by piglover

Created on: July 04, 2009

I used to think that there really wasn't a bad gift because a gift was just that-a gift. It was something I didn't have to pay for or go out and look for myself. Even if it wasn't exactly what I would have chosen for myself, someone took the time to choose it. Someone pulled money from a personal cache and handed it across some busy retail counter somewhere just for me. My brothers and sisters and I were raised under the "It's the thought" policy. No matter what, you smile and say thank you.

When we got older, we were expected to make at least one positive comment about each gift. We could choose whichever one seemed to fit the occasion-"I wanted one of these", " I saw this in the store", "This will go with my new jeans", "I love this color". It never seemed to be a problem in life for me. I either really did just accept the gift and make the best of it or I gave the gift to a sibling who didn't find it as weird as I did. The important thing was always making absolutely sure that the gift giver was made to feel like a hero no matter what.

As I grew up and began to give gifts myself, I remembered some of the gifts that just didn't make it for me. I tried to be extra careful when buying a gift for someone. I really tried to give that person some thought and choose a gift that just seemed to fit. Sometimes, the experience was mind boggling and taught me that I really didn't know as much about certain people as I thought I did. Nothing points that out as quick as not being able to find something that would fit someone's personality.

Since I did put so much effort into some gifts, I chose to stay out of some gift giving experiences. The most important gift giving exchange to avoid was the "Secret Santa" nightmare at work. If one should choose to participate, there were a number of rules to follow. You had to buy one smaller gift for the person you had chosen and leave it in that person's decorated bag in the employee lounge. This part of the experience was to happen not once, but four times. You were to leave such a gift on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.

On Friday, you were to leave the biggest, most expensive gift in the person's bag. The first four were to be under $5.00 each. The last gift was to be about $20.00. Gifts were exchanged in the morning. On Friday afternoon before everyone left, the secret Santas were revealed to each other. There was usually much praise about wonderful, clever gifts.

Nothing made me so glad

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