'The Molly' Turned Normal!

Each Holiday season, for about four years now, it had become a tradition that I share ‘The Molly’ Christmas gift with my colleagues in Enrollment Services. ‘The Molly’ is my sister and her gifts are the highlight of my season. That tradition has now grown and our Marketing and Communications Department also can’t wait to see what ‘The Molly’ has gifted me, her older sister.

Here’s how it goes…Each holiday season, I display ‘The Molly’ gifts in a prominent place under the Christmas tree – my son and I anxiously wait on the day when we can open these incredible finds. You see, there is a bit of jealousy between my sister and I – the more successful, socially prominent and much smarter sister. She gets me back for my God-given talents every Christmas and birthday with her incredibly thoughtful gifts. When we leave for Christmas break, all my colleagues say – be sure and text us about ‘The Molly’ present! They know…

The day finally comes and first I announce to everyone who had gathered for Christmas at my house that “I am opening up The Molly present.” I anxiously go through all the possible scenarios in my head of what she could have possibly bought for me this year. I have gotten some lovely clearance items bought at the previous year’s Kohl’s ‘After Christmas Sale’, some lovely hot pink long johns with bunnies on them from the previous ‘After-Easter Sale’ at Target or a re-gifted item from one of her clients like a candle wax burner with scented wax that had lost its scent. One year my son got a gallon bottle of Redken shampoo that had been discontinued. She is a beautician and I imagine it was a discontinued product from her shop. The funny thing is – she has no idea we have created a new adjective called ‘The Molly’.

One year for my birthday, my office friends and colleagues wanted in on the surprise and asked me to bring in ‘The Molly Present’ so they could share in the unveiling. That was the year of the hot pink bunny long johns.

This year we brought back a box and a large bag of ‘The Molly’ presents when we went up to Indianapolis for my dad’s 92nd birthday. There were two presents in the box for me, a small bag for my son and even a big box for my boyfriend. I thought – “Ohhhhhhh Noooooo, now my boyfriend gets in on the experience.” After a hushed quiet the unwrapping began. I slowly open the box...slowly lift the paper...and much to my wondering eyes did appear, my jaw drops as I say right out loud, "Oh My God, I like it! It's just what I wanted!"

My new addiction is Starbucks Iced Coffee and she got me 3 boxes of it and an insulated Starbucks Christmas cup to drink it in. This is unbelievably PERFECT. Then I think "well this is just too good to be true" so I tell my son to open his present. Its $20 in cash - not a check that he has to take to the bank, not a preppie pink Izod button down shirt but $20 in CASH. My boyfriend even got a pretty nice long sleeve shirt. OMG THE MOLLY HAS TURNED NORMAL!

And my next thought was: I hope she didn't find my blog!