In my family there is a bit of a tradition of creative present wrapping…pretty well everyone has demonstrated their ingenuity as some point or another over the years. This year I was responsible for getting a present for my newlywed brother Chris, and with Ian’s help, I’m pretty sure I won Christmas.

I’m bound by a confidentiality agreement not to reveal my secrets in their entirety, but let’s just say it involved an actual present, a decoy present, a case of wine, some water, and some food colouring. The finished, wrapped, and quite heavy product looked like this:

The present is delivered to its recipient and unwrapping begins. Ben is happy to help.

“Ahh!” says oenophile Chris. “A case of wine! How nice!”

“They’re nice wines, too. Are you sure you stayed within budget?”

Suspicious as always (Really, I don’t know what I’ve done to deserve that! Baseless accusations, I say) Chris begins to examine the bottles more closely. Mel leans over and mouths, “Are they ALL screw tops?” and promptly collapses in hysterics.

On closer inspection, Chris discovers that all is not what it seems. The liquid in the bottles is actually purple and the odour is distinctly…well…odourless.

“Ah-hah!” say Chris and Ben, discovering the carefully-hidden silicone X-Wing ice cube tray from ThinkGeek. “Oh, darn! You found it!” say I in disappointed tones.

Still unwilling to take me at my word (how rude), Chris continues to search…

…and search…

…and search…

…finally discovering the false bottom and revealing the real present…

…a Star Trek cycling jersey (also from ThinkGeek).

I swear, I picked red because he’s an engineer. I’m confident he’ll be the exception to the rule who survives the whole episode!

Remind me to watch out though because there may be some payback coming my way…

~ karyn