Alright ladies, I need to vent. My Saturday was completely ruined because of a ridiculous prank. Do I ever have a story to share!
Yesterday OH received an anonymous package at his office that was sent through regular mail. There was no return address, but the postage marking showed it had come from Vancouver. OH pulled off the brown paper and inside was a nicely wrapped Christmas gift instructing OH not to open it until Xmas day. No indication on who it was from or what could be in the box.
OH brought it home and I had an uneasy feeling about it since we didn't know who it was from. FIL already sent a parcel to our house and we assumed OH's other siblings would also send any packages to our house, as well as identify themselves. Also, OH's bio is on his company website so anyone could look him up and find his office address.
So I decided to open it alone and I told OH I would wrap it back up and not say what it was. I just needed to know what was in the mysterious package. I unwrap it and inside is a rectangular tin, I lift the lid of the tin and laying on top is a paper towel with "R.I.P." written in marker on it and a leaf taped below. Feeling rather confused and creeped out, I lift the paper towel and underneath is a bunch of rocks and in the middle is some sort of small object wrapped tightly in more paper towel and a ziploc bag. To me it looked like it could be a dead bird or some other type of small dead animal, so I have a meltdown and start screaming for OH. Here we have an anonymous package, sent from an unidentified person, and its a tin that says RIP inside with something morbid looking wrapped in plastic surrounded by rocks!! It looked like a mini coffin, so I don't know what I was supposed to think but I felt terrified!
OH immediately takes it away from me and admits he is also now very freaked out. He was too scared to open it and with all the crazy stuff happening in the news this week, we didn't want to take any chances and open it only to find something dead or toxic. So we call our neighbors for help. We knocked on the door and called them and it was the one time they were not home. By this point I want to call the police but OH thinks that extreme as its not an emergency. I came up with all these conspiracy theories like its someone that had done business with his company and was upset and perhaps wanted to hurt him. He has a serial killer stalking him. Or maybe it was his long ago ex gf who got pg after missing one pill, found out about my pregnancy and went berserk!
I called my dad to ask for advice but as soon as he answered, I burst into tears. OH got on the phone and my dad urged us to call the cops. So I called the local division and explained what had happened and they assured me we did the right thing by calling and not take any chances.
Within minutes two police officers arrived at our house. We had left the package on our front steps i case it was something awful inside. When they saw it they were visibly very freaked and put gloves on to open it. It was a gag from someone in OH's family!! Inside was a carved wooden hand and there is a long story behind this hand... It's something that OH's dad bought in Hawaii 15 years ago because the thought it was a beautiful carving. The family thought it was creepy and weird and there has been a tradition ever since to give it in OH's family as a Xmas gift. Usually it is given in a game of secret Santa and it is this big inside joke with his family. Never is it supposed to be mailed to anyone in a Dexter tv show fashion!!
When OH explained that he knew the hand came from his family, they were relieved but said they take anonymous packages very seriously. I was very apologetic for bothering the, but they assured is it is better to call than have it be something truly awful.
So by this point OH is livid and immediately assumes it must be one of his teenage nephews who was the culprit. He sent a group email to his entire family stating how upsetting the gag was. How we had called friends of his in Vancouver, people in his Vancouver office trying to see who would send something like this to us. When no one knew anything about it, we felt threatened and called the police. It caused so much stress for both OH and I and while we know the intention of the gag was in good humor and not meant to be malicious, it was not funny at all.
Within and hour OH's oldest sister who is in her 50s emailed and said it was her and her husband that had sent it and they were truly sorry that the joke had backfired. We actually saw them last weekend as they had a layover in Toronto on their way to a vacation destination. They were the last ones in the family that either of us would have suspected to pull such a weird prank! I think they could have sent the hand in a normal package, said it was from them and it would have been funny. But they way they did it just seemed really inconsiderate and upsetting to me.
So we got nothing done all day. I had planned on finishing my Xmas shopping and going to buy groceries, but I was so shaken up. Maybe I overreacted because of my pregnancy hormones, but I am relieved that it was not anything malicious in the end. It would have been a lot worse if it had been something dead or poisonous from someone trying to hurt OH! But can you imagine if I had waiting until Xmas day to open it and we called the police?? Xmas would have been ruined!!
Oh well, I guess this means I can now official join in on some of the in-law drama that many of the crazy ladies tend to vent about in here!
did you put your temp in the chart? I feel so unease knowing you temp but i couldn't see the chart! 
I'm such a chart addict/stalker!
Pino is OH not going to Oklahoma as well??
so sorry to hear about the prank~ hope you've recovered from it now~ 
