"The most wasted of all days...

... is one without laughter."
~e. e. cummings

And how right he was!

Last night was my CU Girls Group Christmas gathering. We were doing good this year to do our gift exchange before Valentine's Day, truly. Last year I decorated my apartment for Valentine's Day a week before we did our gift exchange in my home. Originally, we weren't going to do gifts, then we decided to go for the "white elephant" gift idea. The goal: to get the corniest gift.

I caught a cold, shared it with a few people, then the cold got worse. I felt pretty miserable and wasn't in the mood to go Goodwill shelf searching for a gift, but sucked it up and went, but not without back-up. I wouldn't say I made Megan go with me, I'd say I begged her too, but that isn't even accurate, though I would have considered begging if she hadn't agreed out of the kindness of her heart. Thanks, Megan! We saw a few promising things, then Megan hit the mother load of corny gift. It looked like a baseball cap, but was heavy and plaster-y. She asked me what it was (I had no idea), then I picked it up and there was a hole in it...? Ding, ding, ding...birdhouse. Super corny. I found the "perfect" thing. To the cash registers we went, and only about 10 minutes into the search, thank goodness.

I am still dismayed by this item, check it out youself!

Corny, right?!

Needless to say, I won the corniest gift category. Woohoo! It was deemed the gift that would be passed from person to person, year after year. Rachel was the lucky girl to take that prized possession home for the year. I told her I expect to see it hanging the next time I come to her house. Somehow, I won't be surprised if that is not the case. We laughed and laughed and I cried because I laughed so hard. I hope I laughed off all the calories that I ate, somehow, I don't think it actually worked out that way. It was a good evening with good friends!

2008 Group Picture when we were at Zoo Lights!

Jamie, Liesl, me, Rachel, Rose

2009 Group Picture