Many years ago, when I was a little boy, my parents hosted a family Christmas party with a white elephant gift exchange. My uncle was the unlucky recipient of an eight inch tall, little drummer boy soap dispenser. He did not want the dispenser, and hid it in the house for my parents to find. My parents also did not want the dispenser, so the next time we were at my uncles home, they hid the dispenser for him to find, and included with it an additional, similarly tacky, soap dispenser. Thus began a many year war, with the number of dispensers growing with each exchange, and eventually including a two foot tall, tinsel Christmas tree that lit up, and a garden gnome. The last exchange ended with my uncle enclosing a beach bum Santa Claus soap dispenser in my suit case that I took on my mission to Brazil. It was the last volley in this war before a truce was declared between my parents and my uncle. It’s always been a favorite story of mine, with many daring adventures in the middle of the night, breaking into my uncles home while he was out of town, etc. I’m married now, with children of my own. While at the store buying ingredients for our game day food today, my wife found a delightful little gnome wearing BYU gear, and was reminded of my story. While my parents may live across the country, my uncle currently lives a little over half an hour away. I suppose an important detail to note, is that while my family bleeds blue, by uncle is a graduate of the U, a yewt through and through. Mwahahahaha. The armistice is at an end. Since he still has teenage children living at home, I am waiting till after midnight tonight, and then paying my Uncle’s home a visit. I think this gnome will look best in his flower bed, invisible from the house, but clearly visible from the road.
Those are my lovely wife’s hands holding our little friend.