Ahhhh - so nice, all you keen, enthuisiastic elephanteers.
Makes a mother proud…
Uh, not that I’m anyone’s mother. Well, you know what I mean. Nevermind.
Am I the first recipient? I had a humongo box awaiting me when I got work - no identifier other than it was mailed from VT. Gimme a chance to inventory the contents and I’ll be back to post the list of loot.
Bah, I sent mine off on Saturday, then saw yesterday a thing sitting on my floor that I thought I’d packed in my pachyderm but apparently didn’t. 
Still, it’s sent and filled with elephanty goodness.
Oh, and though I was too time constrained to put a note, and too :smack: to put my SDMB name on the package, a nice bit of racial profiling should narrow that last part down. (And I’m in L.A.; that should pretty much clinch it.)
Whew - what a haul!!!
• Ceramic mug with a moose that says Vermont
• Ceramic pot with holes around the top. I’m sure they serve a purpose, but I’m ignorant of what it is.
• Big, flat ceramic bottle with a map of Massachusettes on it – says it once held Anniversary Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey
• Wooden candle holder – looks like stacked rings
• Tiny little can with lid – like an inch tall
• Taller, skinnier can-like thing with lid on a handle
• Set of size 5X light blue coveralls. If I was so inclined, I could stuff ‘em and make a Halloween decoration…
• Two Shaggy Blanket Kits – squares and rectangles of fleece to be sewn together to make colorful blankets.
• Needlepointed autumn scene in a frame.
• Brown purse with lots of compartments – I like lots of compartments – too bad it’s not a shoulder bag
• Fuzzy Santa hat
• Box shaped and decorated like a Chinese fan, filled with cotton – I’m guessing it held jewelry
• Oral B Professional Care thingy with a note assuring me it’s sanitary and never used. Dare I trust an anonymous Elephanteer??
• Short blue size 13 knitting needles
• Long purple size 10 ½ knitting needles
• Grey circular knitting needles that look to be size 10 or 10 ½
• Three cookbooks
[INDENT]o Fleishmann’s Yeast Best Ever Breads
o Kahlua – Eat, drink and be merry
o Quick and Easy Cookies
• Books - good timing, since I’m flying later this week!
o A Wedding in December by Anita Shreve
o Little Children by Tom Perrotta
o The Girls by Lori Lansens
o Prodigal Summer by Barbara Kingsolver
o Lucky by Alice Sebold
o Tempest Rising by Diane McKinney-Whetstone
o Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides• VHS Videos
o The Sure Thing
o Saving Private Ryan (My husband loves this movie)
• DVDs
o Monk – Season 2 (I LOVE Monk!!)
o Columbo – the Complete First Season (He’s cool too!)
o The Manchurian Candidate with Denzel Washington
o Stephen King’s IT
o Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow
o Wicker Park
o Paparazzi
o Mr. & Mrs. Smith
• And last but not least – a New Hampshire license plate that expired in October, 1999
• Oh yeah, and a buttload of bubblewrap![/INDENT]
Now, if I’d taken Psych, I’d probably have a ball analyzing this box o’goodies, but I’m not that deep. However, there are things in here that I think I’ll get a lot of pleasure from, and others that will be consigned to the next White Elephant exchange. So, can I figure out who sent it all?? How clever am I? How clever are you?
How much fun has this all been?? Thank you, Mystery Elephanteer!
An open letter to FCM’s elephanteer:
Phooey on you for setting the bar so high! 
Signed,
Everyone else participating
Congrats, FCM…a nice haul indeed!
what he said
and if that’s what the sendor got rid of, do I want to know what’s been kept?
I hate to burst your buble, FCM but I think I was the first to receive… my Blanco Elephanto showed up Saturday afternoon.
containing:
A box of animal crackers, still good.
A bottle of peach green tea, still good.
A half a bottle of nail polish that my wife says is atrocious.
A small plastic dinosaur of indeterminate nature, that my 2 year old played with the rest of the night
250 Iraqi Dinar note, from 1990. My favorite thing, as I collect foreign money. It’s cool!
A Gettysburgh plate that is a touch gaudy. I can’t wait to hang it in my computer room!
An astonishingly pink alligator skin handbag. My wife loves it, immediately grabbed it and pranced off with it.
A size M. Homer Simpson Xmas shirt, which my son also grabbed (he spent the rest of the night in a too big nightshirt, roaring his dino at us. Pic coming soon.)
An odd looking hoopy thing that my wife thinks is a choker or something.
And a PILE of plastic flowers, pink in color.
This is from memory, so if I’m forgetting anything, I am quite sorry.
And a MASSIVE thanks to my elephantee… I loved the little code!
(note: I should be sending my pachyderm package out on Friday, or possibly Saturday. after telling my wife of my recipient, she has the perfect thing in mind. we just have to find it!)
I, too, received my Elephant today. It was from FairyChatMom! I was so excited to see the return address label - I knew it was from her before I even opened it.
My haul includes:
–A foam airplane (which the cat finds fascinating)
–A novel (which my husband recognized and was excited to see)
–A collectible Super Friends animation cel (which my nephew would love)
–Some pink shell napkin rings (sorry - they don’t go with my wine-theme kitchen)
–A tiny ceramic elephant (it will go with the decor in Spencer’s room)
–A single white lace curtain (not really our style, but we’ll figure out something)
–A red eyeglasses holder (my new boss might like it)
–A lovely ceramic box with lid (hmmm … not sure what to do with this one)
–A FairyChatMom original mug (yay!)
–A bag of little decorative glass thingies (gonna save 'em for a fish tank)
–Some red and silver glitter (which should come in handy come February)
–And a blue wire clippy thingy (I can always use more random office supplies)
YAY for other peoples’ stuff!
There’s always the next Elephant exchange. 
Incidentally, the ceramic lidded thing was in a gift bag in the garden shed with some note papers and a card to Grammy East - I think it was a forgotten Mother’s Day gift or something. I have no idea why it was still in the gift bag in the shed…
• Ceramic pot with holes around the top. I’m sure they serve a purpose, but I’m ignorant of what it is. -I got a small plant in it but I’m still not sure what the holes are for.
• Taller, skinnier can-like thing with lid on a handle -This is for sewing needles.
• Set of size 5X light blue coveralls. If I was so inclined, I could stuff ‘em and make a Halloween decoration… -Hee. I wore it as my monster costume, with scary head and feet, last year.
• Oral B Professional Care thingy with a note assuring me it’s sanitary and never used. Dare I trust an anonymous Elephanteer?? -You can trust me! I buy these things because I plan to Be Better About My Teeth and then give up after a day.
I’m glad you liked it!
My elephant came today! My elephanter was Squeaker Snow, who apparently has an inordinate fondness for Ron Eldard…
Inventory:
A Chik-Fil-a “Eat mor chikin” tiny stuffed cow
A paper hat from Steak & Shake
A lovely pair of wooden chopsticks in a beautiful embroidered “scabbard”
A roll of Gucci stickers
A box of “You Bake 'Em Dog Biscuits”, complete with cutters shaped like a bone, a hydrant and a cat.
A tiny ceramic box shaped like a mandrill.
A matchbox from an Ohio restaurant called Maury’s Tiny Cove.
A BUNCH of DVDs, most involving Ron Eldard in some way (Blind Justice eps, a Homicide ep, Diggers, Death of a Salesman, Men Behaving Badly, Sleepers, True Love, Bakersfield PD, Just a Kiss…I’m starting to think I have the entire Ron Eldard oeuvre here…)
An amusing set of paper napkins (featuring early 20th century-style art of various women, with captions like “More medication, please” and “Maybe I want to look cheap”
A little 500-piece jigsaw puzzle
A doggie bag (with a little doggie on it)
A gorgeous paper fan with giraffes on it
A Halloween-themed orange accordion straw with a plastic skull wraparound on it
A Chinese finger trap
Two really cool swizzle sticks, a blue one with an Easter Island head on top and a pink one shaped like a seahorse with a loooooooong tail
A surfing Big Boy figurine
A tiny rubber chicken
A moderately disgusting keychain that’s a plastic elephant that “poops”, kind of
A rubber ball and a swirly marble
A Mini keychain
Two plastic goldfish
Two mai tai umbrellas (second year in a row for the mai tai umbrellas…am I giving off a false impression around here?)
A bunch of tiny plastic monkeys, most of which did not survive the trip with either all their legs or their long curly tails intact (not a sight for the squeamish, the empty box with severed monkey parts scattered about the bottom)
Some cool stuff in there! Thank you, Squeaker Snow!
Well, thanks for identifying yourself as my sender, gigi!! It’s easier to trust someone you’ve never met when you have a name to go with the Oral B thingy!
You’d have gotten a kick out of the eye-rolling that greeted my pile of loot when *someone * got home from work! Till he noticed Saving Private Ryan!
I’d copy the pot with the holes if I knew what it was - I’m always looking for new ceramic stuff to make.
You’re very welcome! My only regret is the cocktail monkeys didn’t make it intact. And, yes, I believe you are now the proud owner of the entire “Ron Eldard Body of Work.” It was a gift from a friend and now, I am re-gifting it to you…
I can’t wait to get my elephant!
I managed to salvage an intact one of each color, so at least I have a nice variety. 
My grandmother had a vase that had a rim that rolled over and back down into itself for a short distance. It’s hard to describe what I mean, but sort of like a turtleneck in reverse? Anyway, there were a series of holes around the opening of the vase in staggered rows in the curled over rim part. Is that what the pot in question is like?
If so, it was basically used to ease flower arranging. You stuck individual stems of flowers or greenery down thru the holes into the vase, and the holes kept those stem from shifting around. Sort of like having a built in frog.
This is the closest I can find to my grandmother’s old vase, but hers had many more holes in the rim, all the way around.
You’re welcome, Tristan. I did a little research, figured you had kids, didn’t want to send too much, you being a WE virgin and all. I, too, am a WE virgin, and can only hope my sender will be as gentle.
Yes, nail polish was atrocious, that’s why it’s now yours.
Hey, a state plate, how could I not resist?
Dinar has a history, appreciate it.
Flowers were used instead of popcorn.
And the purse? Well…
As an aside, my people are from the East. V part of your state. Small world, eh?
Looking forward to pictures, glad you enjoyed it.
evil chuckle
Got mine today. Quite a nice haul, thanks Draelin!
I got…
- A metal slinky
- An issue of Weird N.J.
- A VHS copy of The Car
- A pack of multicolored index cards
- A mini toy lightsaber
- A felt pouch with a set of jacks inside
- A little Spongebob figure
- A plastic toy high heel
- A CD copy of Star Wars: Yoda Stories
- A CD copy of The Cameron Files: Secret at Lock Ness
- A paperback of Life, the Universe, and Everything
- A paperback of The Restaurant at the end of the Universe
- A mesh sack of glossy green Mancala beads
- A rubber bone-shaped chew-toy
- An inflatable Mario Power Tennis mallet
- A tiny pink mouse (cat toy?)
- A freaky action figure of a guy with transparent skin, and an accompanying creepy casket/container for him
- A copy of Superman’s Death
What a great assortment, and it was very well-received amongst me and my roommates!
I just sent out my elephant today, and sadly I don’t think I did a very good job. In my defense, it was my first time and I’ve just recently moved so I’m low on loose junk! Sorry, elephantee!