Notable Christmas Gifts

After everything was said and done, I would have to say that we all got some pretty great gifts this year. Many of them were centered around family jokes, including a few given by different people with the same theme. It was kind of like that year when Kenny and I both surprised each other with trips to New York, only on a much smaller scale. (Yes, we really did do that, and yes, we really did take both trips, albeit a few months apart.)

We apparently are all budding t-shirt designers because there were a lot of custom-made shirts exchanged. I created one for Uncle Jeff with a favorite saying of his on it, and Riley also gave one to Nopsi and one to Nola.

 

And I am sorry to say that there were two, TWO, shirts created for yours truly, one by my brother and another one by my father. Neither knew the other was doing the same thing, so I am quite the lucky girl to have two unfortunate reminders of something that happened on our Sonoma trip back in July. I simply mistook some cattle for horses and now I’ll never live it down.

What can I say? We had been drinking wine all day long and I got a little confused. Such is life sometimes.

There were also a couple of bacon-themed gifts exchanged between me and QP, because we both love this video. And QP and Erin both reminded each other of a small little incident that happened on Thanksgiving night with custom created “green apple” gifts.

I’m telling ya, if you say something in front of any other member of this family, be prepared to have it haunt you for the rest of your days.

Then there was a special gift from my brother to me. As if his horsey t-shirt wasn’t enough, he commissioned UJ to paint a gigantic “Noel” on canvas for me. I was surprised with it as I came back downstairs at one point, so I must admit he got me good. But he still hasn’t topped my “Noel” delivery on my way down the aisle at his wedding, so I guess our good-natured battle continues.

 

But perhaps the most fun gifts of the day were from my dad to Kenny and my brother: remote control helicopters. Oh, and Nopsi got himself one, too. He couldn’t let the two young guys have all the fun!

The weather on Sunday wasn’t the greatest for flying, but you better believe Kenny and Jeff ventured out anyway to take their copters for a test spin.

However, they moved their flight paths inside when the wind blew one of the choppers into a tree. Luckily, there were no casualties.

Riley was absolutely fixated on the helicopters, especially once the guys started flying them around inside. He was so intently focused that I probably could have waved a handful of sticks in front of his face and he wouldn’t have blinked.

 

These were just a few of the memorable gifts given and received this year; there were certainly other wonderful ones. I definitely think we outdid ourselves, though, and we’ll have quite a challenge topping the creativity next year.

However, if anyone can do it, this family can!