Bad Christmas presants

[tharpdevenport]

I think we all have stories of crap gift giving each year. Sitting here watching TV (Venture Bros., Murphy Brown , Roseanne)alone I thought about some of the crappy gifts I have gotten. Some highlights:

• Almost every year getting another sweater from my grandmother. Each year I tell her I still have the one she gave me the year last. They never fit right, are ugly, and take up room. I donated them all to Goodwill in 2006.
  
  
• Each years asking for something specific, and NEVER getting it. I got socks, sweaters, colonge (even though I don't wear any), things that make me wonder what they were thinking.
  
  
• I think the worse was that since everbody knew I was a Star Trek fan, I open a gift one morning and it's ... it's ... a Enterprise D flying frisbe-like thing. It's a styrophome Enterprise D with a thin piece of plastic on the underbelly of the saucer that you hold onto to throw it. The piece of plastic makes the saucer fron heavy, so when you throw it it goes a few feet then takes a nose dive faster than a bald Brittany Spears waving around an unbrella.
  The thing was in the PX when they got their groceries. Not only did they not put any real thought into the gift, but they just tossed it into the cart 'cause it was the only thing Trek in the PX.

 

[Crooked Halo]

It's a good thing you don't sound like a spoiled brat. Welcome to today's mindset, I guess.

 

[Laren]

My grandmother gave me a throw pillow. With parrots on it. It's so ugly, I want to burn it. I cannot fathom why she thought I could possibly like it. But hey, it's the thought that counts, right? She rarely visits me anyways so she won't see that I can't use it unless I suffer a stroke or something.

 

[doubleohfive]

I think we all have stories of crap gift giving each year. Sitting here watching TV (Venture Bros., Murphy Brown , Roseanne)alone I thought about some of the crappy gifts I have gotten. Some highlights:

• Almost every year getting another sweater from my grandmother. Each year I tell her I still have the one she gave me the year last. They never fit right, are ugly, and take up room. I donated them all to Goodwill in 2006.

My grandmother and her sister, who was like a third grandmother to me, died in 2001 and 2002, respectively. They used to knit me sweaters when I was a kid. She even knitted me a Spider-Man mask for Halloween, one year. I still have it, sitting here right next to me as I type this.

I would give just about anything to have my grandmother back, to thank her for loving me so unconditionally as long as I knew her.

• Each years asking for something specific, and NEVER getting it. I got socks, sweaters, colonge (even though I don't wear any), things that make me wonder what they were thinking.

Maybe someone is trying to drop a hint.

• I think the worse was that since everbody knew I was a Star Trek fan, I open a gift one morning and it's ... it's ... a Enterprise D flying frisbe-like thing. It's a styrophome Enterprise D with a thin piece of plastic on the underbelly of the saucer that you hold onto to throw it. The piece of plastic makes the saucer fron heavy, so when you throw it it goes a few feet then takes a nose dive faster than a bald Brittany Spears waving around an unbrella.
• The thing was in the PX when they got their groceries. Not only did they not put any real thought into the gift, but they just tossed it into the cart 'cause it was the only thing Trek in the PX.

Man, you have it tough, Tharp. How careless of your loved ones not to consider that despite the gift being related to something you were interested in, it was still "crap."

When you get a chance, do me a favor. Watch this video. You might learn a thing or two.

A Gift of Gold

Until then, be nice to your grandmother and be grateful for what you've got.

 

[Cutter John]

Some of us would be glad to get anything this year.

 

[Jadzia]

Search ebay for "unwanted gift". I had a feeling we'd find xmas presents listed there. Some of the stuff is listed 9.00am and earlier, ie, probably as soon as they were unwrapped.

It's such a horrible ungrateful thing to do to put ones gifts up for sale that quick.

 

[Finn]

Back in the late 1980s, My paternal grandparents, who had since passed on, gave this very pink sweatshirt, with images of something a bit girly. I knew I'd catch trouble if I wore that thing at school. Plus I thought it was too ugly and way too girly. Somewhere in the photo albums is a picture of me holding it out so my younger brother could see it, with a subtle perplexed look on my face .

OH, and I exchanged it for another sweatshirt- a purple one. Hey, it was a Los Angeles Lakers sweatshirt.

 

[jamestyler]

I always appreciate the gifts I get as theres always some thought in there. Even if they end up off the mark. The only thing that springs to mind was a shirt my gran bought me that no one under 80 would wear. But she knows I wear suits a lot of the time, so she wanted to get something I'd like.

I always find it funny though that she does a hell of a lot of research on gifts, but still chooses to ignore it 90% of the time. This year she spent three months pestering my mum on what to get me and my sisters. Even though I always say 'Don't worry about me this year...' my mother drilled it into her head that DS9 DVD's were the way to go as I was finally updating my VHS-DVD ratio.

She doesn't understand why DVD's exsist as there are perfectly good video's around. I think Im the only person in the family that sees a sweetness in that.

 

[freak]

Cutter John: Ain't that the truth! The economy is so bad, that a lot of people can't afford presents this year which is sad.
I've always gotten great presents, but one year when I turned about 7, I got the Hungry Hungry Hippos game and I had already gotten that game for my birthday! What's worse is I made the mistake of saying that I already had it to the gift givers and boy did my parents chastize me after that!

 

[Maestro]

May we not get the presents we want, but the ones we truly deserve.

 

[Jadzia]

Yeah I had that one, and I remember the song "Hungry hungry hippos, hungry hungry hippos." I never liked the game though - Too snappy.

 

[Finn]

Oh! That game was fun

 

[spoonunseptium]

I sometimes get crappy gifts, but I always find a way to use them and I make sure to keep them for a while.


This christmas my mom got me the ugliest statue of a dog I have ever seen. I don't like dogs, I like cats, and it smelled weird.

She knew that I like collecting statues(I guess she didn't notice that the statues I collect resemble antiques or mimic works of art, or look like they came from other countries), and my entire family is broke, so I appreciated that she tried.

Instead of putting it in my room, I put in a place in the living room where it actually fits in and looks kinda cute.

My first thought when I opened it was "aagh, what is this crap?" but that was soon transformed into, "aww, this is a nice present." because I thought of how she tried and how later when she's gone, I'll have this little token of her love.

Plus it looks nice in the living room.

 

[JonathonWally]

May we not get the presents we want, but the ones we truly deserve.

Amongst the other things she got me, my mother gave me this blanket thing with sleeves. I had no idea what he was, she said she saw it on QVC one night at 2am when she couldn't sleep and thought, John should have this.

It's a damn nice blanket, a bit weird, but nice.

 

[Kestra]

^ OMG, is it the "The Snuggie"?

I have this thing for infomercials ...

 

[RoJoHen]

Not really a bad present, but kind of funny. My grandma has gotten me a scarf the last 3 Christmases in a row because she's thinks I need to keep warm.

1) Thanks, but you already got me 2 of these.

2) I don't wear scarves. I find them terribly uncomfortable.

Oh well. I'm not gonna ruin it for her, and her intentions are good.

 

[thestrangequark]

I'm not usually one to complain about gifts, but my grandmother is a piece of work. Those of you who've read Harry Potter will understand the importance of a comparison to the Dursleys. One year she gave me a half a tin of hard candy and three button covers. My little sister got the other half of the candy in a plastic baggie. She gave my mom toilet paper and light bulbs. The same year she bought my two cousins each a new computer -- the favorites game she played with her own children seems to have been passed down to us.

She's better than my other grandparents, though. They're strict Catholics. Every year when we were children they'd send my younger sister a present whilst ignoring my older sister and I, because my little sister was the only one born in wedlock.

But this post makes me sound bitter, which I'm not at all. I actually think of it as funny more than anything. I appreciate whatever gifts I get, even if they're not exactly what I wanted. My immediate family are all enthusiastic gift-givers and receivers.

 

[Laren]

She gave my mom toilet paper and light bulbs.

I'm sorry, but that made me laugh out loud. Although you must admit that these items can be very useful, especially when you're running out at an inconvenient time.

 

[tharpdevenport]

I got three other gifts:


1. Two cards, one with a Wal-Mart gift card. Not sure why a Wal-Mart gift card. Could have just given me the cash and saved a trip there

2. A big bag with butter toffee peanuts, Reese peanut butter Christmas trees, Little Debbie Christmas trees, gloves, socks, and two candy canes.

3. A letter from my mom (being mailed off today). Don't know what will be in it.

 

[Venardhi]

I wouldn't say I've ever gotten a bad gift, or even that there necessarily ARE 'bad' gifts other than the obvious stuff like cleaning products or old used clothing or whatever, but there are a few times I quietly exchanged something expensive that I knew I wouldn't get use out of. Like buying the wrong size tires or a bunch of Xbox games for someone without an Xbox or a guitar amp without a guitar.

My family widely considers me the hardest to shop for because I'm very practical and minimal when it comes to my life. My mom will ask me what I want outright and every year demands a list of things I want. As a kid it was fun to go through the catalogs and highlight the stuff I liked then have it be a surprise which of the things I had totally forgotten about I got, nowadays I can pretty much call exactly what my gifts will be because I generally don't ask for things I don't either really really want or genuinely need and that narrows down the 'fun' gifts considerably.

One year I just asked to get nothing because I hate getting those kinds of 'its the thought that counts' gifts(especially if they're expensive) and having to lie about "I've been wanting one of these" or "Exactly the one I was thinking of". I appreciate the act of giving on its own, but it puts a lot of pressure on the recipient sometimes.

These instances are rather few and far between luckily, but just about every year I open up something and have to remember that no one has to know I don't have any use for an answering machine(having no home phone) or whatever the issues are with the gift.