Gaither Garden Gnomes

A gnome is a mythical creature characterized by its extremely small size and subterranean lifestyle.

Our Aunt Anne recently sent us 2 Garden Gnomes for our birthdays, but not just any Garden Gnomes, an A&M Aggie & LSU Tiger Gnome! We thought they were cute and got some giggles out of it. I told Jarrod "mine had less wrinkles and was younger and more vibrant looking" and his response was, "well mine has more national championships". LOL

So I've seen Gnomes before in random places & obviously on Travelocity ads on TV, but I have never really understood what they were for or why the Gnome is Travelocity's symbol. So I did some research on Wikopedia & found that the "gnome" is similar to what we speak of as "fairies". They are thought to guard wildlife, but became an ornamental figure which people like to place in gardens. The garden gnome originated in Germany in the mid-1800s as decorations based on local myths as a way for people to enjoy the stories of the gnomes' willingness to help in the garden at night. Stealing gnomes to "take back to the wild" ("gnoming") also became popular so it is said that they "travel the world"....hence the reason Travelocity uses it as a symbol -- "The Roaming Gnome". For more detail (I didn't know there was so much history!), go to: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gnome

We haven't decided on a home for them just yet, but I'm thinking that instead of guarding the wildlife outdoors, we may need them to guard wild outbursts by human creatures in the TV room during the NCAA tournament this next week...especially if the Aggies come up against the LSU Tigers! Not that we have a history in this or anything...lol...we watched them play against each other in the tourney almost exactly 3 years ago in my old Sunnybrook house (awww...memories...gotta give a shout out to Laura ;) while celebrating Jarrod's bday. Let's just say, it wasn't the best way to celebrate as there was lots of tension in the room. It would be some miracle for the 2 to come up against each other this year though considering they are in different brackets & different sides of the draw so I think it's a good bet that we will be safe this year! I doubt that anyone predicts an A&M vs LSU championship game! ;)