A White Elephant Party doesn't mean all the gifts are elephant themed

On Saturday, I went to a Marine Corps base on the northern side of the island to work at the Christmas Festival. With wonderful donations from Toys R Us, the marketing department was able to give out prize packages of Barbies and Hot Wheels to 40 children. It was a lot of fun to see the children's excitement when I told them that they won a prize.



In the evening, Benny and I attended an Okinawan Christmas Party, hosted by Navy friends, Steve and Melissa. (Background: Steve is from Nebraska and his dad is also a corn farmer named Roy. He is an engineer in the Navy like Benny. Melissa is from Wisconsin so she is a Packer fan and a dentist in the Navy. They have two cute daughters, ages 2 years old and 3 months old.)


This is a picture of Melissa and the "white elephant" mugs she won at the party.

So since the theme was Okinawa, we ate fish, rice and chicken instead of turkey, mashed potatoes and ham. It was a potluck with everyone bringing something to share. I brought a batch of Marie's famous Swedish meatballs and Lydia's 7-Up Jello salad, which I even made in a Christmas tree shaped mold. Pretty exciting.

After dinner, we participated in my favorite part, the white elephant gift exchange. One of the ensigns didn't know what a white elephant gift exchange was, so we have been teasing him for weeks. But he caught on quick: he walked away with the cordless drill that every man in the room was eyeing.

Benny came home with a back massager, for me. I took home this display of the 8 gods of happiness in Japanese spirituality. Again, I was the person taking the photos, so there isn't any photos of Benny and I. But plenty of everyone else at the party.