Secret Santa Strikes Again....

Tonight my Secret Santa riddled me again.  This time the clues were a little harder! I actually had to ask the Boss Man if he had any ideas!

The first riddle was on my locker: "To begin this week's journey  you must travel North and there you will Sea, that I intend to send you round and round to discover what your Secret Santa gift will be.

So, in our library there is a mural on the NORTH wall of an underwater sea scene.  I'm looking over there - nothing.  I look under the globes in that area - nothing. I look and look. My co-workers look and they are also stumped.  I give up. My shift was about to start. I figure I'd try again during my break.  However, during my break I couldn't make any headway, so I wrote a poem to my Secret Santa asking for help:  Dear Secret Santa, Much to my chagrin, another clue you must give me, so I can re-begin. North I look, but all I Sea, are underwater creatures and toys for puppetry. Round and round I looked, and dizzy I became; Another clue you must give, so I can play the game! Oh Dear Secret Santa, what is your name?

Finally, I mention it to my boss and he asked me the obvious questions, "Do we have books on the North Sea?" (not here) "Did you look under those two globes?" (nothing under them)  Then, he mentioned that we also have one more globe in the library! I didn't know we had ANOTHER globe, so off I go, in search of my next clue.  Sure enough - taped on the North Sea was my next clue.

"My hope is not for you to feel you have been schooled, but rather to have some fun, if only just a little. Please do tell me Am I Tyra, driving you crazy with my riddle?" (italics and underscore mine to show you.)  It takes a bit. I'm a homeSCHOOL mom, so I look in the homeschool section - nothing. The clue was on the globe by the SCHOOL yearbooks, so I look up my yearbook - nothing.  We have lots of little decorative things out right now, as well as a display of tiny or LITTLE buildings for those tiny village displays. So, I look for a LITTLE school in those areas - nothing.  Yup, I was going round and round!!  It turns out that a co-worker realized that the type was different for 'Am I Ty' in my riddle is the name of the LITTLE SCHOOL, named AMITY (in our district)! We happen to have a huge quilt display from AMITY SCHOOL hanging upstairs, so off I go in search of my clue.  Yup! There it was, safely pinned to back, non-damaging to the quilt I might add!!!

"Somehow I feel as though you are dragon your feet, your gift awaits you. You want it, do you not? Shall I light a fire under you to make you move?  Must I tell if you are cold or if you are hot? Come on now my friend, I beg of you to give this all that you have got!"  Again, to the Children's section I go!  There is a dragon paper machie there.  Yup, under the dragon's butt was my next clue!

"Well now, you silly goose, surely you didn't think that that was the last clue? To put it simply as I can, that would not, could not be true. Please tell me you are not thinking of sitting down? It is clear as black and white that this game is not through. Only a few riddles for you to solve and a gift will be given unto you."  Off to the Children's section!! There's a stuffed goose there!!

"It would be a cardinal sin for you to quit now. I know that you have red that this is something I will not allow."  I have NEVER seen a cardinal in the trees in the Children's section! NEVER!! I even just put up and re-adjusted some decorations in those tree branches!! I think the cardinals were JUST RECENTLY added...  Anyway, one of my co-workers said, HEY!!! There's a cardinal on that branch! - we look - nothing.  Hmmm... so we look in the other trees, sure enough!! There's another cardinal on the shelf, by the tree, in the Children's section!

"My creativity is running low and it is time to rein you in my deer. I will hang around a little longer and share a tiny bit more Christmas cheer, and before I put a cap on all of our fun, one last clue will, for you, appear."  You guessed it, I'm in the Children's section and there is a capped reindeer hanging around!

"Don't delphin to this one too deeply. Sometimes it is okay for the pun to be so easy to sea. The porpoise for these riddles is to reveal to you gift number three."  Once again, the north wall of the Children's section is a painted mural of an underwater sea scene, complete with dolphins.  We looked everywhere at the first clue, but we look again. I'm a bit short, so a taller co-worker helps me out -  nothing. A patron made a HUGE stuffed dolphin and then gave it to us. We can't keep him out all the time though because he is so big that the kids like to sit on him and jump on him, etc.  So, we keep him by us in the back. He's a great conversationalist! I asked him what he thought of all of this Secret Santa stuff - much to my delight, he raised his head to talk with me and revealed my gift!! Such a sneaky helper that guy!

Secret Santa gift  hidden under dolphin.

 

The tag on the bag says, "Passing Through Once Again to Odor You to Have a Very Merry Christmas."

So, I wrote a new note to my Secret Santa: 

Dear Secret Santa, 

Much to my chagrin,

Help was really needed,

Before I could begin.

Your first clue so hard, the wrong North I did look.

All I could sea,

Were underwater creatures and toys for puppetry.

Help from several friends, did I need.

Then I took off with amazing speed.

Paranoid I now be,

Wondering if poop and stink is how you remember me!

So much fun to play your game,

Oh, Secret Santa, what is your name?

Okay, here's where the gamer gets tricky!! At 6:15-6:30 I happened to take my break.  I go into my locker, get my chips and eat.  Nothing spectacular in my locker, just my junk and the Christmas presents that I'm hiding there so my kids can't find them.  When I leave for the night, I go into my locker to put my name tag there and lo' and behold is a gift bag from my Secret Santa!!

Gifts that were mysteriously placed in my locker WHILE I was at work!!

I don't know if you can see it all, but there is a scarf - I wear scarves all the time!  Chocolate, gel pens for the artsy in my fartsy and a unique bird cage on a necklace.  I love unique jewelry. Tonight I happened to be wearing another necklace with a Silver bird cage. This bronzy one will work out WONDERFULLY with my collection of unique necklaces!  Love it!  I added a handwritten note to my last Secret Santa poem saying that I LOVE the necklace!

I have had one person in mind the whole time, but during this game, no one is to be trusted!!!

Bangles and Memories ~ 1974-1975

I love my bangle bracelets that jingle and ting-ting along with my movements. I love the look of several jangly bracelets on other women too. Women from India can pull off the look of 15+ bangles on one wrist. I have a friend that has the most beautiful wrists and forearms. She wears several slender bangles, thin bangles and the really thick ones that you have to put on sideways.

A young lady friend of mine makes jewelry. When she told me, I was extremely excited because now, I could actually get bracelets that fit over my wide hands. Typically, off the rack bangles don't fit over my hands. This is probably why I like the look of them on other women so much -- because I rarely find any that fit me. So when my young-jewelry-making friend told me about her business, I placed an order for three. Then, I went to a craft store and found some baubles and trinkets and gems that I wanted to have made in jingly bracelets. I placed another order. Then another...

I'm happy with the jingly ting-ting sounds that my bracelets make. My Lola Mom used to wear gold bangles on her wrists and a slender chain anklet with a tiny charm on her ankle. She would jingle and ting away while she cooked. We could hear her bangles while she puttered around the house. My favorite sound was when she was in the garden.... it was the sounds of the neighborhood, the birds, her laughter and her bangles. Tiny clink-clink and ting-ting, jingling quietly in the thick Pacific heat, under the shade of her exotic trees, plants and flowers.

Two of my Aunties also wore bangly bracelets. They usually were gold or silver. Not the fake stuff, but the real silver and gold. I clearly remember them sitting there in the Pacific heat, drinking wine out of a slender glass and their bangles clinking when they lifted the glass to their lips. The contrast of the silver and gold metal against their Pacific tanned skin was beautiful. In the background Otis Reding was probably singing: ".... sitting' in the evening sun...."

When I hear the quiet jingle of my bracelets, I sometimes think of Lola Mom and my Aunties. When I hear my bangles clink against my desk while I'm at work, I notice that sometimes little girls will look towards the sound and tell me that my bracelets are pretty. I remember being that small; looking at my Lola Mom's bracelets and telling her the same thing... and it brings me peace. I hope it does for you too!