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Throughout my adult life, I've received very cheap or tacky presents from family members, my parents included. For you to get the gist of it, examples of gifts I'd gotten in recent years would be a set of coat hangers, coasters, a crappy ceramic doorstop, etc. Yeah my siblings & parents are not rich by any means, but c'mon! I tried not to let it get to me, but there were times I did resent my generosity not being reciprocated. Yesterday, I got a car visor/kleenex holder from my mother. (sigh)

Needless to say, I had not been excited in anticipation of Xmas gifts for many years when it came to family. The only decent present I had to look forward to, would be from my girlfriend.

However, this post is actually a rave. My niece, who's a college student with a part-time job at a carwash, surprised me with something that makes up for everything. She had been texting me the whole previous week to make sure I'd be at the family event, so I knew something was up. Finally when her gift was passed to me, I noticed she was pretty eager in watching me open the box. To my complete shock, it turned out to be this (I just googled):

http://www.footballfanatics.com/MLB_St_ ... _Black_Red

Let me tell you, this thing is awesome, & it sure looks/feels alot more expensive than the actual price.My emotions were mixed, being torn knowing she couldn't really afford this, but I was so touched that she got this for me. She's just about my most favorite people in this world, which makes this that much more special to me. After I bawled her out a bit for spending money, I of course told her this was my favorite gift of all-time.

Daggummit, I already knew I'm loved as an uncle, but wow.....
This Christmas was a special day for me.

My neices are much, much younger (around 4-7 years old) but they are the only thing that makes christmas (or any holiday) something less than an obligation.

My Mom, the queen of the awful gift came through yesterday with a thermometer, an alarm clock, and a hand held football game that I'm sure would have been totally rad in 1982. Yesterday, was unquestionably the most depressing day of my life.

The little kids are the only things that matter. You got a gift, it is meaningless. The little kids are why we gather.

IMADreamer wrote:My Mom, the queen of the awful gift came through yesterday with a thermometer, an alarm clock, and a hand held football game that I'm sure would have been totally rad in 1982. Yesterday, was unquestionably the most depressing day of my life.

If it was this:



I would have been a very happy person on Christmas Day.

jim wrote:

IMADreamer wrote:My Mom, the queen of the awful gift came through yesterday with a thermometer, an alarm clock, and a hand held football game that I'm sure would have been totally rad in 1982. Yesterday, was unquestionably the most depressing day of my life.

If it was this:



I would have been a very happy person on Christmas Day.

I'm pretty sure I posted that before. I played the [expletive] out of that game when I was a kid.

This whole Christmas is for the kids thing is [expletive]. Kids are spoiled freaking rotten in general in this country in this era.

I gave my father in law a Leatherman tool, not because he can't afford one, because it's a really handy thing that will be nice to have in his pocket when he's working at the farm.

I gave my wife a new iron. It will be handy when she is ironing my shirts.

My wife gave me some fancy jeans that she wants me to wear.

Instead of re-gifting them, we tried to use Darden restaurants group gift card. If it were a nice restaurant, I don't mind a long dinner, but 2 hours at an Olive Garden was not fun. They weren't even busy, just inept. With us falling asleep at the table, just wanting to get out of there - the manager comped our dinner. Now we are still stuck with the gift card.

lukethedrifter wrote:My wife gave me some fancy jeans that she wants me to wear.

$200 jeans?

My folks got me this. It's the robot pencil sharpener of kitchen utensils.