Part of the annual Christmas ritual for my family is a game of “Rob Your Neighborâ€. The object of the game is to stick someone else with a particularly unattractive item that has been darkening a corner of  your closet. My six siblings, our many kids, and grandkids all get into the spirit. I once unloaded a plaster copy of Michelangelo’s nude statue “Davidâ€ – only to have it reappear for the next five years dressed in increasingly bizarre outfits.

This year was different for me: I actually WANTED the item I wound up getting. 