I scrapbooked this page about our yearly Yankee Swap:
Journaling reads: The infamous Yankee Swap gift. Every year Ray has to find the most horrible and ugly item to give as his gift and every year the family punishes me by making me end up with it. I laughed until I cried the day he picked it out and again the night I got stuck with it. I had actually learned to love this hideous looking cookie jar when it broke. I won't be going out to replace it with the same but it definitely earned a place in my scrapbooks.
Now as much as I hate these "gifts" my husband likes to unload on my family and eventually me; shopping for this gift is an absolute blast. I laugh until I cry and beg him not to buy stuff. He is really on a misson for the world's ugliest gift.
Friday we got a very well deserved break from our children. My sweet, kind and thoughtful "niece" Danielle took the kids to Canobie Lake Park for the day and gave us Michelle & Ray time. Something we severely lack and desperately need!
We decided to head to Rockport. I haven't been there in years. Years. I didn't even remember what it looked like. It was cloudy with a chance of rain but we brought an umbrella. It would be romantic huddling under an umbrella in the rain.
It was a good day to go, there were very few people around. I am very lucky, in so many ways, to have the husband that I have but I am super lucky that my husband loves to shop! Really! He took me to N. Conway for 3 days of shopping on our 1st weekend away together all those years ago. I knew that weekend that I would spend the rest of my life with him! :)
So shopping we did. We had a blast. It started to rain after lunch and I was thirsty. We ducked into a little candy shop to see if they had any water and it turned out to be more like a candy store in front and a hallmark store gone bad in the back! The stuff we saw was hysterical. We had so much fun. Ray was out searching for the "perfect" Yankee Swap gift again. I laughed until I cried. Some times I egg him on and say "I found it". He is just so funny! As we browsed and laughed I realized he'd ditched me in the aisle. He released a rotten, rotten fart and walked away (this is very common practice for Ray--he never warns me and then laughs like hell). I caught wind, realized he'd done it again and bolted down the first available aisle and landed right next to THIS:
Oh yes people you are seeing this right!! A fish with human teeth! But wait! It gets better.....sooooo much better! It plays a love song and it rotates around and the kicker... fish is on a spring!!! Oh yes! A bobbling fish with human teeth and a love song. You just cannot find anything else like this baby! It's a one of a kind!
So as I was trying to recover from my husbands wake he came up behind me. My back had been to this beauty. His face lit with glee. Partly because he'd nailed me with his fart but the other portion of his glee was this beauty!
He looked at me with a smile and said " I found it" then "this is it!" Oh, no. I tunred slowly. Please not another huge cookie jar. Please. I turned. Then...I stood by helpless. I started sweating looking around to see if anyone was around to save me from this fish. I couldn't. He couldn't. Not in my house. No. Never. My mind was racing feverishly.
He gently picked her up and winded her up. He stood back and eyeballed her and proclaimed "This is IT!" He was so proud! So very proud. I had to think quick on my feet. I had to or come December 25th this sucker was going to adorn some table or shelf in my home. I had to stop it now! I went over and gently said "you can't". He looked at me perplexed. I picked it up and thank GOD I took a chance. I flipped it over and there shining beautifully back at me was $29.99! It was too much. You can't go over $10 those are the rules. We have to abide by the rules!
The rules saved my ass! Saved me from months of pain and months of moving it to places where the kids might "accidentally" break it. It sits in "Hallmark gone bad". In the dark, on the dusty shelf just waiting for some other guy to come along and buy it for their Yankee Swap. One that has a higher maximum than us. Bless his heart....mine goes out to his wife!
Christmas in July. It really can be so fun!
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