Christmas of 2025 is the 250th Christmas of the Marine Corps and in 2026 it will be our 250th! Merry Christmas, (you scurvy dog) Marines!
They raised their flag for the first time at a Notorious Pirate Dive Bar in Philadelphia Pennsylvania called the “Tun Tavern,” Nov. 10, 1775. Christmas gifts where you “Share Good Cheer” by volunteering to do “Good Deeds” celebrate our countries first volunteers -the Marines!
These gifts should only include volunteering, singing, laughing and Christmas Baking. The gifts you buy at a store are found under your tree, not here.
In 1776 the USA did not have it’s own currency. (Think of the settlers at Plymouth rock. A treasure chest full of gold coins would not help them survive one little bit!) A ledger or barter was used to trade Good Cheer for Good Deeds until we got our USA paper dollar in 1863. In the George Washington Christmas game, you only trade minutes volunteering for Good cheer or good deeds. Sing Jingle bells, make hot chocolate, clean the ice from windshields or anything you can think of. You have to create more than 25 minutes before you start the game. You can play for any amount of time and even stretch it out until the entire nation celebrates our 250th Christmas! Think of your volunteering to create good cheer all year as an early Christmas present for our 250th birthday! You can create as many minutes as you want and re-gift in other games with other people and even use their ideas. To play without registering or logging in, you write down your good cheer or good deeds on a piece of paper and fold it twice. You write the number of minutes on the last fold. You can not buy anything at a store unless it is for food that you are making yourself. (Food is about 1 minute = about 25 cents of ingredients) Make as many gifts as you want and typically they are about 1 to 15 minutes long. Each person picks one gift by just looking at the minutes and this continues in a circle until each person chooses at least 25 minutes. When you reach or exceed 25 minutes you drop out of the circle and other people keep choosing. When everybody has at least 25 minutes, everybody opens the gifts and reads them and keeps them open. Each person now has three trades going around in a circle. They trade their booby for booty. Most of the gifts are “Booty prizes” that you want. Some gifts are “Booby Prizes” that you don’t want. For example a tough job you want done is a booby prize. When you complete the volunteering for the prizes you have, you get that score, even if it is days later. You play as often as you want to create as much good cheer and good deeds as you want and nobody goes broke getting into the Christmas spirit! With pen and paper, your final score (size of your pirate booty) is the minutes of volunteering completed. Biggest Booty wins! You can create a prize for the winner if they reach a score such as 50 or 100 or just play by the score. Anytime you have 25 points you can trade a booby prize for a booty prize and not get that booby prize again. You lose 25 points in the trade. You can keep the score from one game to the next or start new each time. A great way to get chores done around the house, in your break room, at a party or event.
