matt. Why segregate the families? We're cool too!!! :)

The idea - I thought, was to keep all us cousins in touch with eachother. I would enjoy drawing a Sam as much as a Matt Family! Plus, 1/2 the families are my siblings, and to be frank...I'm already getting them gifts so kinda takes away from the cousin thing.

Thoughts??

Maurika

mattandkelly said...

Maurika makes a great point about half the families being her siblings. Then Megs and I are the other third with Miranda and Nate rounding out the six. Not very good odds for getting someone other than family members. Lets just keep it easy and do one drawing. $20 cap for EVERYONE. Makes life simple and fun.

Love you all,
Matt

Jen said...

i am just plain confused....so you mean i have a chance of drawing the schulte family???

Jan said...

Nope. I am throwing in Schulte family; Wells family; Jen; Molly; Abe; Borton family; etc, etc. It will be just like when we drew for single cousins - if you get one from your family, we throw it back and draw again. No one will get anyone from their family. I will do it later tonight (after having a glass of wine and listening to the great music of Johnny and Michael), so watch for results tomorrow. I am excited!!! Sorry it got so confusing! We will keep it simple next year!

mattandkelly said...

Thanks mom. I think this is the simplest. Families are one name until the parents feel like the kids are old enough that they would enjoy being part of the gift exchange.

Lets make sure we get lists up soon so that people can take care of business and get a head start this year. :)

Later,
Matt

mattandkelly said...

Thanks mom. I think this is the simplest. Families are one name until the parents feel like the kids are old enough that they would enjoy being part of the gift exchange.

Lets make sure we get lists up soon so that people can take care of business and get a head start this year. :)

Later,
Matt