Christmas Hats

Before I was married, my last name was Van Grunsven. This is the story of the Van Grunsven Christmas of 2008…(unfortunately, I can only tell you this story from phone conversations and pictures since my family was too sick to make it there).

Christmas gifts for the Van Grunsven Christmas are always a challenge…if you don’t pick something good, they will let you know. This may sound mean, but everyone is a good sport about it, so in reality, it’s really fun. It makes shopping even a greater challenge. My family used to do the gift exchange that everyone over 18 bought a $30 gift, wrapped it (in brown paper with no markings…you wouldn’t want to give away who brought it, would you?), put in a pile, picked numbers, and did the round robin gift exchange: first person, picks from the pile, second can either pick from the pile or take the other person’s gift, etc. In the past few years we’ve tried to make things a bit more interesting. This year, the challenge was; spend $25 are Fleet Farm (or Farm and Fleet) and your gift must include, 1. something edible, 2. something wearable, 3. whatever else. Also, each family member was given a name and you had to make a ‘hat’ for that person, and that is what this story is about.

I was given my cousin, Paul. Paul is a few years younger than me and after I was given his name, I realized that i didn’t know him very well. I facebook-ed him and asked him to tell me a little bit about himself. Here’s what I had to work with:

I am a pretty uninteresting person, but I did come up with some stuff. My favorite color is blue, I am in grade school for my masters in social work (gerontology emphasis) I get my clothes from all over, mostly American Eagle I guess, but I really love Target and get a lot of stuff from … Read More there (that is probably my favorite store). I also really enjoy listening to Bob Dylan if you wanted to go off of that, and I read a lot…. or you could make something completely crazy and wild looking if you wanted, I’d rock it out 🙂

So, my next step in my hat making process was to google, ‘Bob Dylan’ and ‘Hats’. Much to my surprise, and delight, he had written a song called, “Leopard Skin Pill Box Hat”. It couldn’t have worked out better for me…. and here’s what I came up with!

And here’s what Paul thought: