I hope you had a fabulous holiday. I know I did. Every year is brighter and better than every year before. Having the family together again, even for only the very short time, was long overdue and very rewarding. I even found it instructional in one way.

My sister brought a new idea to our family get-together this year. She asked everyone to bring a low-cost gift to contribute to a gift exchange game. The game she wanted us to play involved a combination of strategy and chance. All he gifts were put in the center of the room. Depending on the roll of the dice, each player would either choose a gift from the pool of gifts, give his or her gift to someone else, or take a gift from someone else.

We had great fun playing the game. I enjoyed watching the overall dynamic. Those who enjoyed most the thrill of discovery would most often choose to open a new gift rather than choose from among "known" options. Others would frequently choose the known gifts. Especially popular were the few gifts with broad appeal. They were sought by both male and female, young and old. One gift, however, had very broad appeal especially after becoming "known".

Early in the game one of my nieces chose and unwrapped a few lottery tickets. These tickets instantly became the hottest gift in the room. nearly everyone wanted them. Fortunately the rules of the game put a cap on the number of times any particular gift could be traded. That was the strategy part of the game. Once the lottery tickets capped out on trades they ceased to captivate everyone's attention.

I was particularly amused by the furor over the lottery tickets. There were plenty of useful gifts with lasting value to be had; but the lottery tickets were the gift nearly everyone wanted. Had I asked, I'm sure everyone would agree it was very unlikely the tickets were worth even the $10 they cost. All the same, they were willing to trade real value for the small chance they might be worth something.

In the end - because I know you want to know - the winner had used both luck and skill to secure a grand total of $2. Interestingly enough, many of those who had sought those tickets during the gift exchange game would have traded their own gifts for even one of those 10 lottery tickets.