Chinese Gift Exchange at Park Avenue

The Annual Chinese Gift Exchange at our church is a tradition.I had not been in years....not since Lou Rasco held a microphone and at the opening of every gift asked, "Who brought that?" It was always kind of embarrassing if your gift was lame...old women can get brutal. There was "the look" at you over their glasses that felt disapproving. But this year I decided to be a sport. I saved the date on my calendar, shopped ahead of time and made an all out effort to dress "Christmas-y" and arrive on time with my finger food.

This year there were exactly 36 gifts...I know because I was number 23 and sat beside number 34. Thought it would never end! On the other side of me was sweet Jackie Carson....who cannot see....and wanted all the details of each gift narrated for her. Who was getting up? What did they open? Bless her heart. She asked me to get her gift for her...now this is pressure. Do you pick the really big nicely wrapped gift that screams "pick me"? Or do you pick a smaller gift that might contain an unexpected surprise? Selecting carefully, Miss Jackie opened a stainless steel cooking thing...spoons and such....of course, it was quite useless to her and I felt guilty.She had her eye on a musical dolphin thing....she loves dolphins...and it sang the tune of a song that was in her wedding (I know...who would have thought such a gift would appear at the annual politically incorrect Chinese gift exchange!)

So...I stole her stainless steel cooking set leaving her empty handed so that I could in turn steal the musical dolphin for her. She was thrilled and even cried....the whole scene was just too emotional...practically cried myself! I think the Good Lord must have smiled on me at the end of the exchange....one of our good sisters said she need a stainless steel cooking set swapping me for it. I ended up with some nice smelling potpourri....which was probably a better trade than I deserved. I helped clean up a little ...and left Miss Jackie wiping her eyes listening to dolphins sing "I love you truly."

There was lots of food...lots of laughs...and a real mixture of young and old. Some amazing, "I can't believe you made that" gifts and some "I can't believe you brought that" gifts. Some sweet..."I couldn't take that away from you" gals....and some "I'll take whatever I want from young mothers or their babies" gals. And then there was the amazing, mouth gaping gift that Faye Todd must have spent an entire year working on....a patch work Christmas tree skirt! Everyone just simply drooled over it. If I had made such a gift....it would have become a family heirloom to be passed down from generation to generation. But there she was ...exchanging it for something equally valuable...or not!

I wore my overalls and the Christmas turtle neck that Donna Hodge gave me....I love it by the way! Daisy Miller, arriving in her vintage convertible Cadillac, was decked out in a fabulous black outfit with rhinestone chandelier earrings and big shiny pins....two for good measure! At one point she made the statement that she wished they were videoing the event just so the men could see what they were missing. I bet! Somehow I think it might just confirm what they already imagine. It was fun...and funny!

I doubt God passes out stars in our crowns for partying ...but maybe for singing dolphins...who knows? Next year I must plan to go again....and bring an amazing gift. I might start on mine right after Christmas....it must be a heady experience to have everyone fighting over the thing that was made by your own hand. Nah.....I'll just keep an eye out for the sales!