The Return of the Poodle Rug

We had an amazing time last night at the annual "Breckheimer Brother/Sister Christmas Party." It's a wonderful tradition that allows us all to be together and have loads of fun. It goes in a rotation as far as who hosts the event and this year we ended up at Mark's cousin Brian's house. (He's the only cousin involved in the tradition...don't ask me how that started. It was all decided looooooooooooooooooooooong before I came into the picture.)

We not only open presents (each person brings a $25 gift and a $10 gift and people have the chance to steal gifts from eachother) but we also have SANTA GIFTS.

These typically represent funny/crazy/ridiculous/embarassing things someone did over the last year and are given by an annonymous "Santa."


For instance, Mark received a child sized life vest from "Santa." The story?

Last summer for our annual brother/sister outing (we take turns planning a short vacation for us all to go on) we went white water rafting. My hubby cannot swim and was deathly afraid of falling out of the raft. My hubby is also a big guy...so when he donned his life vest it ended up looking more like a floating bow tie....



Get the picture? This year, among other funny "Santa" gifts, the Poodle Rug returned...and I was the receiver of "Santa's" generosity.

The story here - so I'm told - dates back nearly 20 years when two of Mark's sisters were in high school. Apparently they created a masterpiece - the pink poodle rug. Over the years it's made it's rounds among the family and this year we were graced with it as a "house warming" gift.

Think it doesn't sound too bad? See for yourself...

Don't worry, I'm already planning next year's recipient.