white elephant gift exchange

On Saturday night, we had our annual Christmas par-tay. Every year the big event is the white elephant gift exchange. In the past there have been some lame gifts: a bag of cement, old wooden skiis, a toilet. Dumb. As we've gotten older, everyone's gifts have been getting better. I am going to give awards to the top 5 gifts given this year.

1st place:


Our friend Peter has connections with people in the printing business. He secretly had a picture of our friend Dave blown up to real size and gave that as his gift. As you can tell in the video, Dave had no idea Peter did this and was SO embarrassed. We were all DYING. It was so amazing. Everyone was fighting over it and trying to get Dave to take a picture next to it. He would hide or run away.

We finally taped it to our window so it would be in the background for the rest of the night. This gift definitely wins 1st place!

2nd place: the Shake Weight
How is it possible I have not heard of this or seen commercials for this new invention? They are so ridiculous. And dirty. Please tell me the inventors knew they would get teased mercilessly for this?

3rd place: creepy painting
Someone brought this painting of an old woman (who kind of looks like Tootsie) from the 70's wearing a star of David necklace. They had cut out the eyeholes in her glasses so you could look out the painting at everyone else. So freaky! But so funny!!

4th place: "Dancin' Grannies" workout video
No one, and I mean no one, should ever wear a shiny turquoise leotard that high on the hips. ESPECIALLY not grannies. I know the elderly need to workout, but whatever happened to a nice pantsuit outfit with legwarmers and sensible tennis shoes?

5th place: gold plunger
No one likes a backed-up toilet. Gross, right? But think of how much more fun it will be once you pull out the solid gold plunger! It will bring a smile to everyone's face. My friend and travel buddy Amy won this beauty and is going to use it as her "hall pass" for her high schoolers (she teaches high school). I love the idea of high school kids walking down the hall, trying to look cool while carrying that thing.

There were many other great gifts this year, but those were my top 5. Yeah for Christmas traditions. And now it is time for another tradition: a week down in southern Cal with my BFF and her hubby. Have a great week, everyone!