The New Right Left Wright Leift Game
By Barbara Miller, Shenandoah Junction, WV

(Directions: One person is given a gift. When the word, right, left, wright, or leift is spoken, they pass the package to the next person either on their wright or their leift, as indicated by the reading below.)

Mrs.Ora Leift wanted to have a cookie exchange, and she wanted to do it right. She called her mother-in-law, Mamma Leift and her mother, Mamma Wright and asked them to come to have tea with her so that she could talk to them about having the right kind of cookie party. Mamma Leift and Mamma Wright, and Ora Leift all got comfortable in Ora Leift’s kitchen and discussed the right kind of cookie exchange. “What is a cookie exchange?” asked Momma Leift, who was no longer really in her right mind. Then she exclaimed, “Oh, right, right, right, that is where everyone brings cookies and trades them until there aren’t any left!” “That’s right, Mamma Leift,” said Ora Leift. Now, mamma’s, where should we have the party?

“Oh not at my house,” said Momma Wright. Papa Wright hasn’t been right since he left last year when I had that Sex in the City party.”

“Well, we can’t have it at my house,” said Mamma Leift, “With what’s left of my right mind, I would probably do something wrong or forget about it.”

“Oh Mamma Leift, its all right,” said Ora Leift. “We can hold the cookie exchange at my place. After all, the Leift house is right on Wright Blvd. where everyone can easily find us. Mamma Leift and Mamma Wright agreed that Ora Leift’s home was the right place to hold their cookie exchange.

“Now, who shall we invite?” asked Mamma Wright. “I would like to invite Lucy and Ethel, and my uncle Buddy Leift,” said Mamma Leift. “NO MEN.” Said Ora Leift. “No men?! Well that's not right,” said Mamma Leift. “No men seems right to me,” said Mrs. Wright. “If you invite men, there will be no cookies left!”

“I would like to invite Susie and Becky Fay, and that precious little boy, Bubba,” said Mamma Wright. “NO KIDS,” said Ora Leift. “No Kids? Well that aint right.” Said Mamma Wright. “No kids seems right to me,” said Mamma Leift. “They will eat the cookies and the crumbs and all of the refreshments then we will be stressed and……”

“All right, All right,” said Ora Leift. “No men, no kids, who’s going to be invited to our cookie exchange?” Let’s all work on our own lists, then we’ll put them together, “ suggested Mamma Leift. They all agreed that would be all right.

So Mamma Wright wrote down the names of the ladies that attended her Sex in the City Party, and Mamma Leift wrote down the names of the ladies from her church, and Ora Leift wrote down the names of all her fun friends, then they combined their lists.

Finally it was Cookie Exchange Party Day! Mamma Leift and Mamma Wright and Ora Leift and all of their friends got together to share the day. Ora had some right reservations about the differences amongst the ladies’ backgrounds. But by the time the party was over and everyone left, the Sex in the City group was singing Christmas hymns, and the church ladies were talking about holding their own Sex in the City party, and all of Ora’s girlfriends were right entertained by the older ladies.

Everyone had a wonderful time, everyone left with cookies, and everyone had a big smile as they left calling, “Happy Holiday Mrs. Wright and Mrs. Leift and Ora Leift!”

Barbara Miller