There’s an odd phenomenon sweeping through our housing area. At first it just started with a sign here, there, on neighbors’ glass doors and front windows…then it happened…it was our turn. We’d been Kringled. They got us.

How does one get Kringled? You get Kringled when you come home from your shopping or your working or your running around and find a gift bag at your door. You look in the back and there are two pieces of paper sitting atop a mound of tinsel which is hiding a variety of small treats, cookies, a coffee mug filled with chocolates, maybe a white chocolate pretzel or two.

One piece of paper has a colorful inkjet Christmas Scene with the words, “We’ve been Kringled!” on it. The second piece of paper has something like these instructions:

You’ve been Kringled!
Now it’s your turn to have some fun. Either make copies or print your own set of instructions and sign. Put your sign in the window so you don’t get Kringled twice. Get yourself two gift bags like the one you received and add goodies and treats and perhaps a small gift or two. Don’t forget their copy of the sign and this letter. The total cost per bag should not exceed $10.00. When no one is home or you’re sure they’re not looking, leave one bag at the door of a friend, and then one bag at the door of a complete stranger. Be sneaky. The point is to do something for someone else and not get caught. Merry Christmas!!!

And yes, being an old grumpy MSgt makes me shiver a bit at the thought of anonymous gift bags simply left at the front doors of base housing. But that may be part of the point too. My first gut reaction was to call EOD, and then it turned into, “Damn…gotta come up with another 20 bucks.” and then luckily, Beautiful Wife got her mischief smile on and she took care of it thus saving the spirit of the whole thing. There’s lots of reasons why I married the woman…she’s not just a good cook.

We got hit on Saturday. Beautiful Wife got her two on Sunday.

And now driving through housing you see little colorful signs on almost all of the doors with snowmen and angels and Santas and elves with the words, “We’ve Been Kringled!” on them. I’m starting my own two bags to carry in my trunk. There are a couple of houses on our street without signs…can’t have that.