My most memorable Christmas gift ever

As you may or may not have noticed, I've taken a blog break this week. I figure everyone's probably gearing up for the holidays anyway and I've had a couple of projects I've been working on for Christmas.

But I thought I'd take a moment to talk about one of the most memorable Christmas gifts I've ever received.

As one of 11 kids, Christmas gets pretty crazy at my parents' house. A few of us have started suggesting that we do a gift exchange to help minimize the chaos, help reduce our annual shopping, and allow us to spend more per gift.

Regardless, that's not how we do things. Budgeting gifts for this many people is a challenge, of course. It can get pretty humorous to see how creative the younger (and poorer) kids get.

It's a well-known fact that I love eggnog. I can polish off an entire quart in one sitting. Two years ago I received eggnog for Christmas from two different siblings.

The first quart I received was wrapped and under the tree but had been refrigerated up until immediately before we opened presents. I popped it open, took a drink, and put it back in a refrigerator.

The second quart I received fared a bit worse. That brother had put out his gifts the night before we opened them. The eggnog was included in those gifts under the tree. I knew right away something was wrong. A quart of eggnog shouldn't be warm.

We laughed about it, knowing that it was going to be bad. Sure enough, I went to the kitchen, opened it up, and out poured curdles of eggnog.

It stands as the most memorable Christmas gift I've received.

Do you have any good Christmas gift stories? I want to hear them!

And Merry Christmas!