Bingo and Grandma Betty

My grandma Betty was a pretty awesome grandma. When I was little she would take me on walks "in the ditch" by her house, which was pretty much a little culvert that sometimes was dry, and sometimes allowed for just the right amount of splashing around. She would also pick me up from school if I was sick and take me to McDonald's for a sundae. So, you know, a real "grandmas grandma." Pretty normal in most ways.

However, in the years before she died, grandma Betty surprised the whole family by becoming exceptionally good at a kooky little game my family plays around the holidays called "Big Ass Bingo." It involves the standard game of Bingo, but with really sh*tty prizes. I mean, like the craziest, most bizarre and disgusting stuff you can come up with. My grandma, who liked to buy cutesy stuff and candles and soaps and things, eventually caught on that the prizes were supposed to suck. And once she caught on, she ruled it.

Grandma found some terribly awesome stuff, probably hidden in her basement for decades, or stumbled upon at a garage sale somewhere, and it made us crack up. Clown heads with crocheted stuff around it and weird misshapen kid's pottery and who knows what else. She would try to wear a poker face when someone was about to open something she'd brought, but she couldn't contain herself. Her prizes were so bad, she even wrapped them in crappy paper. And she found it all very hilarious.

I made this fancy bingo card, in fact a set of bingo cards, in her honor. The anniversary of her death is in a few weeks and I'll be thinking about her, playing some bingo and laughing our heads off. If you would like to introduce the family-bonding game of Big Ass Bingo to your family, stop by my booth at No Coast. I'll have a set with your name on it.