Canadian gifts?

Before going to Europe, I thought I'd paruse the net for some ideas for truly Canadian gifts for our hosts. I stumbled upon the Canadian Gift Shop. This looks awesome I thought...

I couldn't believe what I saw. Paperweights? Who buys paperweights anymore? Last I checked most offices are not plagued by strong winds unless your boss tends to spout off a lot of hot air regularly. My own desk may LOOK like a tornado hit it, but no amount of paperweights are going to prevent that, let me tell ya.

The funniest part were the number of gnomes they had. Haha, GNOMES??? I can't imagine presenting these French people with a gnome for their garden...

Notice that this little guy's name is "Whiz"... Not sure if that's a coincidence since it looks a bit like he's about to take one. Oh, I guess that's a wrench to tighten lug nuts on wheels, my bad. Guess I should have known that, being Canadian and all...

We ended up getting them maple and chokecherry syrup, Candian Rockies calendars and a nice history/picture book about Alberta. Oh yeah, and I brought Flo an Oilers cap (his had totally worn out) and shirt (from Nate). I'd wanted to bring them Ice Wine and Bernard Callebaut too but it would have been ruined in the 45 degree car for over a week.

Although a big hunk of melted together Bernard chocolates doesn't have the best 'presentation', if I got one I'd probably still eat it, gnawing on it bit by bit until it was gone...