Monday, December 17, 2007

The Best White Elephant Prize Ever!

Saturday night we went to a Christmas Party at some good friends of ours. One of the things they always do is have a White Elephant Gift Exchange. It is so fun. We brought two pair of crazy slippers - ugly - but useful. There is a fine balance in what you can bring to the WEGE - it has to be funny or desirable but not too cheap or naughty. The naughty prizes make me very uncomfortable (Type 2 Embarrassment) so I was glad there were none this year.



We ended up with the new Josh Groban Noel cd (very desirable), some candy, a "tooth tunes" toothbrush and a pennant for WWE champ Kevin Nash. It is totally sweet. He is making the coolest pose in silhouette at the bottom of the pennant. He looks a little bit like "Dog the Bounty Hunter" to me. I brought it home and asked Devon if he wanted to hang it up in his bedroom - he looked at me like he thought I was crazy - but I am totally going to hang it up in there while he is at school today and see if he notices.



But, we did not choose the best white elephant gifts ever. The host of the party ended up with them and we did find out later who brought them - it was a collection of Yanni paraphernalia. Not just a cd - but a VHS of a concert and a cassette tape. It was awesome! When Alan had a chance to steal, I wanted him to get it for his office white elephant party - but he didn't (we may have to break out our Bill Clinton toilet paper for that - we really have some) he thought he was saving himself some Christmas shopping when he stole the Josh Groban cd. He didn't realize it was a Christmas cd and that would be pretty lame to give as a gift ON Christmas. The Yanni collection was brilliant - the best white elephant gift of the night.



This Christmas I will be carrying on a tradition with my younger brother. It is sort of a white elephant but I hesitate to call it that. When Jeremy was packing to leave on his mission in July of 1990, I slipped into his suitcase, an electric blue stocking cap that our Grandma had crocheted years before. It is such an ugly blue AND it has a big pom pom on top. He found it in his suitcase and put it under my pillow, I found it a couple of days later and stuck it into his carry-on bag and he didn't find it until he reached the MTC. In December of 1990, I entered the MTC and was so excited to get a package from my missionary brother - but among other things was the stupid hat.



I took the hat to France with me and sent it to him for his birthday. He sent it back on my birthday. I sent it to a missionary in Japan and he pinned a Japanese flag pin to it and sent it to my brother. Jeremy sent it home and had my mom send it in my Christmas package. I sent it to Scotland and had Alan send it back to Jeremy. I can't even imagine the amount of postage we wasted on that hat. Since we've been home it has ended up in wedding gifts, baby gifts and Christmas gifts several times. I have the hat in my possession right now - I am looking for a good way to give it to him this year. Any suggestions?

6 comments:

D-dawg said...

That is a great tradition you have going on with your brother! SO funny! My mom sometimes would stick dirty diapers in our backpacks! Sick I know. I wish I could think of a way for you get that hat back to him.. but I'm not creative. Sorry.

Tatum said...

Next time you go to your brothers house you should stick it in a not so obvious but obvious place. So it takes a few days or weeks to find but he would surely I find it. Pinned on the garage wall or the ceiling in a closet or bathroom(somewhere high). I don't know. That is so funny! My husband and his brother are always doing things like that- with pictures of ridiculous looking people or items their mom made. Too funny!

Beeswax said...

Thank you! When I saw the Yanni collection on it's way to DI a few months ago, I snapped it up. I think it could really use an LP to round out the collecion. I love white elephant gift exchanges very very much. I have another little gem I found and saved for the family exchange. It is a real doozy.

One Sassy Mama said...

I think you should take a Christmas picture of your family with all of them wearing a Santa hat - and you wearing the illicit blue hat. Put the picture in with your Christmas card & attach it to a beautifully wrapped gift - with the hat inside of course.

Jenny-ology said...

Hey Jolene,
We had our ward enrichment white elephant and someone actually got a white elephant. That was funny. I ended up with a box of 30 handmade cards by Jenny Boyle. I thought of you winning them at that auction. I am so excited. I love white elephant games.
Last year, my brother-in-law ended up with a pregnancy test, and someone ended up with a tepid Jack in the Box cheeseburger. At least it was still wrapped!

Jenny-ology said...

As far as your brother, I love that you shipped the hat all over the country. I love one sassy mamma's idea to do a photo shoot with the hat. I have some Santa hats if you want to borrow them.
My mother and her sister have given each other M&M's paraphenalia for years. Every year they try to come up with some new M&M thing they haven't seen before, or they regift the old things again.

Maybe you could have someone else wrap it and give it to him- so he wouldn't suspect it.