Worst Christmas gift you've ever recieved??

**Sara Noel** · 12-28-2006, 08:13 AM

Your thoughts?
http://amommystory.blogspot.com/2006...orst-2006.html

**JustJoy** · 12-28-2006, 08:26 AM

I can soooo relate to that article. I think every family has at least one of these people

When I was growing up it was my great aunt. I would dread getting gifts from her for my b-day & Christmas. Now it's my SIL. For the past 10+ yrs at Christmas every family member usually gets a bag of miss matched re-gifted items from her. This year was the best so far

Along with all the other 'stuff' in my gift bag, she put in a wine lover's gift set. Now this would be fine and dandy if I was still drinking, but my WHOLE family knows (including her) that I quit nearly 8 months ago

**autumnlynn** · 12-28-2006, 08:35 AM

I can relate to that article, too. This year a family member got me a Barbie doll!! It was not a collector's item. It was a Barbie that came with a toy bracelet for the recepient to wear as well as a couple of tiny hair barettes, a plastic key chain, a ponytail holder with plastic sequined balls on the ends and a tiny little note pad. When I opened it I said, "Oh, I think I got one of the kid's gifts". Then I was told it was for me! I found that very odd!!

**Katybird** · 12-28-2006, 09:09 AM

I guess I am seeing this from a different perspective. I think that her great aunt is probably elderly and I might guess living on a fixed income and no doubt from a different generation of gift giving. I would bet that she gives what she can afford and that they are given in the spirit of giving. I think that it is sad that the blog writer is so mean about the gifts. I wonder if next year she does not receive anything from her great aunt if she will complain that she did not buy for her.

I received some rather odd Christmas gifts from my Grandmother back when she gave gifts but I always knew that she had taken the time to walk (she did not drive, so she and a neighbor took their rolling grocery carriers and walked to the local shopping center to Christmas shop) and bought the things that she and my Grandfather could afford. I might not have needed or wanted the Amazing Incredible hot dog cooker or the plastic state doll of Texas but she had picked them out and gave them with love so I appreciated them and received them with a smile and a hug.

**Edelweiss** · 12-28-2006, 12:13 PM

While I agree that "it's the thought that counts," I think that the problem identified in the article is that Aunt Dot is putting little or no thought into these gifts. Seriously, powdered milk? That's not frugal, that's thoughtless. And if someone told me year after year that she didn't like nutcrackers, I wouldn't buy her one, no matter how cheap it was. I'm all for a frugal approach to gift giving, but it's important to put some effort into it as well. After all, what's the point of giving someone a gift if it's not meaningful?

**halloweenfreak** · 12-28-2006, 12:48 PM

oh my gosh, i laughed till i was nearly in tears. my father got a bag of bird seed one year. he opened the gift bag and quietly closed it back again. when we asked what he got on the way home he said "i dont want no bird seed." its now a running gag around our house. us kids always get together and ask whos buying the birdseed this year.

now if i got a gift bag of powdered milk or cashews i would be tickled pink, as i can use both. the fact that they were outdated just makes you wonder 'why'??

**mnmarty03** · 12-28-2006, 03:19 PM

not that i'm making excuses for the woman, but maybe she just didn't know they were outdated. Maybe she just thought "those are really cheap and i can afford it" and didn't think to look at the date it expires?

Every year my step-dad's mom (my step-grandma) gives each family member a clothes box full of odds and ends...this year it had an ear warmer w/my high school logo on it, a tiny bag of skittles, a variety puzzle book, and a pad of lined paper. Instead of complaining or focusing on the fact that none of these are things I really wanted..I focus on the fact that she took the time to put it together for me, and that each item can and will be used for me. For family members who get items in their boxes that they can't use, we swap or give it to someone else when the my step-grandma isn't around. It doesn't matter that we can't really use the items, it matters that she gave them to us.

I can understand how frustrating it would be to get something you've repeatedly said you don't like or want though.

**pkellyc** · 12-28-2006, 03:33 PM

I think the aunt might be elderly myself. My own mil bought me a $20 picture puzzle book that she heard I liked. ??? From whom is what I would like to know. I guess it will remain a mystery forever. The upside was the $150 check that was attached to it. I just thought it was funny. She said she searched high and low for one and I was touched by that fact.

I also recieved a brillo pad holder from an elderly woman who lives on S.S.. She forgot that she gave me one last year.

**Sari** · 12-28-2006, 04:23 PM

I think that whether or not the Aunt in the article is elderly, we all know someone who ONLY buys something because it's cheap, without thought of how well it fits the recipient.

**bumplett** · 12-28-2006, 06:20 PM

wow ~ very odd ~ I'm thinking that the aunt is not elderly, but maybe has a mental issue (not that it's a bad thing) because she dates these 'odd' gifts back to when she was a child ~ I think it was very thoughtful of the aunt - a bit odd, yes, but still thoughtful --

I wonder how her aunt would feel if she ever read the blogs? I'm sure if she knew that she was the subject of terrible gifts each year, she may choose to SAVE her money & not buy anything at all !

**kaykwilts** · 12-28-2006, 07:59 PM

Not really a bad gift but some gifts that are just going to clutter my house.

**Darlene** · 12-28-2006, 08:33 PM

On the first day of Christmas my true loved one gave to me a partridge to put in my pear tree...

PS...Don't choke laughing Sara

**geckoace** · 12-28-2006, 10:41 PM

i just read the article and followed the link to last years article and it seems that the problem is not that this is a kindly old lady doing the best she can. she seems a little mean spirited if you go to last years blog. i do wonder if she does it just because she can. i have a realtive who behaves that way and no one ever calls her on it so it continues holiday after holiday of expired sausauge links and used car wash. and i dont think its a matter of what she could afford she is filling bags full of this stuff she could just as easily if not easier buy one heartfelt gift at the dollar store for each person.

**Lori Biever-Launder** · 12-29-2006, 02:18 AM

My husband's late grandmother gave many gifts that were, even then, "odd": a candy dispenser shaped like a bird with an open mouth (candy poured out of the mouth), among other things. It was a running joke with us. Guess what? Now that she's gone, it's one of the endearing things we remember about her. I would give anything to get just one more bird candy dispenser from her.

**Katybird** · 12-29-2006, 10:26 AM

I followed geckoace's lead and went back and read last year's day after Christmas blog and I have a new thought on good old Aunt Dot. I now think that she is a mean old bat, I tried to give her the benefit of the doubt but after reading how she tormented and teased the bloggers toddler daughter, I think she gives those kind of gifts to be mean spirited. If you want to see how she behaved last year, here is a link to the blog...

http://amommystory.blogspot.com/2005...y_archive.html