Good Fun with White Elephants

A few years back my book club decided that in December our get together would be focused on Christmas cheer as opposed to chatting about a book.  I introduced the tradition of exchanging White Elephant gifts, (those things that are lying around the house that you no longer want.) 

MB is not sure what to think of her new art pieces

Each year has yielded a variety of delightful gifts and true to form, one always finds its way to the favorites list. 

Judy making a dish towel into a top.

One of the fun things about having this tradition with the same group of people year after year is that one or two gifts find their way back to the pile year after year.  For us, it has been a plastic napkin holder with napkins that say Merry Christmas in a variety of different languages!  Many of us have had this through the years and it re-appeared this year and ended up with the person who originally brought it so many years ago!  We decided to take it to American Women's Christmas party this year, put it on the table and slowly back away from the offending object.
The best part of the night is the laughter.  For some reason this whole gift exchange just brings out the joy in us all!  The fact that the first gift opened this year was a candy bra really ramped up the event!
But after all was said and done I had actually scored a great gift.  A black T-shirt with rhinestones spelling out America that I will proudly wear on the next 4th July, some Aveda hair conditioner that I will use, and a necklace that I wore to church yesterday!  I guess it's true what they say...one woman's trash is indeed another's treasure.

I treasure my book club girls.  We've journeyed together through many stories and continue to create many of our own.  It's a special highlight of the Christmas season and it brought much joy and laughter to my heart this year once again.