Found this old thread and thought I would bump it up.

I've changed my Christmas shopping since then. I buy little things all year round, when I see something that fits a particular person, but in my family we have a new custom... we each buy one thing costing no more than about $10, then after dinner, we sit around and take turns throwing this enormous dice on the floor, and the one who get a six first, pick a gift (they are all wrapped). When everyone has opened their gifts, we play one more dice game, on time (like 10 15 min. only one person knows how long the game continues), and if anyone wants to pick another person's gift, they can when they get a six.

This way, we don't get lots of things we don't need/want, and we have more time to sit around a chat.

Oh, and each family bring an "almond gift" to put inside the Ris a la Mande. The one(s) who get the almond(s) get to pick a gift from the table - it's usually chocolate or some kind of deli food, but sometimes it is a little booklet with political satire.