Christmas isn't serious

My family is full of jokes and silly antics, trust me on this one. My dad's side is full of practical jokers of all kinds and my moms side just has a silly sense of humor. For years, there have been strange gifts passed around between family members - towels my moms parents stole on their honeymoon, a creepy picture of a great aunt on my dads side, goofy photos of other people doing things that appeared to be inappropriate (please don't take that the wrong way, it wasn't THAT bad).

A few Christmases ago my grandparents had gone to Florida late and weren't coming back for the holiday so we spent Christmas day with my dad's brother, wife and 2 kids. After dinner we decided to go through the old 45 records and listen to them since the kids liked to dance around to "Mellow Yellow" and that "Beep Beep" song, and we found a treasure among the records. It was recorded by a local woman, which I'm assuming my grandma somehow acquired through bowling or one of her other activities. After looking it over, we gave it a listen that we would never forget. On side A was a song called "Herpe" and yes, they do mean THAT kind of Herpe....the lyrics when on to say, "he'll love you for one night, but you'll have him for life" and of course the adults were on the floor laughing hysterically. This instantly became the new family pass around gift!

The year prior to this however I received the pass around gift that would now be retired for Herpe to take its place. This "gift" was a picture, I don't have the photo anymore since my parents demanded that all evidence of this be destroyed.....but its basically a photo of a guy wearing a trench coat flashing a sculpture and the caption says "expose yourself to art" - I hope that makes sense without being able to see it. The picture I got however, was my dad in his skivvies, holding said framed art piece in which it appears he's not wearing clothes and making a crazy face. This was the only time I've ever received the family gag gift. Sure there have been other strange and goofy gifts I've been given....like the crazy hats my dad would get for me and my brother (this was last year, the year before they were the winter hats with ear flaps):

614 is our area code in Columbus, we were trying to be really street smart with our "gang signs"

And there is always seeing my dad dressed up in his Cousin Eddy from Christmas Vacation outfit

Or the year my parents got us a stuffed dog, even though we really wanted a REAL golden retriever.....

I guess what I'm trying to say is that my family doesn't really try to make Christmas this huge serious thing and to me that is what makes it fun! I look forward to the family pass around gifts and the goofy things my dad likes to do for us, little surprises in the stockings and all the goodies - even if I'm 24 I really hope that doesn't change!

I'm participating in the writers workshop over at Mama Kat's and I did prompt 4 about a funny gift given or received, so get on over there and do the same!