The Ugly Angel Returns

The tradition started as a joke probably 20 years ago. I was at a Christmas party for a Children's Hospital charity group I was involved with and we were playing the steal the gift game. The gifts can be stolen twice and then it cannot be stolen again. I received a great set of cheese spreaders. They were really cute, Christmas themed and silver plated. I tried to hide my gift as each person opened their own gifts or stole from another. It was getting down to the last few gifts to open, when my BEST FRIEND decided to steal from me! In it's place I ended up with this angel!

Well, I decided to show her; I snuck the angel into her house and hid it among her lovely Lladro collection. It took her a while to find it. Ever since that day, long ago, it has become our little joke and our special way of saying Merry Christmas. Each year, we take turns by sneaking it into the other person's home. This year, I received it as a "Christmas gift" at our annual get-together. The funny thing is, each year we are shocked and surprised as to how or where it shows up. It's always good for a laugh. {p.s...we never did find out who brought this ugly, plastic thing, when everyone else was bringing real gifts.}
That first year, Jennifer also surprised me with my own set of cheese spreaders. It's funny, because the mate to this cheese spreader has long been lost, but our memories of fun and the ugly angel lives on...and now I have to wait another year to hide it in her home.