Christmas is almost here, and that reminds me of the first Christmas I spent in China. Let me tell you about the first Christmas party I had here, and what happened with the gift exchange:

I’d invited a bunch of friends to celebrate together, and I had told everyone to bring a gift for a gift exchange. Everyone followed my instructions and brought a gift, except there was one little problem. While my intention was that everyone would leave with a gift that they’d gotten from someone else, their intention was to give the present they’d brought to me. In the end, I found myself with a bunch of presents, some of them specifically dedicated to me, and feeling quite bad about the fact that I’d gotten so many presents while they’d not gotten anything. But all arguing and debating was fruitless – my friends wouldn’t want to have the gifts used in a gift exchanged. They only wanted me to have all the gifts. That’s when I learned not to organize another gift exchange among my friends again!