Pullin’ Pranks and Gettin’ Punk’d

Pranks and tom-foolery seem to be somewhat of a lost art in my world these days. I suppose we’re all so grown up and serious, so career minded and busy that we don’t have time for such things anymore. Well, for most, anyway. But it hasn’t always been like that in my own private world. I’ll give you a view of times past……

One Christmas, we had dinner and the family gathering at M&M’s farm. There was foolishness afoot when my sister Dr M and I went out to the pasture to collect some chips, shall we say. What good could come of going to the pasture for chips on Christmas day, you say? Well….there’s a very special Uncle J and his lovely wife Auntie B who won the family-prankster-recipients-of-the-year award. And so, off we went, Dr M and I, to gather. (It was someone else’s job to handle the Auntie B foolishness.) And what became of the chips? Well, they ended up stuffed into an old work boot, wrapped in beautiful papers and ribbons for Uncle J to rip apart and throw in a wide circle across M&M’s brand new living room carpeting. You can imagine the whoops and hollers that went up in that crowded room, and the cries of M&M. There’s nothing like a bit of manure to complete any family Christmas gathering, aye?

The greatest prank (though unintentional) to ever occur at my childhood home was when my father was bitten by a snake while trimming the bushes. Not funny, I know, but hear me out, okay? See, it was a hot southern day and Daddy wasn’t exactly the fondest of lawn care. That was my mother’s true love. So here he is, trimming the hedges when he gets bit. And right there within reach was the guilty snake, which Daddy immediately picks up and flings across the yard. Mother, being a nurse, examines him quickly and sees the two marks and rushes him off to the ER without checking to see what kind of snake nabbed him. Anyway, I just remember him looking white as a sheet. Later that day, when they returned from the hospital, he didn’t look so very white, but rather more red-faced with embarrassment. Apparently the doc had sent them home to examine the bushes a bit closer. It would seem that he wasn’t bitten, but rather stung. By hornets or wasps, I don’t remember which. And yes, still laying where it was flung was the innocent snake…..of the species reptilious-plasticus! I guess my brother had lost it in the shrubs one day! Oh but we laughed for years….

Now my sister Dr M’s birthday is on April Fool’s Day. Oh the pranks I would LOVE to pull on her. But sadly, my immediate family makes me play nicey-nice. But I’ll tell you, I’ve always wanted to send her a box of birthday chocolates. Well, mostly chocolates, anyway. I think it’d be fun to remove a few of the candied delicacies and replace them with hand-dipped ….... chocolate …..... cotton balls? Imagine her surprise!!! Tehehehe………Blek! Of course, now she’s on to me after reading this : /

Food pranks are always fun, like presenting a cake for dinner that’s really mashed potato iced meatloaf (the kids love this one!). Familyfun.com is a good resource for food tricks. And of course, these days pranking happens more frequently on Facebook (change the language) or Microsoft (change the screen to the blue-death-screen). Office tricks in our technology enhanced world are fun, so you can explore a few here… http://www.aprilfools.com/office-pranks.html#Auto-Correct (I admit I’ve had a bit of no-good-silliness with spellcheck myself!)

So has the fun been shut down in your world? Do you have crazy prank memories? What April Fool’s Day foolishness will you pull this year?