White Elephant

Hey, guys! You know, Christmas is just coming around the corner!! My neighbours decorated their houses with Christmas illuminations...(Can you believe it!? The house in the right picture is not a shop, but an ordinary family's house!!) Shops have beautiful Christmas trees and some seasonal stuff!!

Last Monday was the day of the Toastmaster's Christmas party.
We did some games...including a "White elephant game."
White elephant means something you own, but you don't need anymore. The origin is from Siam(The old name of Thailand.) Once upon a time, a king of Siam gave an White Elephant to his follower whom the king dislike as a harassment. A white elephant is beautiful, but we can see we would be in trouble if we can't sell it!!!

I picked Britney Spears CD and some Japanese magazines as my white elephants. Britney Spears is a kind of "hot" topic right now, and there was no Japanese except for me in the Toastmasters. So I thought someone may be interested in those!
As you know, one of the White Elephant's spirits is " The one's trash could be another one's treasure☆"

We got together our White Elephants on the table, and picked one.
I picked the "VIctoria's Secret" bag because I loved the shop. Inside, there was a note saying, "From the VIctoria's Secret." Some things were wraped by a newspaper. I opened a newspaper, then I saw...
1. A bottle of shampoo from a hotel.
2. Hair band
3. Two candles...didn't seem new...
4. A dozen set of hair clips. But she (the presenter) had already used 10 clips. So...two left over.
OK... It is a white elephant. ...Frankly speaking... I thought they were trash!

As everybody opened the one they got, I divided each white elephant into some ranks in my mind. I thought my "Victoria's secret" was in the lowest class. However...it was not lowest.
Highest; A step counter, portable radio, bottle of maple syrup & electric pepper mill... They were new!
Upper-middle; A tea set & mug, my Britney Spears CD & Japanese magazines??
Middle; American 50's music tape, a stuff doll, etc...
Upper-lowest; My "VIctoria's secret" and so on...

The lowest gifts? They were really INTERESTING!!!
1. A box or fish food (already expired)& small aquarium!!
The presenter said, she used to have fish. But it jumped from the aquarium, and died. We knew she didn't need them anymore...but who need expired food fish!?
2. One guy picked the heaviest one, smiling. But when he opened the wrapping, his smile disappeared... It was cooking flour, already opened!!
The presenter said, "My neighbor is going to move to another city. She gave it to me, so I brought it."
OK... If I can do that, my house has full of white elephants!!!
3. However, the lowest & the funniest one was... A PINECONE!! Yes, the brown seed container of the pine tree... A PINECONE!!! It was inside a box, and the box was wrapped by ALUMINUM FOIL!!!
I never forget the face of the girl who opened the box!!!

What I learned the day from the Toastmasters was; Treasure is treasure, and trash is trash!!

The White Elephant game... Would you like to try?