Skirting
I know other families have them - that inexplicable joke gift that turns up at holidays. In my family, it is a wine red skirt. The running gag has been going for more than a decade. I'm not even sure of the origins. I just know that every year, either my mom or my sister opens a box and squeals with glee and unfolds The Skirt. After proudly displaying it to the assembled family, the skirt is carted home to wait for the next year, when it will be lovingly wrapped in tissue and returned to last year's giver. This is hilarious. Trust me.
I've never been part of this particular gag. We've got a few others (one that involves my husband receiving a Summer Sausage in his stocking every year - um...) but The Skirt? Not mine.
So imagine my surprise when my unwrapping my birthday gifts, I uncovered a flash of red. No. It couldn't be.
I unfolded it and squealed.
I'm part of the joke. I've been Skirted - and not even on Christmas! The game is the same but the rules have changed.
Comments
My mom (who is 73) thinks it is hilarious to give my kids (ages 20, 22, and 26) the most tacky, gaudiest fall scarecrow decoration she can find at the time. All of their birthdays are in the fall, and they know at least one gift from gramma will be a hideous scarecrow. I love the skirt idea tho. Do the men ever get it as a gift?
Posted by: danelle | October 10, 2007 4:52 PM
When I was growing up there was a statue of a blank panther that circulated about 5 different homes. Each year it would be smuggled up on someone else's home and they'd have to look at it for a full year until it made it's way to someone else's in the dead of night. We never got it at our house... but man, that would have made me feel like we were IN.
Congrats on your getting skirted. You totally deserve to be IN.
Posted by: Elaine | October 10, 2007 5:11 PM
My mom and I have a stem of fake flowers, with the flowers removed. Just the empty stems and the leaves.
Don't ask. ;0
Posted by: carmen | October 10, 2007 5:16 PM
My husband always had his shoes stolen by siblings (Like MONTHS in advance) and wrapped up under the tree.
I helped them recreate the nostalgia last year.
It was hilarious.
Posted by: Loralee | October 10, 2007 5:26 PM
Happy Birthday, Jenny! Wishing you many, many more years of getting skirted :)
Posted by: Elizabeth | October 10, 2007 6:20 PM
We do stuff like that too. We have a very very old fruitcake and a toilet brush that someone made into a decoration (believe me it's hideous).
I knew I was a grown-up when I received the fruitcake for the first time.
Posted by: Heather | October 10, 2007 8:01 PM
This story reminds me of quite a few Christmas seasons ago when my husband's grandmother (now 101!) gave my SIL one of her used dresses, complete with stain on front. You can imagine all the Bill and Monica jokes that quickly ensued. Granny ended up giving my husband a box of almost-empty throat lozenges. She suffers dementia, obviously. My MIL now buys gifts on her behalf ;-)
Posted by: Melissa Garrett | October 11, 2007 5:51 AM
Awwww! That's such an awesome tradition...I'm jealous! And yay for you being part of the joke now, hehe. <3
Posted by: Jessi | October 11, 2007 8:51 AM
It's much better to be skirted than underweared. Happy Birthday to you Jenny!
Posted by: tracey | October 12, 2007 11:00 AM
LOL...so nice to see it's not just my family that does this. On my mom's side...we pass around a fat candy cane so old it's disgusting...and a green ball cap with an elf dangly thing on it.
Posted by: tracie | October 12, 2007 2:15 PM
WOOOO! You've been skirted!
My husband's family has a 'fertility statue' that gets passed around sneakily like that. There are a few 'surprise' cousins that are jokingly blamed on the statue. One of the aunts always advises that it has more power if it's hidden away, so you should plop it on a shelf in public view if you're not wanting a little addition.
It was given to us the Christmas before we got married and I was slightly scandalized.
Posted by: Nancy R | October 12, 2007 6:17 PM
Congratulations. In our family it was a very large pair of ladies undies. I never got them, and can't think of a single person in the family who could ever wear them. Fun!
Posted by: cassie-b | October 14, 2007 12:12 PM
The gag gift is usually to me every year, and it's usually a cook book. Every year. I am a bad cook ... funny, ha ha.
*walks away grumbling about family and their sense of humor*
Posted by: Loretta | October 14, 2007 2:03 PM
That's awesome!
Skirt Alert!!
Posted by: ben | October 14, 2007 3:05 PM
What an honor!
I still remember the year that I was the person who got the "treasure hunt" Christmas gift. Yup. One of the clues was under the lid to the toilet seat. It all led me to my gift from my mother-in-law: "Emily Post's Etiquette Guide."
That's about right.
Posted by: Christine | October 15, 2007 8:30 AM
That is so sweet that you were skirted - I can imagine that you've been waiting for that a while, even if you didn't know it.
Posted by: dorothy | October 16, 2007 10:57 AM
What a wonderful idea. I always get really stressed out about getting the right gift for everyone. I like your way much better. Much more appropriate to our personalities than worrying about getting the right thin. So glad you got skirted.
Posted by: Marsha | October 18, 2007 6:54 AM