Christmas Gift Adventures

I've written before about my family's gift giving tradition, where my siblings and I shop for each other at the dollar store. It stemmed from the days when we had little money and a lot of people, and it allowed all the kids to be involved in the act of giving even when we couldn't afford elaborate gifts. It's a tradition that remains even while most of the siblings are now working and could afford more than a dollar per person, and it's become a bit of a game to see what kind of ridiculous things we could get for each other.

This year, since I wasn't going home for Christmas, I roped in two of my siblings to help shop for me. They told me when they went shopping for their own gifts, and I sent them text messages throughout the shop as if I could see where they were and could direct them to the right object.

For example:

"OH! That one's perfect, because it begins with N and Nathan's name begins with an N!"

So my sister hunted for around for an item beginning with N, purchased it, and gave that to Nathan for me. In this case it was a ninja mask.

One sibling told me what I ended up picking up for them, the other did not, so seeing them open it on Christmas Day via Google Hangouts was as much a surprise to me as it was to them. It made for a lot of laughter.

The other prompts I gave and what they yielded:

"Elizabeth told me she had a gift for Micah, but she didn't want to say it out loud. So go find her, and whatever she's looking at, that's what he wants." --> A reusable coffee filter. (Micah does not drink coffee.)

"Ok, now find Elizabeth one more time, and get whatever is BEHIND her. She's facing away from it because it hurts too much to look at it, thinking she won't get it. Boy, will she be surprised!" --> Italian dressing.

"Ooh, up there, the very last thing on the top shelf, on the right. That'd be a good gift for Bekah. Especially if you drew a tiny caterpillar on it. (Can you do that please)?" --> An empty red bottle, which wasn't so easy to draw a caterpillar on, so my sister drew one on paper, cut it out, and taped it to the bottle.

"I really have no idea what Joel wants, but one of his recent Facebook posts began with 'TLDR,' so that must be some sort of clue. What would you say is the most 'too long' thing in the next aisle over?" --> A shoehorn you could use while standing

"Oh, right there, Bethany told me she really wants that thing to your left. Even though it's kind of gross." --> A wooden birdhouse to assemble.

"What would you say is the MOST orange thing on that middle shelf? Dad would be happy with that, I think." --> An orange bag of dog treats. (My family does not have a dog.)

"At first glance you'd think that thing on the bottom shelf is what Mom wants LEAST, but it's actually what she wants most! She's just too embarrassed to say it!" --> A bag of Epsom salts.

"Definitely get Seth the fifth thing in that stack. Oh, and that round thing behind you! Those go so well together! What an amazing duo gift for him!" --> A large aluminum cake pan and a box of moon pies. (As far as gifts going together, it could be worse.)