Meet the Yellow Star.

My family has a fun game we've been playing for the last several years.  For lack of a better name I'll call it "Get Rid of the Yellow Star Game".

I wrote about it last December here.

The yellow star is a Christmas tree ornament that was given to my mom. She thought it was ugly and tried to pawn it off on my sister or me. Neither of us wanted it. Someone (my mom?) decided to just go ahead and hang it on someone else's Christmas tree and run. When the tree was being put away later that year, someone (me?) found it and snuck it back onto her tree. Thus began the traditional "Get rid of the yellow star game." Sometimes the yellow star shows up on your Christmas tree. Sometimes the yellow star shows up in the middle of the year… maybe you find it on your desk at work. Maybe you hang it from your sister's rear view mirror of her car to surprise her. Maybe your mom and dad pretend to come visit you and really are outside hanging the yellow star from your porch light (they call you later and tell you to go look on your porch). Maybe you add it to the pile of gifts for "Free Christmas" and the lucky person who opens it has to take it home. The only rule about the yellow star is that you must get rid of it without being caught… if you are caught trying to "give" it to someone else, you have to take that thing right back home with you. The yellow star has been MIA for over a year now… otherwise I would include a picture of it. Sister, cough up the star already!

(I'd like to clarify that the only reason my mom thought the star was ugly was because it is yellow, and she doesn't like yellow.  It is not actually an ugly star.  My grandmother made it and I'd like to thank her for giving us a very great gift, since it is a treasured item in our family now.) 

Apparently my sister finally found the yellow star because it showed up at church on my husband's music stand last Saturday.

She made a list of new rules for the star, and they are as follows.

1. Once the star is given to you, it must remain in your possession for 24 hours.
2. Try to be unique when you pass the star on.
3. Try not to lose it like we (my sister's family) did.
4. Keep a log of where the star has travelled/is travelling. (Which I will do on this blog in the future.)
5. Quick turn around time is preferred over hoarding the star for months on end.  (This rule was my idea.)
6. The star stays in the family.

So, that is the history of the Yellow Star game.

My sister left for Ecuador on a mission trip this morning.  I asked her if I could pack some small care packages for the long airplane ride, and add some snacks.

Check it out…

Hiding the yellow star…

My sister called my mom from an airport this morning, and she had already found the yellow star. 

Can't wait to see where the yellow star shows up next!

***Because we have no log of where the star has been previously, I'm going to list the places that I remember here, and will add more if anybody remembers places I've forgotten.

1. Mom's Christmas Tree
2. Staci's Christmas Tree
3. Pam's Christmas Tree
4. Review mirror of Pam's car
5. Staci's porch light
6. The front desk at Staci's work called and said a package was delivered for her (the star was inside.)
7. Free Christmas (inside a gift)
8. Rogene's music stand at church
9. Pam's m-n-m bag (in her airplane care package) on the way to the mission trip in Ecuador.

Remember this video about manicures and pedicures?  It happened to us again! 

My niece Kiara and my sister Pam liked my pedicure with the flower on my big toenail so much they decided to get one before they left for their mission trip to Ecuador.

Remember how the nail tech asked me what color of gem I wanted in the center of the flower on my big toenail?  Remember how I said clear and she said, "You can choose red!"

Well, this time the nail tech told my sister that she picked a pink nail polish that was too light and she needed to pick a darker color.   

And when my niece asked for a palm tree on her big toenail the nail tech told her "You can choose a flower!"

This is what they ended up with.

Totally not what they asked for.  But still, pretty!