Tuesday, February 3, 2009

I'll take the partially used one, thanks.

Every year on our birthdays, my brother and I each get a box in the mail from our grandmother (hence forth referred to as G$ or The Force, for reasons I will leave to a later post). The boxes have gotten better the older we get and it is always the highlight of the week. The arrival of said package is immediately followed by a phone call, first to the other sibling & then to our parents.

Me: "Dude - guess what's sitting on my front porch?"
Chris: "G$'s Box O'Birthday Wonders?"
Me: "You know it."
Some of the past years' winners include:
- a two pound can of baked beans
- beef stroganoff mix
- a giant can of off-brand chicken chunks (in water)
- a pair of ceramic garden bunnies (those were in Chris's box - HA)
- some weird plug-in tong thing that you put in your drink to heat it up (if anyone knows what the hell this thing is called, I'd appreciate you telling me)
- a cat toy (for my cat, not me)
- a crushed box of brownie mix with a piece of chewed gum stuck to the top of it

But the winner came this year & the ceramic bunnies slipped to second place. I may have cried and/or peed my pants a little when I opened it. It was a box of Carnation Instant Breakfast, from which 3 of the 10 packets were missing. And it expired in 2005. Sometimes she shops in her pantry.

I decided that it would be unfair to keep such a treasure all to myself, so I sent it to Miles. Hopefully he'll give it to one of his brothers (or back to me) on the next birthday.