Every year, we mail home a box from Miami, filled with all the stuff we don’t have room to pack. The presents for the kids, the after-holiday stuff we buy. But this year, the box had something special for me. And I plan on using it the first quiet moment I get on this snow day.
It was a Yankee swap prize. Not my prize. Adam’s prize. But I stole it (post swap) because it was too much of a treasure to let him have it, with his uncouth ways.
I love this Yankee swap. We have so much fun. It’s always a challenge whether to go fun or serious. This year I went serious. A nice spice sampler from Penzey’s that was on sale for $7.95 (our limit is $10). But it just didn’t… feel right. I kept second guessing myself. And then I realized I had a whopping $2.05 leftover. In a Yankee swap, that’s like an entire new gift! So my spice sampler transformed itself into a Winner, Winner, Chicken Dinner, complete with potato, peas, and 75 cents for .63 pounds of chicken. Done!
The swap was good. I ended up with a musical magic wand that has been hotly contested between Doodles and Pie. I’ve had to declare it “shared” and it lives in the playroom.
But Adam. Oh Adam got a gift of which he was unworthy. It was a timely gift, as my friend, Simon, had just posted on Facebook a link to the proper way to make tea. But the instructions lacked something. A certain je ne sais quois. Until. Until. Until we got this for the Yankee swap:
How beautiful is this? It takes the tea bag, it let’s it sit in the tea, and then it removes the tea bag at the designated time! No more weak tea because I took the bag out too soon! No more overly strong tea because I started making my tea only to be distracted by a screaming child. This is the ultimate tea-making tool! I don’t understand why I’ve never heard of it before!
Forgot Calgon. Tea-Boy, take me away!
I don’t think the “proper way to make tea” involves any tea bags 🙂
I am still upset that my chicken dinner was stolen from my chicken loving hands….