A most 'Merry-Okee' Christmas, indeed

It's funny what presents make a family's Christmas memorable.

Our family exchanged a lot of gifts over Saturday and Sunday.

Artwork. Books. CDs. Clothing. Jewelry. Wine.

There was plenty of love that went around.

A lot of laughs, too.

Especially because of something called a "Merry-Okee."

My sister-in-law brought it to the family's Christmas Eve gift exchange and it was the hit of the party.

Made by Hallmark, it's a battery-operated Christmas toy karaoke microphone advertised to "Change your voice to sound like an ELF!"

Well, I don't know about elfs, but we sure sounded like a bunch of Munchkins from the "Wizard of Oz."

The package also says, for "Ages 3-and-up."

Perfect!

We hadn't had anything to drink yet, either.

Each of us took turns and some of us sang on it together.

Not that I'd call it singing.

Either way, we had a blast with Merry-Okee and laughed so much our stomachs hurt.

It was fun.

So much fun, in fact, when my wife, mother-in-law and sister-in-law went shopping for holiday bargains Monday, they also snapped up enough Merry-Okees so every member of the family has one for next year.

Our Christmases may never be the same.