Box of Lies

I love Jimmy Fallon.

I really love when he plays games with celebrities. My most favorite game is called Box of Lies. Go ahead and YouTube it if you haven't had the pleasure of watching any.

Here's how the game works. There are a bunch of numbered boxes. Jimmy and his guest are seated, facing each other. There is a divider between them with a window so that they can see each other's faces but not what is in their box. The guest chooses a box. S/He takes the item out of the box and must decide whether to share what the item truthfully is or tell a lie. Then Jimmy has to choose whether the guest told the truth or lied. If he guesses correctly, he gets a point. If he guesses incorrectly, the guest gets a point. Then he has a chance to tell the truth or lie. The first person to two points wins.

Some items I've seen in the game include:

A hammer covered in postage stamps.
A DVD of Frozen frozen in the center of an ice block.
An Uncle Jesse action figure in a box with Hershey's kisses.
A slice of pizza.

It's a hilarious game. Watching the guests and Fallon trying to fake each other out for the win is just hysterical. So, last night, Troy and I concocted the idea that we should play this with our children. Our boys know that the punishment for lying is swift and severe so we thought it would be great fun to play a game that let's them lie, if they so choose. Mixed message? Perhaps. Genius acting lesson? Yes. Healthy outlet for lying? Definitely. Parental observation exercise to see how good our children are at deceiving us? Absolutely. Troy took some time placing random items in boxes. Then, we began.

The first round was between Garrett and myself. He took a box, opened it, attempted to contain his laughter, and quickly declared, "A dinosaur with a paper hat."

What eight-year-old is going to come up with that all on his own, right? I mean, surely, that's what was actually in the box. I was certain that my husband had fashioned a tiny paper sombrero to the head of a toy velociraptor. "You tell the truth!" I exclaimed.

"I lie!" He held up a scraper tool with a single serving of macaroni and cheese tied to it. That little dude is a quick thinker and a darn good liar. I should have known because of the chicken incident of 2012. I have to keep both my eyes on that one. The teenage years are sure to be trouble.

Next it was my turn and I lied the heck out of the key chain that was tied with dental floss to a mostly empty roll of toilet paper. My kid thought I was telling the truth when I said there was a Lego man tied with floss to a toothbrush. BOOM! That's what a four year theatre program at a small liberal arts Christian university will do for you. (Thanks, Mom and Dad, for that education. It's paying off in ways none of us could have ever imagined.)

We were tied and I caught my eight-year-old in a lie which meant that I got to move on and face the five-year-old. Did I feel bad about beating my second grader? No. No I did not. I have an $80,000 education and Box of Lies champion may be my only claim to fame.

Matthew first told me that his box possessed pajamas with an army man inside of them. He giggled pretty uncontrollably and I just didn't think he was that good of an actor. Although, the kid can memorize absolutely anything and he's cute to boot so I'm not saying it'll never happen. He also called me a liar when I said that the empty coke bottle was a hammer with a note attached to it. So we were also tied.

Hilariously, Matthew told me his next item was a toothpick with weenie dogs stuck to it. It was so funny but I just didn't think that my husband had opened a package of hot dogs for our little game. I called him a liar and he showed me a Spiderman head toothbrush cover with Q-tip arms and Oscar Mayer weenie whistle feet. By calling him a liar, I secured my place as reigning Box of Lies Lying Champion.

A real accomplishment, no doubt.

My children declared it to be incredible fun and asked when we could play it again. So thanks, Jimmy Fallon, for bringing Box of Lies into our lives. You know what they say. The family that plays together stays together and the family that lies together...has all kinds of issues.