Growing up we had rather sparse Christmases compared to Ivylad. A few big gifts, a stocking and that was it.
But Ivylad can’t stand it if the presents aren’t piled up high and deep. I got a gift from a friend at work and thought my daughter might like it, so I was going to give it to her, but no, Ivylad insisted I wrap it and stick it under the tree.
His mother also buys stuff, and every year she says she’s “cutting back.” She’s been saying that for the 20+ years I’ve known Ivylad and has yet to do it. She’ll wrap so much that she forgets what the gifts are, and sometimes we’ll get a gift she bought several years ago but it got lost in her closet.
Last year, I got a tin from my dad that contains a massage-oil-slash-candle. It smells like a Hawaiian whorehouse (or rather, it smells like what I imagine a Hawaiian whorehouse would smell like).
Since that would’ve been too skimpy on its own, he also got me a Betty Boop tree ornament - which I suppose would be awesome, except I don’t have a Christmas tree to hang it on (I’m not really big on decorating for the holidays, pls The Boy is Jewish) and I don’t really like Betty Boop.
Bitch? That seems a little much. OK, it’s not the best gift. But it’s $100 more than what you had before. Would she still be a bitch if she dropped by and said “Merry Christmas, my boss gave this to me, and I know I won’t use it?”
Sorta similar anecdote - when I was seven, I got sent down into the basement on Christmas morning “to get a screwdriver.” Rushed, grabbed it off the workbench, and ran back up to the livingroom where all the Christmassy action was.
Sent back downstairs because it was the wrong kind of screwdriver, evidently. Grrrr. Went back down, in my bare feet and PJ’s - and this time I stepped on a fresh turd that our crappy little neurotic toy poodle had left there for me.
At the exact same instant that warm dogshit squeezed between my toes, my eyes landed on the somehow-overlooked bicycle, with the nice big bow & everything.
I got an e-mail from some outfit about an order I didn’t make; the credit card charge didn’t go through.
Suspecting phishing, I called both my banks; no denials from either one. I called the company and found out that it was a gift my mother ordered. I checked the company’s website to find out what it was.
It’s some sort of six-week “body makeover” weight-loss program. Understandably angry, I called my mother to tell her “thanks but no thanks”. She said it’s not from her but from my son. I told her it was passive-aggressive and the conversation went downhill from there. Later on, she sent me an e-mail titled “Your Attitude and You”, which I deleted, unread. She’s now on my shit list until I decide to take her off. This may take a while.
Before anyone gets huffy about how “ungrateful” I’m being, my mother has this unfortunate attitude that she knows what’s best for everyone, regardless of whether she does or not, and she’s one of the people who keep reminding me that people who claim to be brutally honest are more interested in being brutal than honest. Like I said in the I’m an honest person thread, I’ve cross-stitched it into my brain, and dealing with my mother is how I did that.
I’m past the age of caring about presents, but if you want to give me anything, cash is preferred. No one has their feelings hurt, it’s always the right size, and I can spend it as I see fit.
I had a Christmas like that. In the days before DVDs, a mate taped Slayerfest and for a few weeks my boyfriend and I went over every Tuesday night and watched a few episodes with him and his girlfriend. I have a good memory, and I’d watched Buffy the Vampire Slayer when it first aired on free-to-air TV, so we’d watch a few minutes and I’d say something like “Oh, this is a good one when Xander casts the love spell!” or whatever. My friends and boyfriend obviously though I was such a rabid Buffy fan that I’d memorised every episode.
That Christmas I got Buffy pyjamas, Buffy tie-in books, a Buffy backpack, a Buffy diary, a Buffy pencil case and I don’t know what else. My friends got me Buffy stuff and my family had obviously asked my boyfriend what I wanted for Christmas and he’d replied “Buffy!” so I got more Buffy stuff from them too. The best/worst present was from my boyfriend- a gigantic framed photograph of Sarah Michele Gellar as Buffy. Don’t get me wrong, I do still like Buffy and last Christmas my boyfriend-now-husband got me the complete DVD box set. But I like to *watch * Buffy, not build a shrine of artefacts and worship her.
My mother is also hopeless with presents. They are so hit-and-miss. Do you remember a few years ago when Poochi toys were the must-have Christmas gift? I was out Christmas shopping with mum and happened to mention how cool the Meow-chis were. That somehow set a lightbulb off in my mother’s head, so off she went to get me one for Christmas. Except they were so popular they were sold out, and the guy at the toy store got her one of theseinstead, which did a lot of the same tricks and so on. I tried my best to appear enthusiastic, keeping in mind that my mother had tried her best. I’d only mentioned the Meow-chi toy in passing because I liked the look, that kind of anime style. It would have looked cool as an ornament, something to sit on a shelf and look funky. It never occurred to me that mum would try to buy me a toy, given that I was in my mid-twenties and living out of home at the time. My boyfriend forbade me to bring the Robo Kitty home because the noises it made were ten times more annoying that a Furby. Last time I saw it, it was in the junk room at my parents house, still in the box.
Every now and again, mum just forgets how old I am. A couple of Christmases ago I got some Winnie the Pooh pyjamas. I hate hate hate adult pyjamas with cutesy children’s characters on them and it’s not as if Winnie the Pooh has any special significance for me. I was about 30 at the time.
I always thought that the Very First Christmas that a couple had “together” should be kinda romantic. Fireworks, violin playing-musicians, a carriage ride through Central Park; drinking Dom from diamond-encrusted flutes. Magic!
What did I get from mr. bot our First Christmas? A Black&Decker Scumbuster. Nothing says “Romance” like an inference that your tub needs a good scrubbing…
About 25 years ago, my then-MIL gave me a can of MJB coffee. She knew I loved coffee, and it would have been a great present. Except that it was already opened. I tried it anyway, and my Mr. Coffee spat out the most vile brew. It was undrinkable. I looked at the label on the can, it had a mail-in offer for some widget that had expired 5 years previously. Truly vile.
One year I got a size XXL T-shirt (to sleep in) from the Disney Store, with Winnie the Pooh on the front. Because I had said I loved Winnie the Pooh, but the charming original, NOT the dumbed-down Disney version! ( Hated the Disney Store on sight - grown adults capering around buying overpriced cartoon sweatshirts for themselves! Hot Topic, yeah) … I don’t think (with obvious exceptions) one adult should be buying another adult underwear, wrinkle cream, massage oil, or ‘body butter’… My husband has many tales of horrible Christmases, his alcoholic father would wake up and realize on Christmas Eve afternoon that he’d better run out and buy some presents. My husband and his sister got some peculiar things - whatever his father snatched off the shelf at the drugstore.
After reading some of these replies, I’m curious as to what kind of person actually gives somes of these gifts. I have to conclude that most of these are either given as jokes or the gift giver is mentally ill. I may not be the best gift giver, but there are some people who actually decide that partially used bottles of shampoo or deodorant make good presents? I’ve been pretty lucky as far as presents go although my ex did receive some sort of catnip toy from her grandmother once (she had no cats or pets of any kind).
Years ago, my in-laws spent Christmas with us. My diabetic MIL had forgotten her syringes. So FIL and I ran off to a drug store to get some for her at 10:00 on Christmas Eve. The place was absolutely packed with people looking for that last minute gift. :eek:
My grandparents on my father’s side were always pretty out of touch with our family, but each year, they would send presents. They were always unsuitable for our age. My gift would be given to my younger sister, and her gift to our even younger sister. The youngest gift would be given away or re-gifted the following year to some other family. Yep, that means I got nothing every year.
Of course, my dad was angry with me that I wasn’t grateful enough to send a lengthy thank-you letter for their thoughtful gift without being prodded.
Personally - I think it becomes an issue of how exactly to thank someone for a gift without encouraging them that their gift was suitable, without appearing ungrateful.