The gift exchange went wonderfully enough, and it was a lot of fun to see how my niece reacted to--or better yet, ignored--her first "Christmas". She would pay attention to any of the gifts that she got until they were plopped right in front of her face. That's to be expected with 8-month-old babies, though. But nobody there minded too much; she was the star of the show and did as she pleased, as only an eight-month-old can. As for me, I got the usual suspects (clothes and books) on top of $125 worth of gift certificates to Best Buy to go towards a new printer.
The rest of the day went almost as scripted: there was much food to be eaten and a horde of 500 to be played. I didn't fare too well, only winning one game, but the one game was a 16-hand epic in which both sides had at least three different chances each to put the game away. Definitely not for the faint of heart, that's for sure. I left shortly after that game, simply because it was that draining (everyone used the excuse that is was getting late...).
Of course, my day isn't quite over with, as I need to finish up a load of laundry before pouring myself into bed. I guess I can handle one more hour of being semi-conscious...