Coolest Gift Ever ...

Every family has holiday traditions. Regardless of how lame, exotic, common, or just plain weird, every family has them. Some traditions are so ingrained into the fabric of the holiday that they just seem normal. Some traditions go unnoticed for years before everyone recognizes that its been ongoing and finally it is recognized for what it is.

The latter occurred several years ago with our family. For years my father went out of his way to give someone a gift that would make them cry with joy (generally my mom or my sister were the target).

A few years ago, I became the target with more of a joke gift, but a really cool one all the same. The gift was a plain white long sleeve t-shirt with a picture of Rusty sitting in my lap asleep (both of us) minding the smoker grill. Across the top of the shirt it reads "male bonding". By the way, I still have that shirt and it still fits.

Suddenly, it hit me that the whole point of Dads little quest was to find the coolest gift that really meant a little something more than "here I bought you something". In fact, the gifts are often something that he bought years ago or something that was once given to him or he acquired in some manner.

Over the years, we have exchanged some really neat gifts and some really weird ones. I wonder if Dad ever drank that Jones cola "Thanksgiving meal" set (imagine Turkey cola, mashed potato cola, asparagus cola, etc).

This year, Mom jumped into action and got me the coolest gift ever! Check out the following sequence of pictures with comments ...

1. The little guy below is a nutcracker (the nutcracker is hidden by his shirt) all dressed up for a day of grilling. Notice the little grill in front of him, it contains a little surprise. The little guy came with the clothes but Mom had to paint him, the grill and the meat on the grill. The little base where he stands proudly proclaims "Grill Master".

2. Below is a close up of the grill. There is copper wire forming the grate, and check out the grill stripes on the hot dog and the little flipper fork in his hand. Also notice that the customized grill even comes monogramed!!!

3. Now, the first thing some people say is that this little guy isn't authentic to my look when I grill. Starting at the top, we've go the cool blue baseball cap, plaid shirt with denim shorts, old school knee high socks with black saddle shoes. That is definitely a high fashion statement. However, nobody ever comments on the cool outfit but they always notice that the little guy's beverage of choice is not the same as mine. Dr. Pepper is my favorite soda!! Mom just couldn't bring herself to paint the official beverage of grilling choice, Natural Light.

4. Now for the surprise. When you open the door to the little grill, it is an incense burner. There are a series of holes drilled into the grate of the grill to allow it to smoke up the grill giving this guy the authentic look (not authentic smell when burning strawberry or jasmine incense though). The smoke was a little tough to capture in the picture.

5. Here is a close up of the grill "smoking" up some hamburgers and dogs. You can really see the Grill Master in action with this shot. Almost makes you wish spring and summer was here, doesn't it?

I've never ever wanted to have a doll!!!! I felt the need to make that clear. However, this is without a doubt the coolest gift ever.

In addition to this little guy, Mom also created a "Puff the Magic Dragon" incense burner for my brother. His dragon stands about 12 inches tall and the smoke waffles out through the dragon's nose.

I tip my hat to you guys for this gift.