My sister and I have long had an unusual relationship. Not only do we love to tease each other, but we’ve had a contest for years of who can give the other the weirdest holiday gift.

I thought I won last year. When she opened her little silver box and took out a detailed bearded dragon pendant she screamed! “Aha!” I thought to myself, “I have obviously won the round!”

But this was a short lived triumph. It seems her son Joshua just gotten a bearded dragon for a pet and she had been looking everywhere for a piece of jewelry to wear to school. (She’s a teacher and it seems they love wearing animal jewelry just so they can talk about it to the kids!) What was I thinking? Maybe it’s my male chauvinist pig inclinations. I thought that lizard pendant would freak her out.

What I should’ve gotten her was a dog breed pendant from this same site. She hates dogs and at least then the emitted scream would’ve been one of dismay instead of delight! Don’t get me wrong, I love my sister and but if you’ve never had this kind of kidding relationship with a sibling you may think me a cruel and evil man.

So perhaps I should tell you about the year she gave me a box full of jumping beans. They were in a Nordstrom’s box, so I was instantly suspicious. The fact that they were loose and shook like a box full of, well, beans further stimulated my suspicion.

There was nothing for it but to open up the box at which point the little seed pods, which had previously been heated under a lamp to increase their excitability were popping out of the box and I gave an involuntary yelp and dropped it on the floor.

I thought she’d never stop laughing.

That will be a hard one to beat, and I’m not even sure I’ll try.

If you are trying to find something unique for your favorite sister, brother parent or cousin I suggest you look in places other than the mall. One of my favorite spots, besides hole-in-the-wall online shops, is hole-in-the-wall off line shops. I’m not above prowling around in antique shops and even thrift stores for something that screams at me “I’m weird enough!”

This is a little diversion from my favorite subject, jewelry. But sometimes I just like to expand my horizons. My life does include other avenues, and everyone ought to look beyond the usual when they’re shopping, whether it’s for earrings, coffee table books or Mexican jumping beans.