A Christmas Story, One Card at a Time

We’d love to share a simple game we like to play at Christmas.

You stack a few cards you received for the holiday season, then everyone sits in a circle.

One person draws the first card and starts a Christmas story. Just a few sentences. Then the next person draws another card and continues the story, using whatever appears on their card. You try to make it fit, even when the card takes things in an unexpected direction.

Each new card changes the story.
Sometimes it makes sense. Sometimes it doesn’t.

That’s part of the fun!

This is what we did with our Christmas cards.
And here’s the story that came out of it.

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Christmas morning starts quietly.

White everywhere.

The kind of white that pulls kids out of bed before anyone says breakfast. Boots half on, coats forgotten, laughter already outside.

A snowman comes first. Crooked and proud.

Back inside, guests arrive in costume. That was the rule this year.

Three gnomes together. Same hats. Same beards. Hard to tell who’s who.

A Sugar Plum Fairy slips into the room, light on her feet. Someone whispers how lucky we are. The room feels magical somehow.

Then the Grinch shows up.

He stops in the doorway.
Hands on his hips. Watching.

Up to something, clearly.

He tilts his head.
“Where are your cute little hamsters, kids?”

Lowering his voice, he adds,
“Because I think I just spotted two hamsters playing hide and seek with the snowman.”

No one believes him.
Only the Grinch would say that.

Still a kid turns around.
The hamster cage is wide open!
Empty.

The room pauses.
Then everyone moves at once.
Gnomes. Fairy. Grinch.

Time to find the hamsters.
They search outside. Around the house. Near the snowman. Calling softly.

A laugh breaks the quiet.
The Grinch reappears, holding the two hamsters, noses pink, clearly having the time of their lives.

They’d been hiding in the snow, tucked behind a little mushroom house no one had noticed before.

Relief. Laughter.

The game is over.

Back inside, the dogs plant themselves by the presents, certain this part of Christmas involves them.

Pumpkin pie waits.
The house smells of spices.
Merry Christmas everyone!

⭐ See all our Holiday Cards

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