They look vaguely like candy, don’t they? That must have been what my brother thought when he ate one as a little guy!
This reminds me of a friend and his family, who would stage elaborate ways of presenting their gifts. One I remember invloved the recipient having to use the NordicTrak to pull the gift closer and closer to themself until they could access and open it.
The worst gift I ever gave? I’m stil guilty about it. It was when I lived in a group house and felt like I had to give everyone something. I gave one of my housemates a box of mints from the 99 cent store. :o
I once gave my aunt an oil filter with a note reading “Isn’t it the thought that counts?” It had pretty much drained all the oil out before Christmas, so didn’t make much of a mess.
The next year she got me a walnut. A walnut. In a series of nestled boxes.
Ok, that wasn’t the worst, but it was the most memorable. A Hickory Farms cheese sampler was probably the worst, because those scream - “I didn’t want to devote any time or effort, so I got you congealed milk”
My BIL is a buddhist hippie (the kind who preaches peace, love and understanding–and demands everyone agree with him). He’s a very kind and thoughful man, but not especially attuned to other peoples’ tastes, and into giving little “life lessons” when he can.
Two years ago, he gave my stepkids a clue that led to a clue, and so on. the final clue led to a hand-drawn treasure map of his parents’ 5-acre backyard. We live in Florida, so it’s not as cold as it could be, but on that day, it was raining and chilly. Notthe sort of weather an 8- and a 10-year old want to be traipsing in the woods at 8 a.m. on Christmas morning in.
Did I mention they don’t know how to read maps? After an hour of him standing on the porch watching them and givin absolutely no help, they found where their present was buried. Yes, buried. Excitedly, the dug it up and opened it to find 13 dollar coins each. With a note instructing them that it was to give to a homeless person.
Yes, they were exactly as thrilled as you’d expect them to be.
For Christmas in 1998, I arranged to have studio portraits taken of me and my three sisters for my parents. I knew this was something my Mom really wanted to have done, and she loved it.
By 2003, various people in the family were agitating to have the portraits retaken, and this time to include my parents. So, for Christmas, I gave Mom and Dad an empty picture frame with an explanation that I would pay for us to have a family portrait taken while we were all together for the holidays.
Only I never did it. I have felt bad about that for a very long time.
Christmas of 2001, I forgot to bring all the presents home with me from Boston. That sucked. Nobody got their gifts until March.
Not me, but my sister Serena. She has a wonderfully demented sense of humor . A few years ago our grandmother had to have a leg amputated due to an infection from diabetes. She was confined to a wheelchair and the whole bit.
The next christmas Serena bought her a pair of roller skates. Grandma thought it was the greatest present she ever got. She laughed untill she had tears streaming down her face. When she passed away a few years later, there were the skates on her bedstand.
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