The Gift That Keeps on...[Something]

With my twins' 7th birthday approaching, and uncommon gift requests abounding, (the latest from Janelle is that she wants on of those velvety coloring posters, or, as she describes them, "the little pad where you have to color with the black velvety around.") I was discussing weird gifts with my sister, Kristin, when she told me the following story (this really should be on her blog, but I don't know that she has any intention of publicizing it, so I'll do it for her). As she remembers it:

She was about 7 years old or so when she was invited to her friend, Bonnie's, birthday party. On the day of the party, my mom was gone, and wouldn't be back until just before it was time to leave for the party. It fell to Kristin to find and wrap a gift for her friend. Usually my mom had a small stash of things that could be used for last minute gifts in her closet, but, as luck would have it, there was nothing left. Kristin thought of Bonnie, and what she might like for her birthday, and remembered that she really liked pickles. So Kristin got into the fridge, fished a pickle out of a jar and wrapped it in a paper towel. And as if that weren't a fabulous enough gift, she got a bar of soap and carved a pickle into it. She wrapped them up and went off to the party.

So I had to ask her, what did her friend say when she opened the present? As Kristin recalls, she looked at it for a second, shrugged her shoulders and said, "Well...I DO like pickles."