Gifts That Make You Go "Hmm"

[roseembolism]

Or rather, gifts that make you question the sanity of the giver.

We've survived another Christmas with the relatives, and it was pretty good. The food was great, starting with a tri-tip roast perfectly seasoned by my mother, ending with two pumpkin pies made by me.

And then there were the gifts:

• Mom to RXM and Me: beautiful hand-thrown platters and bowls by a well-known local artist


• RXM to me- IPod Covers and the first book in the Dresden Files


• Me to RXM: The last two books in the Series of Unfortunate Events series, and a suede-bound sketchpad/notebook combo.


• My sister and brother and law to me: a light bulb.

...a light bulb.

Admittedly, it's a very nice light bulb- it's one of those spiral Ecobulbs...it was nicely wrapped...and...umm...they [U]are[/U] ecological engineers...and...and...

OK, it bites. I have no idea WHAT those two were thinking of. I'm not even angry- I just find it so weird and out there, I have to laugh.

So has anyone else out there received any oddball gifts?

Comments

[ghilledhu.livejournal.com]

You would probably enjoy the annual Malibu Gift Exchange. It's a tradition among the people of the Malibu mailing list (a NY-local group of SF writers, editors, and fans, who exchange emails and meet once a week at the Malibu Diner), and it involves people taking the weirdest and most useless gifts, wrapping them anonymously and dropping them into a grab bag.

In years past I have dropped in things like the undecipherable beaded monstrosity my sister gave me, a pair of socks with giant googly-eyed birds on them, and sushi-shaped soap. I have received things like a magnetic dress-up Jesus set and (once) a perfectly nice artsy date book.

Other treasures have included: a remote control to nothing, a plastic baseball jersey sculpture, and one of those t-shirts with a bikini-clad torso on it (a guy wound up with that one, which makes it even funnier).

Your light bulb would fit right in.

[roseembolism.livejournal.com]

The local Toastmaster's group does something similar with that in their annual "White Elephant Exchange" that they hold at my mother's house. It's a good excuse to get rid of those gifts that you a) don't know what to do with, and b)don't feel right about just tossing away.

Naturally for this years party, when when we showed up with our white elephants, we found out that the party was now collecting gifts for charity. My absent-minded mother strikes again. ;'/