A Topic of Conversation

On our annual Christmas shopping trip together, my sister and I found ourselves at World Market.  She was looking for an ugly ornament for an exchange as a gag.  She bought a really nice one elsewhere, for when the joke was up; but for the ugly, she settled on a hideous straw penguin, poorly painted and glued together. 

In the meantime, this little sprite caught my attention from a picked-over ornament display.  At first glance, I thought it was cute, but after picking it up, noticed some little details, like that he had no hands, and was holding a mushroom.  The delicate pixie face was expressionless and slightly creepy, and it had silly little pipecleaner legs. 

It was okay that the pipecleaner stump bore no hand.  I don't think it ever had hands to begin with.  I still liked it.  My sister tossed it into her shopping basket with the ugly penguin, and we continued our shopping.  

On Christmas eve after church, we met up with my family for dinner and gift exchanges. There, in a little bag with another gift, was the sprite.  I was happy to see it, and the sentimental smile on my sister's face was the icing on the cake.   

[The other gift was a handled shot glass containing a hidden memory.  Why do I remember this so fondly?  (it's not what you think).  It was the same style of vessel that we used to rinse our brushes for our watercolor paints when we were little.  Our smart parents knew it was the perfect size, and hard to knock over and spill.]

So, is the sprite creepy, or cute?  Still I can't decide, but I like the way it looks hanging from a branch with a mushroom in one of its missing hands.

One never knows what can be found in an import store.  Some people say you need to be careful and be on guard for lesser quality merchandise.  Sometimes, like the sprite, that can be part of the charm of the thing; other times, not so much.  

We came across some decorative balls.  You know, the heavy, useless orbs that get placed in a bowl, to sit on a person's coffee table.  They come in all sorts of different colors.  Most of them are boring, since they don't serve a purpose, but the ones I found at World Market are--let's just say they are a topic of conversation:

The creepiest thing I've seen yet.