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.

[sandpanther.livejournal.com]

Yup. I got ceramic range top cleaner. Which, while being kind of a weird present, is also a really useful one since 1) I have a ceramic range that requires being cleaned with this type of cleaner, and 2) the stuff is kind of pricey.

I'm giving a friend of mine a Hello Kitty waffle maker, though I really don't think that ranks with the lightbulb. After all, you can use the Hello Kitty waffle maker to make Hello Kitty shaped taiyaki!