“There was christmas, and all I got was this lousy t-shirt.”
Actually it wasn’t lousy, it was nice. In my family, we decided to not give each other christmas present, except for the kids (my brothers kids). I gave them presents, and they gave me a t-shirt. (bought by their parents, of course.)
That was the only thing I got. I loved it. So simple. 
Even if they were on tape?
I got a watch. It’s pretty and all: it’s one from QVC, gold tone, with little Diamonique stones around the face. But I’ll hardly ever wear it. My MIL gave me a wonderful Timex 9-10 years ago that I still wear to this day. It’s pretty, gold tone, and plain. Before that point, I’d never owned a watch with a backlight, and I fell in love with the Indiglo feature. It’s waterproof, but I take it off before I wash my hands. I don’t want to ruin it. I decided I’d save the QVC watch for dressy occasions, which quite honestly are few and far between.
Being a Steelers fan, I got a home-made Steelers Christmas “tree.”
The person who made it said that the artist’s concept and actual reality did not mesh.
It is an ugly thing and I have no idea what the heck to do with it.
I got a pink Hello Kitty towel with Hello Kitty wearing a beret and walking a poodle smaller than her and the words “Bonjour Hello Kitty” embroidered on it. I loved it, because I collect Hello Kitty stuff, but since it is rather childish for someone my age, I can see how one might consider it a WTF present.
Don’t get me wrong, I love Star Trek, but not so much I need to have the movies for all eternity on video.
Oh phooey, my previous post should have been in the returns thread.
I’ll contribute on-topic now: From one of my husband’s sisters, we got a voodoo-doll-type stuffed ‘animal’, a cloth figure with a printed cloth design, depicting a mailman. It’s about a foot tall. (My husband is a mailman.) I’m not entirely sure why she gave us that other than thinking it was funny-looking. We’ve decided to give it to our ferret as a toy.
I got this… thingie called a Figit. It’s a meshy metal ring you rub up and down your fingers. It’s supposed to relieve stress, I guess.
Mr Alpine got a black beret. If I didn’t hear from my mom that they emptied their “gift trunk” this year, I would be more WTF about it. He’s got a large head, only ever wears these patagonia duckbill hats, and is totally not the beret type. We’ve been watching lots of Mythbusters lately, and Jamie can pull it off, but not my guy!
Behold the awesomeness that is (are?)… Sock Monkey Slippers.
http://www.collector-connection.com/sock-monkey-slippers-adult-size-8.html
(they really are quite cute and comfy! 
Every year Santa brings me pistachio nuts. Last year I lucked out and Santa brought me a huge jar of SHELLED pistachio nuts and they were gone by mid-January, sad to say. This year I got three little burlap bags of plain, red-hot-chili flavor, and green onion flavor pistachios. I didn’t know they could be bought flavored, but that’s really gilding the lily as pistachios in their natural state are more than good enough.
A pound of imitation bacon-flavored bits.
Ha! Too bad you weren’t on my list; I gave out a large quantity of Bacon Salt.
My oddest gift this year was a pair of socks with the Union Jack on them.
My oddest gift this year was accidental. It was a book by Tim Russert called “Letters from Our Fathers” or some such, which is so outside my range of taste that I wasn’t even attempting to be gracious. I just held it up, eyebrow raised, until my mother saw it and snatched it away.
It turned out that it wasn’t meant to be a gift at all. My mother delegated all the wrapping to my uncle this year. She accidentally included the book (from the communal library at work) in the box she sent over. He, naturally, wrapped it and wrote my name on it, since it was with my other presents.
My strangest gift (which I love deeply) is a fridge magnet.
It’s pink with a little kangaroo on it with the word ‘cunt’ printed below the kangaroo.
BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! And to think Mr. W. was afraid I wouldn’t like it!
I actually thought fondly of Bacon Salt! I’m a vegetarian so the giver apparently thought I needed some bacon flavor in my life, which is true… But a whole pound? 
For Christmas? :eek:
Although my family agreed that we wouldn’t get gifts (only for the small children) I still got a very nice gift bag that had a bath towel and a box of chocolates. =3
I got a disposable lint remover. Apparently, unbeknownst to me, I have lost control of the lint in my life.
Sigh. When informed of the lint-removal gift plans, I actually specifically told my mom that I have two perfectly good lint removers at home. As it is, the second one was unnecessary (thanks Mom). I’m not sure why my mom is so zealous about lint disposal. I suppose someone has to take a stance, and perhaps it’s true that I don’t take these things seriously enough. Ah well.
Everything else was just spiffy.
My brother got a can of WD40 from our grandparents. We’re still confused.
Why wouldn’t you have liked (or at least attempted to like) this book? Also, no matter what the gift is, shouldn’t you at least make an attempt at graciousness? Not trying to be snarky, but feelings are easily hurt this time of year. Believe me, I’ve received some atrocious gifts in my time, but I never would’ve expressed dismay in front of the giver unless I absolutely knew it was a joke. Even if the gift wasn’t for you, couldn’t you have expressed some sort of thanks until your insightful mother had the presence of mind to “snatch” it away from you? Sorry if I’m misunderstanding the scenario.
For me, something immaterial: the chance to take this picture, one of my best.