Baron von Brunk Story time!

In December 1992 when I was in the 2nd grade, our class took part in a series of various international holiday traditions to kick off the Christmas break.

We gathered into the gym to take turns swinging a bat at a piñata: a pink and purple llama suspended by the head from the ceiling. We cycled through each student to take a whack, and sadly none of us managed to hit the piñata. We were each given another turn, and when I got my second chance, I took one hard swing, heard a crash, then followed by everyone cheering. I removed the blindfold and looked up to see the llama’s head hanging by itself from the ceiling. I glanced at the ground and saw its body on the ground as the other classmates rushed towards it to grab the candy.

According to witnesses, I hit the llama directly in the neck which decapitated it and sent its body to the floor. I was declared the victor, and as a trophy I was given the llama’s head! I seriously planned on having the llama’s head mounted on my wall like a hunter’s trophy, but sadly it was thrown out when we moved away a few years later.

As corny and futile as it may sound in retrospect – and I can assure you I’m not trying to suggest that I peaked in elementary school – this particular piñata-slaughter event is truly something I look back fondly upon.

I like to call this my “I just killed a llama!” face.

-Baron von Brunk