Unexpected Gifts

As the secretary in a middle school, I find myself the recipient of small gifts from many different people at this time of the year. The staff is especially good at showing their appreciation. I have an ever increasing collection of Christmas mugs and enough Christmas pins to wear a different one every school day in December. This year a few unique gifts have made me chuckle and wonder what in the world are people thinking? One morning on my desk I found a card with a lovely gift box, about 5 inches square and an inch deep, tied with a ribbon. It was very light, and when I opened it I discovered it was empty. I saw my fellow secretary had one exactly like it and I asked if she had opened it yet. She said she had started to open it when the giver was standing there and was told, "Don't open it, silly, the box IS the gift! It's a Christmas decoration!" Okay. It's cute, but it makes me smile when I see it. Would you give an empty box as a gift?

The all time most unique gift came from a teacher who likes to pick up things for us when he visits his relatives in the south. I still have the hush puppy mix he gave me last year in my pantry. Just never get around to making hush puppies for some reason. Last week he left a jar of Old South Pickled Hot Brussels Sprouts on my desk. I don't like hot things, I don't like pickled things, and I don't like brussels sprouts. However, that's definitely something he doesn't have to worry that everyone else got for me. I am grateful to be appreciated. The part I don't get is that he gave the other two secretaries each a jar of peach preserves! I can only speculate that he thinks they need sweetening up. I took the pickled brussels sprouts to our pinochle get together Saturday night, and out of the 16 people there, only one was adventurous enough to try it. He likes hot pickled things and brussels sprouts, but found the brussels sprouts too hard and crunchy. So get ready, family and friends, I will bring it everywhere I go this holiday season! I do love to share!

The best gift was the brand new first CD of my three neices that I received from my sister Hope yesterday. I wish I could write interesting, analytical music reviews like my brother Tom so eloquently pens, but I will just say that I love this CD. Their voices blend as only close family members can, and the sweetness and purity of their a cappella vocals is beautiful and moving. (Thank you, Tom, I had to refer to your blog posting (http://www.icedteaforever.com/2006/09/a-cappella-setting-a-few-things-straight.html) to make sure I spelled a cappella correctly.) One of these days I need to learn to do those links properly.

So, if you're having a hard time figuring out what to buy someone, don't be afraid to get something outrageous, unexpected or just plain weird! Just because it's something they totally might not like doesn't mean they can't find some entertainment value in it!