The Mattila Family: Top 10 White Elephant Gifts of 2007

As many of you know - the holidays are my favorite time of year, all time between Thanksgiving and the New Year. I love the hustle and bustle of shoppers, all the beautiful decorations, the music and all the lights; everywhere! Not to mention, my birthday (OK - so I mentioned it), goodies, an annual White Elephant Gift Exchange (WE), and goodies (oh! did I already mention that? I love to bake!). The WE party is something we look forward to each year. And I can honestly tell you we (Jinoo & I) have never come up with a WE worthy of the "that will be back next year" we have however been on the receiving end of such gifts.

Here are my favorites of this year...

#10 A Britney Spears Poster (when she was in her prime!) - A yearly returning gift.

#9 Red Sequence Pasties w/ Tassels - FUN!

#8 Sweater - (see above pic of Rob) this is a gift that has surfaced before!

#7 Playboy Bunny Neon (my guess this will show up for next years party) (Katie, Ryan's wife is so happy he got this!)

#6 A SET (we're talking 12!!) Christmas Goblets! Matt was so excited! Just what he wanted!

#5 A purple Washington Huskies Christmas Hat (I went home with this!) Yeah! Great gift - there were many jealous party goers!
#4 A cactus lamp - this was VERY sought after(?? I know!)!
#3 An autographed framed picture of Jinoo Mattila (this has made an appearance for the 3rd year in a row!) I'm so proud! Seriously one of the funnest gift ideas ever!

#2 The mighty GOOSE! This is actually a tea pot (which surfaced as a gift five years ago). Now every year it makes its return in a new way (two years ago it showed up w/ a paper mache girlfriend goose), and it's relegated to being passed around w/ Snow Cap Ale for all to enjoy (two years ago - all it saw was Tequila)!