Sisterly Shenanigans!

In June of 1997, Jerry and I were married in a sweet little chapel in Talma, Indiana.  Being young and newlyweds, holidays became very important to us. Myself being like most new brides, requested that my extended family celebrate Christmas at our first homestead.  Jerry agreed because he knew it was important to me, and so the date was set.

I started planning the menu, and preparing my home with handmade and newly purchased holiday decorations.  My sister, Nicole, was going to be home from Dallas for the holiday week, so I enlisted her help in preparing the food on the day of the event. This was already turning into a holiday that I knew would bring me great joy, because I just LOVE being around my husband, sister, parents, aunts, uncles, cousins, and grandmother!

The day had finally arrived, the house was ready for guests, and Nikki had showed up at my door carrying all the recipes, plates, and pans we needed from our mom’s house.  Together we began prepping, baking, and cooking all the dishes.  Even better, Nikki and I began catching up on all the ins and outs of each other’s lives.  She shared about her adventures of big town life in Dallas, and I shared all the adventures of country life, teaching, and marriage.

It was somewhere in this shared cooking/ storytelling time that Nikki and I came up with the united desire to initiate Jerry into the family.  It was really a logical deviation from our tasks, being that it was his first  holiday celebration with the family. To be honest, I’m not even sure whose initial thought it was to christen him, but we were definitely united as sisters! POOR  JR, he did not stand a chance!

The planning began; naturally JR did not participate in any of the gift buying responsibilities so that seemed the most advantageous area to create a surprise around.   Together, we decided to use a picture I had taken of JR on our honeymoon.  Now this was not any normal picture of JR, in fact the photo included him, a bathtub, lots of bubble bath bubbles, and a cowboy hat.  Please keep in mind this was a decent photo, one that would embarrass him just enough to turn him pink, not red.  The photo was put in a box, wrapped, bedazzled with ribbon and a bow, and labeled, “To Nik, From Jerry.”  We placed the wrapped initiation trap under the tree.  It was perfectly camouflaged by all the other gifts!

Next, Nik and I collaborated on how best to deliver the gift, and how to begin the unveiling of the initiation attack.  We planned for every detail, pretty confident in how JR would act and react to each step of the gift’s unveiling. 

JR was the first to arrive (home from work), and to be honest my sister is better at keeping secrets so there was only time to wait.  Shortly after him, our family began to arrive as well.  We ate a delicious meal, and encountered great family fellowship. Everyone was in a very merry mood; it was perfect! The entire time Nikki and I continued to joke privately about what would happen this year during the annual family gift exchange.  This time we did not even include our normal prank ally, our dad!  WE JUST KNEW HE WOULD BECOME A TRAITOR AND TAKE THE SIDE OF HIS NEW SON-IN-LAW! This was a need to know operation, and the only people that needed to know were Nik and I.  Everybody else would know soon enough!

The time had arrived!  It was gift giving time!  Nikki sat to my left in a high-straight back chair, and Jerry sat to my right in a low soft chair.  He was sitting low enough that he could not see into the box as she opened it!  The gifts were passed out, so Nikki claimed she wanted to go first, slowly she began to unwrap her gift. To my right Jerry tapped my elbow for reassurance that he was giving her a gift she would like. So of course I gave him my most reassuring wink, and he grinned!  Everything we had planned was falling into place, this was too easy!

Of course Nikki is at good at setting up pranks as I am, and to be honest can keep an even straighter face.  As she opened her gift she put on a show, “Oh my JR, you shouldn’t have.  I can’t believe you got me this; I love it!” She acted speechless, and he seeing this rubbed his knuckles on his chest and then blew his knuckles again, taking ALL the credit for the great gift his new sister-in-law had just received!  Straight-faced, she asked him, “Do you mind if I pass this around so that everyone can see it?”  

Feeling quite proud of himself he boldly said, “Sure! I’m really glad you like it!” elbowing me again, and rubbing his knuckle on his chest and then blowing on them to show off to all that were present.  Nikki turned to her left and the gift was passed around the room in the opposite direction from where Jerry was sitting.

As the photo travelled around the room to each family member, it was met with their natural reactions of, “Wow”, “Oh, My”, and raised eyebrows.  This added to his confidence and curiosity, and he asked me what he had gotten her.  I quietly shushed him and twisted my eyes to my sister as if to say, “Keep it our secret, so she doesn’t know you didn’t get it for her.”  By now he was sitting up on the edge of his seat, it was apparent he could hardly wait for the gift to reach him so he too could see what he had gotten her.

Finally the gift arrived, he looked into the box and saw his cowboy covered noggin grinning up out of a white bathtub full of bath bubbles.  The room was silent, in anticipation of his reaction.  TIME STOOD STILL, as he mentally processed the whole event and realized that he had been set up by two sneaky sisters.  Needless to say, Nikki and I both ran for our lives to the laughter of everyone else, as he chased us out of the room.  Yes, he did catch us, and we did pay for our pranking.   I learned right then and there how important it is to allow time for sibling-spouse bonding.  To this day he steals the phone away from me when Nikki calls!  I love knowing that they care about each other so!