I found this pic when I was home this past week. I was looking for pics of me and Ginger to put on my recent blog post, and when I opened up the page to this one I was laughing so hard.

There are so many awesome things about this pic. I mean, why is my brother wearing a ski mask? And more importantly, why did he get a lamp for Christmas? And when my parents said "hold up your gifts! We're going to take a picture!" my brother chose to hold up the lamp?

Here are some possibilities:

1.  The lamp was the best thing he got that year.

2. We were short on money and my parents had to give us things we needed, and not just wanted.

3. My parents showered me with gifts like a cat in a basket, boots, a Barbie Ice Cream Shoppe, a flying dinosaur, a mouse in a mug, and much more, and then grabbed a lamp from our basement and a ski mask from the closet for Josh.

4. Josh REALLY likes lamps.

5. Josh was caught off guard.

My parents saved all year for our Christmas presents, so being short on money wasn't an option. 

Also, our parents were very meticulous about spending the exact amount on each of us. My mom always made sure we knew the gifts were exactly even. So either that lamp is way more expensive than it looks, or most of Josh's presents are sitting on our other couch, out of the shot (the more likely option).

What I'm guessing is that we both got lamps that year, (I probably got a pink one), and Josh was just really excited about it (why still remains a mystery). While looking through pics I also came across a full blown photo shoot of Josh and me holding brand new desk fans that my mom had gotten us (again, me with a pink one and Josh with a green one).

We did live in Michigan with -30 degree weather, so the ski mask makes sense... And again, why he was so excited to highlight that in the picture instead of the super cool Power Play Hockey game behind him is beyond me.

Also notice that the hockey game behind him is still in the box, while the lamp looks like it was taken out of it's box immediately.