We're in the "That sucks for us" group

The fateful, exciting, much awaited Cousins Gift Exchange. It is almost more important than typical Christmas activities, purely because it is so hilarious. Each year we decide who will buy a gift for who, and set a price limit. Usually the price limit is around $15-20. This year this is how it went:
the.tamer buying for K.dawg
K.dawg buying for me
Me buying for j.hol
j.hol buying for Jaaron
Jaaron buying for Alexia.la.la
Alexia.la.la buying for the.tamer

Highlights:
Alexia.la.la received a brand new oven mitt, complete with bling and a shimmering S. The S stands for Super Sam. If you do not know what this means, it means he has starred in a film in which he is a one-shoed super hero with oven mitts duct taped to his wrists and a striped towel duct taped around is shoulders. This super hero's name is Super Sam.

Alexia.la.la got the.tamer a glorious gift. He and K.dawg had a photo shoot to re-invent one of her favorite childhood photos of Alexia. Here is the original photo.

There he is. The tube socks, the hat, the glasses...the shorts...it's a magnificent photo and it brings me such joy.
There was quite a bit of work involved in the recreation of the photo, including a child's Buzz Lightyear t-shirt being cut apart and sewn onto an adult t-shirt, a pair of my aunt's jeans being cut off into shorts, and a photo shoot that included multiple locations and 49 photos.

For j.hol, I purchased the most disgusting souvenir that New Orleans could offer.

It's a back scratcher. Made from an alligator...paw? foot? well either way it is disgusting, but yet AUTHENTIC.

I chose to videotape cousin gift exchange rather than just photograph, which then backfired due to less to offer up in photo form on the blog. I will have to get my youtube account up and running so I can post some videos.

Also, as a part of Cousin Gift Exchange, I made wands for each cousin (just like i did for the nephews)

As you can see in the photo above, Alexia was enjoying an adult beverage as K.dawg worked her magic.
Now, my gift was amazing. It was a unicorn beautification kit, and after I opened that I got my birthday gift. My birthday gift was my very first (and long awaited) Unicorn Pillow Pet! The beautification kit was definitely a labor intensive gift, as you can see. Each flap of the box had a little message on it.

Sarah! This kit has been constructed for the beautification

process of your unicorns. It includes: 2 plates that are divided in sections to assist in proper dieting

bows and other hair doodles for proper accessorizing, GLITTER, and a tasty treat

which is actually lip gloss! Merry Christmas!

It was quite a haul

And here is my unicorn Pillow Pet:

I decked her out in her new hair baubles for that final photo.

As a part of Christmas, my grandma always fills stockings for us. And, as usual, you can see that there is too much to fit in the stockings, and the loot has to be piled above the stockings on the stairs. This is also where I chose to put the wands. And after an entire week of myself and the.tamer not looking at what is in our stockings, I thought it would be safe and no one else would be peeking either. HOWEVER, I forgot that Saster was there. She was sitting at the bar and all the sudden says "Sarah, are there wands in the stockings?" and I responded, "I. DON'T. KNOW. WHY ARE YOU LOOKING AT THE STOCKINGS." I should have known, seeing as she was the one who peeked at our Christmas presents when we were little.

We were all really excited about the contents of our stockings, of course. I was so surprised by the quantity of items! My favorite items include a $10 Itunes gift card, a bottle opener that is in the shape of a high heel (So cute!!) and packaged in an adorable box with a satin lining, and my ultimate favorite item, a sisu necklace made from a scrabble piece. Sisu is a Finnish word. Here is the best description we've found so far:
"Sisu expresses the guts of a nation, the fortitude it takes to persevere in the face of endless bad fortune,and the stubbornness to stay the course even though you know the odds are stacked against you"
The.tamer and myself are getting this word tattooed on in the future as well.

Also on this day my nephews got to open more gifts, which included a 4-10 that myself and Alexia.la.la each used when we were younger. Now keep in mind this is not like, hey we're sending the kids off with this gun. My family has always been very responsible about teaching the kids in the family about guns, how to handle them, and what is safe and what is not. Liam was pretty amazed when he opened this present, but he was equally amazed with other presents as well, as was Max.