Grinch Gifting

And there are all those things that are great but not of use to <you> anymore. Maybe you have games (complete) but kids too old for them, skis but no longer knees, minature cupcake tins you never did get around to using, a jig for replacing the old-size door knob set with the new larger one ones and you either did it or hired someone <G>). Lots of ways to be really creative about White Elephant Exchanges and lots of ways to have fun with it, too. How about the belly-dancing outfit you bought BC (before children) and the filmy black negligee your brother-in-law gave you he said it was a really a gift for his brother (haw, haw).

The same thing happened to me. A co-worker wanted to celebrate all of the holidays every year, and expected us to do the same and join in. Christmas was different in that it involved gift giving, and not candy/food/peeps/green clothing/flags and such. Most of us went along, but put thankfully there was a $50 limit on the Christmas gift. My go-to place was a store that was located across from the Granada called "Random Goods", and they had quite an interesting selection of things....clothing, artwork, tools, comic books, bolts of fabric, Persian rugs, boots, shoes, purses, wood figurines, cloisonne vases (had to look up how to spell 'cloisonne'), drill bits, restaurant spoons/forks/trays/pitchers/containers.....I mean this place was WILD! I bought three large (12-,15-, and 16-inch high) and colorful cloisonne vases as gifts for about $100, one of which was for our gift exchange at work. My goodness you should have seen the happy look on the face of the recipient of their cloisonne vase, while others held a jar of scented soaps, a George Foreman mini-grill, a nylon string dream catcher, a 1/2 case of two-buck Chuck, and another received a $35 Sears gift card. I ended up with a home-made walking stick that had a leather wrapped handle, and a few dangling feathers. Everyone was happy, and I still have that walking stick .....somewhere. And remember: this season it's all about giving (not receiving).

It is a new gift tinker.

Everyone has something at home they have never used. You can even make it $10 or $20, to make it more interesting. Also, draw numbers. So if there are ten in the office, there are ten numbers. The gifts are wrapped, so you don’t know what you are picking. The person with # 1 picks a gift and unwraps it. The person with #2 either unwraps a gift, or steals gift #1. If they steal gift #1, that person chooses again. Continue through #10. Sometimes, a limit is put on how many times a gift can be “stolen”. This game is sometimes very entertaining.

life is very hard in Santa Barbara. Thank you for helping us navigate the new normal

I think I remember that white elephant was something no one wants as a regift but if it is something useful great. My young employees think white elephant is a new gift.,,,