In my original post, I completely forgot to include a SECOND gift that my wife and I received every Christmas from my MIL and FIL. But they were only gifted to us, not to all family members. Plus, they stopped when my wife passed away several years ago.
We would received signed and numbered Allen Montague prints, nicely framed. He’s a Raleigh artist specializing in nostalgic scenes (quilts on rocking chairs, porches, snowy country mornings, old pumps, and so forth). They are very accomplished pieces, but not high-brow art. We rotated three or four on display in our home at any single time.
My present wife finds them quaint, but is not enamored of them. I have 15 of them covered with sheets sitting in a conditioned storage space ($133/month) down the road.
Finally, each family member also receives a new $100 bill in a gift envelope. Much appreciated and very practical.
I get pistachios every year from my parents, because I was always fond of them. Just whatever kind you find in Wal-Mart, which is usually Wonderful brand these days. They bought shelled one year, but I prefer the unshelled and mentioned that, so they switched back. All good. Then a couple years ago they found the unshelled untasty themselves so switched to buying me the shelled. I still don’t like them. There seem to be way too many overcooked ones.
My Aunt Jody, who’s also my godmother (I’m named after her late brother), always sends us a box of Harry & David pears. We love 'em and tell her so in a thank-you note every year.
I used to pore over that Harry and David catalog every year when I was little. Everything sounded so fancy. The pears sounded so special. The Swiss Colony catalog was another source of fascination, as well.
We used to give wind-up toys every year, but I think we’ve now got all of them, so that has gone by the wayside. Now we give page-a-day calendars. My dad and sister get dog-a-day and me and my mom get something different, this year I got her Atlas Obscura. I got Today in History.
I also get my mom a gilded leaf each year. Like this.
On the other hand, I sent a pear basket to a friend in November, after his mother died, and when he got it, half the pears were bad. As in, black skins and gray flesh. Harry and David eventually sent him another order, but only after a Monty Pythonesque conversation with an H&D customer service rep:
"About 25 minutes into the call she came back on the line after putting me on hold for like the eighth time and just without any other explanation started reading from a script ‘Would you like to surprise and delight someone with a gift of six Golden holiday pears? We would be happy to send these for you today at no cost to you.’
I asked her, are you asking me if I want to send pears to someone after I’ve received a box of rotten pears?
She then started to read the above script over again. I just stopped her and said ‘No, no, please just send us some non-rotten pears, please. That would surprise and delight me.’
Me: Dude, if ever there was a time to play the ‘dead mother’ card…
My newly-orphaned friend: I did mention that this was a bereavement/condolence gift. She seemed non-phased by that.
She did ask why I didn’t contact you about the rotten fruit. I responded, well, it was Harry and David that put the fruit in the box and sent it to me, so I thought I would start with them."
The people in my family gets socks every Christmas, but the packages aren’t marked as to whom they are from (me). We all open them at the same time, and simultaneously throw the socks over our shoulders. Ever since a certain Christmas movie came out…
Not really a traditional Christmas gift, but my best friend since 1976 or so and I have been passing the same roll of Super 8 film back and forth since then. (We used to make stupid little films when we were in middle school and film and developing were pricey for us. Film was precious.) Sometimes it shows up at Christmas, sometimes a birthday. I got it this year at Christmas. Haven’t seen it in about a decade. Now I have to stash it somewhere and give it back when he’s forgotten about it again.
