The Best Gifts . . .

Growing up, my parents always told us at Christmas, "Don't spend money on us. Just make us something." I thought being a parent must be completely lame. But this year, I think homemade gifts were the most memorable.

The Flynns draw names each year. This year, Brian got John. Ana (Brian's wife) made us his amazing painting of the temple. It looks like tiles, but she actually coated the painting with tons of polyurethane to look that way. How amazing is this? For you former Savannah-ites, Ana actually painted that huge Pioneer mural in the Savannah Stake Center! Thank you so much for all of your hard work, Ana!

John's sister Laura did something pretty amazing this year as well. She made a picture book of all of the Flynn cousins. There are 18. And she made a book for each and every cousin. What's 18 times 18? Oh wait . . . not to mention she did it for the Smartt side, too! They have 27 kids over there, I think she said. Um, yeah. I have no idea how she did it, especially with 3 kids. Just another one of those amazing people that makes you want to just give up. Or beat the living pulp out of her. Love ya, Laura!

Now, to a few things I made. I drew Scott's name and he wanted a massage . . . okay, that came out wrong. I wanted a gift certificate for one. I knew that Scott is a big "Seinfeld" fan (as am I), so I had to make him a funny card. I just printed out a card with this picture on it:


If you're a Seinfeld fan, you know what this means.

Finally, I can reveal the gift I made for John . . . the gift in which I endangered my very life:

A candy jar for his office. I etched the Georgia logo on there myself! I put contact paper on the jar and cut out the "G" with an exacto knife. Then, there's the scary part. I brushed etching cream onto the exposed part of the "G" stencil. Etching cream is acid. When I opened the bottle of cream, I was almost knocked over by the fumes and I was wearing a mask! Anyway, I was so pleased with the results. For you super picky fans, yes, I realize on the official logo, there is an extra line surrounding the "G." Well, I'd like to see you cut that tiny line out with an exacto knife! Close enough. Close enough . . .

Well, and I couldn't talk about gifts from the heart without mentioning my family's tradition. My siblings and siblings-in-law have a tradition where we each buy a $1 gift and play Dirty Santa. After this year, I think we may have to change the name to "Dirrrty Santa." Or "Durty Santa." a sampling of the loot: raccoon urine (Ethan admitted this was $2, and not $1), portable toilet paper (I kinda wanted that) and, well, this is a family blog so I better leave that last one out.

Thanks again, everyone!