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I just wanted to drop a quick line to let you know that the 10th Annual Kleinschmidt/Gailitis/Pundurs/Etc. Gift-Wrapping Competition was exceptionally awesome this year. Eric, last year's victor with an amazing amusement park-themed gift done in 2 hours from found materials, chose this year's theme of "Mythology" and deliberately did not specify which type of mythology, which left things wide open.
Consequently we had three Medusas and two Trojan Horses and two Mount Olymposes. But they were exceptionally original, all of them.
The winner was Helen's entry, which was a Trojan Horse made entirely of unpainted cardboard, including a "Priority Mail" label on the neck, and a mane made of twine. The side opened with a twine fastener. It was addressed, via a tiny flag, to "Bridget of Troy"; she actually had not known that Troy is the name of my natal city until I reacted in astonishment to the gift. The other Trojan Horse had a city wall with a hole in it, into which Helen was to put her face, which had launched a thousand ships. This was made by Eric. Eric got a gift from me: I stuck a paint stirrer wrapped in tinfoil through a slot in a shoebox lid, put a duct-tape hilt onto it and labeled it "Erixcalibur", making my entry the only one featuring Arthurian mythology rather than Greek.
The runner-up entry was one of the Mount Olympuses: it featured a giant cone set atop one Pyrex bowl inverted in a larger Pyrex bowl, held stable by a large quantity of blue gelatin studded with Swedish fish. Atop the cone, wrapped in paper, was a "cloud" of cardboard with cotton balls; in the center of the cone was a Lego figurine holding a lightning bolt, and it bore a label saying, "Anita, press to hear Zeus's fury." The gift inside was a conical Dust-buster, and if Zeus was pushed down he clicked its button, which made the half-charged implement give off a menacing growl.
Anita in turn gave Krista, 3 months pregnant, a Barbie doll set in a bud vase, wrapped in pink and green netting decorated with tiny baby diaper pins, and garnished with a glittery ribbon saying "A fertility goddess for a fertile goddess." In the doll's upraised hand was a plastic baby spoon. Under the goddess's skirt were the DVDs of Jaws and the first season of The Muppet Show.
I don't remember the third-place finisher, but other entries were:
Dave made Michael (Helen's boyfriend, a NYC public school IT guy) a "Golden Apple" iPod, labeled "to the fairest"; the "LCD" screen was the CD Michael had requested.
Michael made Uncle Maris a Medusa-themed gift featuring female-empowered myth images, because Maris's gift was a box set of girl group songs of the sixties.
Maris made Laura (Mrs. Kleinschmidt, his sister) a gift featuring a plastic tube containing water and a plastic mermaid, in reference to The Odyssey's sirens, containing a box set of all three Pirates of the Carribbean movies. (Apparently she has a thing for Johnny Depp. She was rhapsodizing about his attractiveness when Maris's girlfriend Les chimed in, "Oh, I love his diction." There was a moment of stunned silence until we realized she really was talking about his speech.)
Laura, in turn, made Les a "Mount OlympLES", of craft foam, which had the names of the various gods on it and a lightning bolt saying "ZEUS" sticking out the side. Les promptly put the mountain onto her head, and it became the themed hat for the rest of the evening.
Les made Ruta a gift featuring an image of Medusa on the front, and set it up so that Medusa was looking, horrified, into a mirror. Ruta astonished us all by very precisely recounting the tale of how Medusa came to have snakes for hair, before she opened the gift.
Ruta made Dave a box featuring a plastic mask with $10 bills behind its eyes-- the reverse side, which has those Greek columns on it, made for a very scary effect. Her hair was made NOT of pipe cleaners, which were insufficient, but of velvet piping into which Ruta had inserted, by hand, floral wire.
I don't think I've forgotten anything.
But I must go; no time for photos. Dave and Krista bought one another the boxed set of Twin Peaks, and I have a date to view the pilot episode before bed. Dave is insistent upon this; he has waited since he was a young boy to see this show again.
Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night.
Consequently we had three Medusas and two Trojan Horses and two Mount Olymposes. But they were exceptionally original, all of them.
The winner was Helen's entry, which was a Trojan Horse made entirely of unpainted cardboard, including a "Priority Mail" label on the neck, and a mane made of twine. The side opened with a twine fastener. It was addressed, via a tiny flag, to "Bridget of Troy"; she actually had not known that Troy is the name of my natal city until I reacted in astonishment to the gift. The other Trojan Horse had a city wall with a hole in it, into which Helen was to put her face, which had launched a thousand ships. This was made by Eric. Eric got a gift from me: I stuck a paint stirrer wrapped in tinfoil through a slot in a shoebox lid, put a duct-tape hilt onto it and labeled it "Erixcalibur", making my entry the only one featuring Arthurian mythology rather than Greek.
The runner-up entry was one of the Mount Olympuses: it featured a giant cone set atop one Pyrex bowl inverted in a larger Pyrex bowl, held stable by a large quantity of blue gelatin studded with Swedish fish. Atop the cone, wrapped in paper, was a "cloud" of cardboard with cotton balls; in the center of the cone was a Lego figurine holding a lightning bolt, and it bore a label saying, "Anita, press to hear Zeus's fury." The gift inside was a conical Dust-buster, and if Zeus was pushed down he clicked its button, which made the half-charged implement give off a menacing growl.
Anita in turn gave Krista, 3 months pregnant, a Barbie doll set in a bud vase, wrapped in pink and green netting decorated with tiny baby diaper pins, and garnished with a glittery ribbon saying "A fertility goddess for a fertile goddess." In the doll's upraised hand was a plastic baby spoon. Under the goddess's skirt were the DVDs of Jaws and the first season of The Muppet Show.
I don't remember the third-place finisher, but other entries were:
Dave made Michael (Helen's boyfriend, a NYC public school IT guy) a "Golden Apple" iPod, labeled "to the fairest"; the "LCD" screen was the CD Michael had requested.
Michael made Uncle Maris a Medusa-themed gift featuring female-empowered myth images, because Maris's gift was a box set of girl group songs of the sixties.
Maris made Laura (Mrs. Kleinschmidt, his sister) a gift featuring a plastic tube containing water and a plastic mermaid, in reference to The Odyssey's sirens, containing a box set of all three Pirates of the Carribbean movies. (Apparently she has a thing for Johnny Depp. She was rhapsodizing about his attractiveness when Maris's girlfriend Les chimed in, "Oh, I love his diction." There was a moment of stunned silence until we realized she really was talking about his speech.)
Laura, in turn, made Les a "Mount OlympLES", of craft foam, which had the names of the various gods on it and a lightning bolt saying "ZEUS" sticking out the side. Les promptly put the mountain onto her head, and it became the themed hat for the rest of the evening.
Les made Ruta a gift featuring an image of Medusa on the front, and set it up so that Medusa was looking, horrified, into a mirror. Ruta astonished us all by very precisely recounting the tale of how Medusa came to have snakes for hair, before she opened the gift.
Ruta made Dave a box featuring a plastic mask with $10 bills behind its eyes-- the reverse side, which has those Greek columns on it, made for a very scary effect. Her hair was made NOT of pipe cleaners, which were insufficient, but of velvet piping into which Ruta had inserted, by hand, floral wire.
I don't think I've forgotten anything.
But I must go; no time for photos. Dave and Krista bought one another the boxed set of Twin Peaks, and I have a date to view the pilot episode before bed. Dave is insistent upon this; he has waited since he was a young boy to see this show again.
Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night.
