Oh, The Irony!!!

Every other Friday at Mahon's work, they stop regular work at three in the afternoon and spend the last two hours of the day doing what is officially called "Team Building"—but more commonly referred to as "Game Day." Yep. They play games. And get paid for it.

Shortly after Mahon started working at this company in the summer of 2010, he came home talking about this new game called "Dominion." We are big game people anyway, and I could tell that this was one that Mahon was really into. I started scheming, and as Christmas drew near, I took the majority of my Christmas budget for him and used it to buy his very own copy of Dominion.

Every Christmas, the company has a holiday party for its employees that includes a White Elephant-style gift exchange—where each employee has a chance to open a wrapped gift, and then the next person can choose to steal that gift or open a new one, etc. The gifts are usually pretty cool. A week or two before the Christmas party, Mahon came home and excitedly told me that one of the gifts up for grabs this year was a copy of Dominion, and that he was really hoping to be able to snag that one for himself.

After a few days of dithering, I finally started giving him some strong hints about how I didn't think he should try for Dominion in the gift exchange. He took the hints, and wasn't too surprised when he found his very own copy of the game under the tree on Christmas morning last year. He said that he never really had been in a position to grab Dominion during the company gift exchange, anyway—which made me really wish I'd just kept my mouth shut and not ruined the surprise!

Fast forward to this fall. A few months ago, Mahon once again came home talking about a new game: "Acquire." After his enthusiasm remained undimmed through several Game Days, I started scheming again. About two weeks ago, I decided to go ahead and order a copy of the new game for one of Mahon's Christmas gifts this year (his "biggest and best" gift is actually one I'm making at very little cost, but Acquire was going to be a close second).

Then, last week, I happened to be chatting with the HR representative at Mahon's work and noticed in the stack of unwrapped gifts by her desk none other than a copy of Acquire. I felt a sinking sensation in the pit of my stomach as I realized that yes indeed, this year's hot game was going to be offered up in the gift exchange. For a day or two, I debated going the same route as last year—hinting to Mahon that I really, really thought he should choose not to go after Acquire during the gift exchange. But, remembering how I'd spoiled the surprise and how Mahon had said he never really had a shot at the gift he wanted in the exchange last year, I decided to hold my tongue.

This afternoon—shortly after the gift game concluded—I got a text from Mahon: "Guess what I got!"

Yep. You guessed right. Apparently, my husband will be bringing home a brand-spanking-new copy of Acquire tonight—

The perfect twin to the one that's sitting underneath our tree.