How to rip off your Relief Society Sisters

Last night we had a "Service Auction" for our Enrichment. They passed a sign up sheet around last Sunday asking what kind of service we would like to provide. I honestly couldn't think of anything good to do. And - I knew that this was a busy week and I wouldn't be able to spend a lot of time making something. So - I decided that I could bring 10 completed Family Home Evening Packets.

I have belonged to several "Family Home Evening" groups. When my kids were younger - they were great but eventually my kids out grew the kind of Family Home Evening you can fit in a manila folder. The way the group works is similar to how my food group works - just with more people. There were 10 people in our last FHE group so every month I got 10 completed packets. We each made 10 copies of our FHE and then we traded. This last group I was in was pretty amazing - every packet had a story, game, scripture card etc.. Everything was laminated and very painstakingly produced. The problem for me was that my kids had really already outgrown it.

So I have 30 or so FHE packets that have never been opened or looked at. I went through them yesterday and pulled out 10 that I was pretty sure I wouldn't use for sharing times etc... - tied a pretty ribbon on them and took them to Enrichment. They were a highly coveted prize and people wanted them and I felt pretty good about myself.

On the table at the church was a little survey for each of us to fill out. The survey was pretty straight forward and awarded points for all of the things that you have done or took away points for naughty things. I got 10 points for arriving before the opening song, points for having family prayer and personal prayer, points for exercising that day etc... I really scored for doing something nice for my mom that day (she had come over and needed a few things), singing with my kids that day (gotta love the High School Musical 2 soundtrack) and sitting next to Theresa Jones - I earned the most points for that. One of the lines said to reward yourself 2 points for every button the person on your right is wearing. Theresa had 15 buttons! She was wearing a button down shirt and cargo pants with lots of buttons! I lost points for complaining about something, speeding and not bringing a friend but I was way ahead of most with my points.

We all got a chance to look at the things that were going to be auctioned - there was so much to choose from -photography sessions, hair cuts, home made bread, dinners, babysitting etc... And then there was this box. It was tied shut and had a little note that it contained home made Christmas cards. Now, don't judge me or think I am sacrilegious but I KNEW that this box was for me - I had a testimony of it without even knowing how many cards were in there or what they looked like. I just knew that I would use my considerable amount of points to bid on it. When it came up for auction I thought I was going to get it for a good bargain and then somebody starting bidding pretty aggressively against me. This somebody was sitting at the table with the girl who made them AND I had a feeling she knew what was in them - so I just laid it all out there. "I have 98 points" I said with confidence and she dejectedly conceded the prize.

The cards are amazing. There are 30 of them and they all have envelopes and they are all different. Everyone of them has ribbon, brads, pom poms, glitter or some other sort of doo-dad. I consider myself a card maker and I would never have put this much effort into my Christmas cards. At first I felt like I had really scored. Then I thought about those stupid FHE packets I had brought. I didn't even make them!

This morning, I am feeling so guilty. I am still feeling like I totally scored and I told the girl who made them that I was in love with her and that I wanted to kiss her right on the mouth because the cards are so beautiful - but I feel guilty at the same time.

So, I am going to do something nice for everyone who was sitting at my table - I don't know what yet, but I will think of something. But, I'm pretty sure it will not involve giving the cards back!