NationStates Jolt Archive

We've all received them, gifts that show a profound lack of thought and consideration, those gifts that make us realize that getting no gift at all would be better. We've also gotten gifts that epitomize perfection, the one gift that could not be improved on.

I got the best gifts I could ever have gotten on the Christmas of 1963- I needed bedroom furniture and I was becoming interested in photography - we were broke so I wasn't really expecting much. My father had different ideas - for three months before Christmas he disappeared after dinner and on weekends (and, for once, Mom wasn't upset about it). That Christmas morning there was a dresser and bedside table - those evenings and weekends had been spent making them. In one of the drawers in the dresser was a camera - an Argus C3 35mm, with all the attachments, it was second-hand, but it was in perfect condition - it's 45 years later and I still have the dresser and camera.

I think the worst gift I ever got was from my ex-husband, who, for every year of our (thankfully) short marriage got kitchen supplies for me, pie plates, spice cabinets, teflon cookware. It was pretty clear what he thought my function was.

So, NSers, what were the best gifts you ever got? The worst?

Best: A Ford Mustang GT. I loved that car, even had my first sexual experience in that car, at the drive in.

Worse: A headphone radio that looked like it came from the 1980s and broke like a week after I got it. It was from my grandparents...

So, NSers, what were the best gifts you ever got? The worst?The best? A gold necklace from my father back in 2004. The only gift he ever personally went out and bought for me that had little or no usefulness. He always guys me things that I can use, and need, but that time he got me something that I wanted. I was amazed.

The worst? When my gift got confused with my grandfather's. (We have the same first name.) I somehow wound up with a "World's Greatest Granddad" shirt and hat. After the first ten minutes or so of staring, I figured out what was wrong, and traded them around. But it was pretty bad for that time that I though the gift was actually mine. My reaction was...interesting.

About 5 years ago I was going through some pretty hard times, mostly due to circumstances beyond my control, and one of my daily costs was transport since I lived a little out of town.

So for my birthday, my friends all pitched in and bought me a freaking motor scooter!

It wasn't necessarily the scooter itself, it was my friends doing something that just blew me away in terms of caring and thought.

On another birthday, they gave me a DVD box filled with socks since I prefer walking around without shoes and so my socks always have holes in them, I thought it was a DVD player.

In terms of crappy gifts, I've had CDs that just made me think 'you either don't know me at all or you really just couldn't care'.

My best gift ever was a graduation/birthday present. I won't go into the personal significance Shake Hands With the Devil (http://www.randomhouse.ca/readmag/volume4issue2/excerpts/aboutshakehandswiththedevil.htm) holds for me, but I loaned my copy to a friend a few years back; she loaned it in turn and it never came back. I figured it was gone for good. Last month she presented me with an autographed copy.

I know I got some pretty terrible, thoughtless, gifts from my ex-wife, but most of them are long forgotten. One that sticks out was a book of ghost stories from the east coast. She's from there and had gone back to visit her family right before Christmas. I do like to read, but I'm pickier than that, and this was something I'm certain came straight from the airport gift shop. I'm pretty sure that was from our last Christmas together.

In terms of crappy gifts, I've had CDs that just made me think 'you either don't know me at all or you really just couldn't care'.
When I was in High School, an apparently well meaning aunt gave me Elton John's Love Songs. These days, I can appreciate a few songs off the disc ("Someone Saved My Life Tonight," for instance), but at the time I'd have sooner died than listen to adult contemporary.

Best: Eight piece drum kit

Worst: The Matrix Reloaded on DVD

When I was in High School, an apparently well meaning aunt gave me Elton John's Love Songs. These days, I can appreciate a few songs off the disc ("Someone Saved My Life Tonight," for instance), but at the time I'd have sooner died than listen to adult contemporary.

Someone once gave me a compilation of Now That's What I Call Music - possibly the least accurate album title ever - not only that but they'd opened it and burned the CD for themselves.

Basically saying they'd bought a CD for themselves, a CD that made me reconsider their personality, and then gave me the leftover remains.

In a good way, I admired their chutzpah, but seriously...

best: my gold necklace. My parents gave it to me the day I moved to college, with a note saying "any time you feel alone, think of this as a hug from your parents. We love you"

Worst: anything that was just cash or a check.

Best gift: money (ask dilbert's mom for details)
Worst gift: a tacky mug

Best: for my 18th birthday my friends had set up basically a town-wide game of truth-or-dare (and of course my only choice was dare...). Every time I finished a dare I got one of my gifts from them. Yeah, they were all homemade, but the amount of planning behind them and the meanings behind some were what made them so great.

Worst: my aunt clearly was giving no thought in her shopping that year and bought both my little sister and I Barbie stationary kits... I was 13....

We've all received them, gifts that show a profound lack of thought and consideration, those gifts that make us realize that getting no gift at all would be better. We've also gotten gifts that epitomize perfection, the one gift that could not be improved on.

I got the best gifts I could ever have gotten on the Christmas of 1963- I needed bedroom furniture and I was becoming interested in photography - we were broke so I wasn't really expecting much. My father had different ideas - for three months before Christmas he disappeared after dinner and on weekends (and, for once, Mom wasn't upset about it). That Christmas morning there was a dresser and bedside table - those evenings and weekends had been spent making them. In one of the drawers in the dresser was a camera - an Argus C3 35mm, with all the attachments, it was second-hand, but it was in perfect condition - it's 45 years later and I still have the dresser and camera.

I think the worst gift I ever got was from my ex-husband, who, for every year of our (thankfully) short marriage got kitchen supplies for me, pie plates, spice cabinets, teflon cookware. It was pretty clear what he thought my function was.

So, NSers, what were the best gifts you ever got? The worst?


Meh! Crimbo is a big pie of stinking dog poo as far as I'm concerned, all I really want and thus all I really get is music and books. This suits me fine, and what I give is money so that people can buy whatever it is they want.

Cept my kids of course who just tell me what they want, and if I can get that, that is what they get.

Hehehe, may she rest in peace, but my grandfather's oldest sister had a tendency, I guess because of how old she was, to give people (including me) the gifsts others gave her the Christmas before. One time she gave me the Maja soaps and creams my grandmother gave her one Christmas. She liked doing that too with the fruit cakes.

It was hilarious.


The best gift I got was this Christmas. I got myself a flat screen, HD telly.

Best gift ever was my first bicycle.

Worst was when I asked for something and my parents bought but gave it to my oldest sister instead. No doubt I was a bit of a whiny brat about it, but still it was dumb parenting.

Best gift: A small snooker table, i loved it to pieces, still have it at home in my room

Worst gift: Some small book from my Granny about what is good behaviour and what is bad behaviour, it is full of shit.

Random memory: One Xmas when i was little (maybe 3-4?) early in the morning i got up and opened all the presents (bearing in mind i have a family of 6 in total), my parents heard a noise and came down early in the morning, and had to re-wrap the presents in time, but they weren't sure which presents were for who, lolz.

Random memory: One Xmas when i was little (maybe 3-4?) early in the morning i got up and opened all the presents (bearing in mind i have a family of 6 in total), my parents heard a noise and came down early in the morning, and had to re-wrap the presents in time, but they weren't sure which presents were for who, lolz.

And you wonder why Granny got you the book?

Best: A beautiful guitar-shaped brooch from my Grandparents. They usually miss completely with presents (I get all sorts of crappy ornaments and make-up kits etc), but I love that brooch.

Worst: Someone always buys me a gold chain. In 23 years I've never ever ever liked/worn gold jewellery.

And you wonder why Granny got you the book?

hey fair enough if she got me the book within a few years of me doing this.
In fact she got me it last year for xmas, and i'm 20 for all that's holy. I mean really.
:tongue:

Funny, I really don't know. It seems like I cannot really remember presents at all. Curious..

I think there's been a definite increase in bad gifts ever since I'd declared a serious affinity towards turtles and elks. Somehow, people seem to think that as soon as you have a "favorite animal" like that, they may stop giving the gift any thought and lal and just buy the next best random crap featuring that animal. Yes, I've received some really cute Elk stuff (honorary fluffles go out to Fass for his incredibly soft Elk keychain and the Elk warning sign ice scraper), but I also received a hideous Elk mug, equally hideous Elk ornaments, and a mini plush Elk that plays an anooyingly loud, crappy version of Jingle bells when you rub its tummy..

And then there's Shecky, whom I love to pieces.

(honorary fluffles go out to Fass for his incredibly soft Elk keychain and the Elk warning sign ice scraper)

I had forgotten about those. I'm glad you liked them, hun. :)

And then there's Shecky, whom I love to pieces.

I demand an avatar change in this venue as well.

This year i gave out Roombas and Platinum $10 US coins :)

My MIL once gave me a gift certificate for legal services......for a divorce lawyer. That's just tacky. I gave it back to her and told her that she must have been confused when labeling the envelopes.

I think the best gift I've received of late was hubby taking off a few days so I could go to Philly. It wasn't really "for" anything, but it was a really nice thing to do.

Best: Cuban cigar.
Worst: There's been a lot. I think the one I hated most was the adult's bicycle helmet I got from my secret Santa in 1st grade.

Best gift: Nintendo 64 / Ender's Game

Worst gift: Christmas sweaters and fruit cakes; these have been getting more frequent.

Best: an air hockey table

No sentiment there. Just pure awesomeness.

Worst: some Jeremy Clarkson book.

Not for the item per se, more to do with how spectacularly a close friend of mine had managed to misread my test. A book filled with ideas on how to make our world worse will not put a smile on my face.

Someone once gave me a compilation of Now That's What I Call Music - possibly the least accurate album title ever - not only that but they'd opened it and burned the CD for themselves.

Basically saying they'd bought a CD for themselves, a CD that made me reconsider their personality, and then gave me the leftover remains.

In a good way, I admired their chutzpah, but seriously...
I just looked that series up on Wikipedia. Three 6 Mafia + Nickelback + Kelly Clarkson? That's like . . .
I can't even imagine a fitting analogy. That makes every terrible gift I've ever gotten seem wonderful in comparison. This, by the way, includes the time I got a crappy shaving kit which still had the little tag inside declaring that it was "Free with Purchase." At least I got a pair of beard trimmers and a nail clipper out of that deal.

Someone once gave me a compilation of Now That's What I Call Music - possibly the least accurate album title ever - not only that but they'd opened it and burned the CD for themselves.

Basically saying they'd bought a CD for themselves, a CD that made me reconsider their personality, and then gave me the leftover remains.

In a good way, I admired their chutzpah, but seriously...

I think we have a winner.

My MIL once gave me a gift certificate for legal services......for a divorce lawyer.

That is about the most bad mannered thing I have ever heard of anyone doing. Can you get gift certificates for putting her in a retirement home?

hey fair enough if she got me the book within a few years of me doing this.
In fact she got me it last year for xmas, and i'm 20 for all that's holy. I mean really.
:tongue:
Perhaps she's still trying to give you a hint?

That is about the most bad mannered thing I have ever heard of anyone doing. Can you get gift certificates for putting her in a retirement home?
Or for a proctologist?

Best Christmas gift as a kid? My dad built a Lionel train layout for my brother and me, and hide the tracking (nailed to two big pieces of plyboard he'd painted green and attacked "ear" window latches to to hold the track together) behind the couch. I noticed it when headed to the bathroom in the middle of the night -- the gleam of track. Mom and dad realized after I woke my bro up at 2am that no sleep was going to be had till we played with it, so at 2:30 they got up, put it all together, let us unwrap the train cars (the locomotive could have bee a deadly weapon, it weighed a ton!) and then dad put the smoke liquid in the smokestack and turned it on. My bro and I had a blast running in back and forth, blowing the horn.

Worst gift? Anytime I got clothes as a kid for Christmas. Yuck. Socks and underwear.

Best present as an adult? It wasn't for Christmas, but when I moved into a new place, I'd set aside money to buy my furniture at Ikea. Dad decided to come along because he hadn't been to Ikea in a while and wanted to pick up some lingonberry jam... or so he head. We get to the end where we've got everything piled up on the carts, and as I'm handing my charge card over, my dad says to me and the cashier, "No, I've got this one." :)

I think the worst gift I ever got was from my ex-husband, who, for every year of our (thankfully) short marriage got kitchen supplies for me, pie plates, spice cabinets, teflon cookware. It was pretty clear what he thought my function was.

Just a question. Do you enjoy cooking at all? I ask this because that is the sort of thing that I would give my mum and indeed what sometimes my father may give my mum. Not because she is the wife but because she enjoys cooking and looking through cookbooks and finding new dishes to try.

Just a question. Do you enjoy cooking at all? I ask this because that is the sort of thing that I would give my mum and indeed what sometimes my father may give my mum. Not because she is the wife but because she enjoys cooking and looking through cookbooks and finding new dishes to try.
My fiance knows I love cooking, and so he ASKED if I would like the Corningware set I had been lusting after. I said yes, please, and so our Christmas feast with my parents will be served in my nice, shiny white Corningware. :)

Cookery really should be a gift you get someone ONLY if you're sure they want it.

I had forgotten about those. I'm glad you liked them, hun. :)
I absolutely adore them - in fact, the ice scraper has always been mounted on the wall right above my desk, and it's been the envy of many, many of my friends and guests. It's just plain made of awesome.

Here follow some craptacular fotos of the wall & sign: (this is what you get when you gift someone a spectatcularly substandard digicam):

ETA: So they follow at the end of the post. Whatever.

I demand an avatar change in this venue as well.

I've an avatar here? Hmm. I've avatars disabled, so I guess I forgot.. will do, of course.

That is about the most bad mannered thing I have ever heard of anyone doing. Can you get gift certificates for putting her in a retirement home?

I'd rather take the high road. She gave me a gift certificate to a gym last year, I sent her a nice thank you note and then lost 20 pounds. She was pissed.

Worst Christmas Gift I got I get every year, some kind of men's cologne. Strong stuff that causes reactions similar to that of Tear Gas in your nearby victims!. I never wear it but I always pretend to be gracious for getting it. I have like 400 bottles of the stuff stockpiled somewhere.

I think the best one has to be my iPod...its not heart touching or anything, but Ive gotten the most use out of it, and its one of my few presents ive gotten that i continue to use on a Daily Basis 3 years after the fact, lol...

Idk how i survived without my entire music collection on me at all times....


Worst, was probably when my parents tried to get me Pokemon cards in the fourth grade...Cause they got the wrong ones, they werent from the game, but from like movie scenes...it seems pretty trivial now, but, that took some real effort to be excited about those then...

I absolutely adore them - in fact, the ice scraper has always been mounted on the wall right above my desk, and it's been the envy of many, many of my friends and guests. It's just plain made of awesome.

I am nothing if not happy at facilitating and enabling your rubbing of things in people's faces.

Here follow some craptacular fotos of the wall & sign: (this is what you get when you gift someone a spectacularly substandard digicam):

You weren't kidding about that last part. But, the prominence is noted.

[Katganistan]Perhaps she's still trying to give you a hint?
you know what? I'm feeling generous today i'm going to quote some things inside that book and share the sheer and absolutely terrible things it says;
actually i'll start a new thread about this.


Or for a proctologist?

Best Christmas gift as a kid? My dad built a Lionel train layout for my brother and me, and hide the tracking (nailed to two big pieces of plyboard he'd painted green and attacked "ear" window latches to to hold the track together) behind the couch. I noticed it when headed to the bathroom in the middle of the night -- the gleam of track. Mom and dad realized after I woke my bro up at 2am that no sleep was going to be had till we played with it, so at 2:30 they got up, put it all together, let us unwrap the train cars (the locomotive could have bee a deadly weapon, it weighed a ton!) and then dad put the smoke liquid in the smokestack and turned it on. My bro and I had a blast running in back and forth, blowing the horn.

Worst gift? Anytime I got clothes as a kid for Christmas. Yuck. Socks and underwear.

Best present as an adult? It wasn't for Christmas, but when I moved into a new place, I'd set aside money to buy my furniture at Ikea. Dad decided to come along because he hadn't been to Ikea in a while and wanted to pick up some lingonberry jam... or so he head. We get to the end where we've got everything piled up on the carts, and as I'm handing my charge card over, my dad says to me and the cashier, "No, I've got this one." :)
nice

Just a question. Do you enjoy cooking at all? I ask this because that is the sort of thing that I would give my mum and indeed what sometimes my father may give my mum. Not because she is the wife but because she enjoys cooking and looking through cookbooks and finding new dishes to try.

I love to cook, and I have been given cooking-related gifts by my kids - because I asked for them. But, that's the point - I aked for them. When a husband thinks that household necessities are appropriate gifts for his wife, there's a problem. Yes, they're useful, yes, I'll use them, no, they are not what I want to see in festive packaging under the tree on Christmas morning. I want to see Chanel # 5, diamonds (or a reasonable approximation), lingerie or something that indicates that our relationship is more than house-servant and master.

My parents spoiled me rotten so I got a lot of good presents. But the best one would be Alfie, a stuffed dog. He was a present from one of my great uncles. When I got him, aged 1, he was about as big as me. When I was about 15, I finally had him prised out of fingers. Inbetween, we were inseparable: I came back home for Christmas today, and looking round there is not a single photo of me in the house in which I am not clinging onto Alfie.

Runner-up: the complete Walt Whitman poetry from a girlfriend. I like Whitman and, at the time, I liked her. Reading some of his melancholic stuff from Leaves of Grass thus has rather happy memories for me.

Worst present: really bad sex.

Runner-up: a book by Boris Johnson. And no, it wasn't ironic.

I love to cook, and I have been given cooking-related gifts by my kids - because I asked for them. But, that's the point - I aked for them. When a husband thinks that household necessities are appropriate gifts for his wife, there's a problem. Yes, they're useful, yes, I'll use them, no, they are not what I want to see in festive packaging under the tree on Christmas morning. I want to see Chanel # 5, diamonds (or a reasonable approximation), lingerie or something that indicates that our relationship is more than house-servant and master.

So.....like......hooker and master?
:p

So.....like......hooker and master?
:p

well...Idk how you think these things work but......:p

My fiance knows I love cooking, and so he ASKED if I would like the Corningware set I had been lusting after. I said yes, please, and so our Christmas feast with my parents will be served in my nice, shiny white Corningware. :)

Cookery really should be a gift you get someone ONLY if you're sure they want it.

I personally would love to receive cooking items at christmas, but unfortunately I've never seen anyone give them to a man...

I think if I were married, and someone gave my wife cookware, within a week I would have it all in a secret corner, and would be bent over it whimpering "THEY TRIES TO TAKE THE PRECIOUS AWAY FROM US..."

I personally would love to receive cooking items at christmas, but unfortunately I've never seen anyone give them to a man...

I think if I were married, and someone gave my wife cookware, within a week I would have it all in a secret corner, and would be bent over it whimpering "THEY TRIES TO TAKE THE PRECIOUS AWAY FROM US..."

*hiding in the cellar that's flooded with water, clutching the electric cheese grater.*
I wouldn't mind taking cookware from other people and i'm a guy, i have to cook for myself so it would be a bonus.

The gift I gave that I think was the worst was to my mother, she specifically asked me for bath towels...

The gift I gave that I think was the worst was to my mother, she specifically asked me for bath towels...

and you gave her Kitchen towels right?
well i suppose you get some interesting comments after you're heading out of the shower eh?:tongue:

and you gave her Kitchen towels right?
well i suppose you get some interesting comments after you're heading out of the shower eh?:tongue:

No, I bought bath towels, about a dozen of them, they were big enugh to be beach towels but soft and fluffy.

No, I bought bath towels, about a dozen of them, they were big enugh to be beach towels but soft and fluffy.

so what's wrong with that?

so what's wrong with that?

I was gonna get her a $150 watch....

Best Gift:

Money

Worst Gift:

Fruit cake..

LOL!

/me sends Myedvedeya an All-Clad Panini Press.

I was gonna get her a $150 watch....
If she specifically WANTED towels, though....
Surprise her with the watch for her birthday!

If she specifically WANTED towels, though....
Surprise her with the watch for her birthday!

Only if my boss surpsies me with a raise of about $8,000 yearly now :(.

So.....like......hooker and master?
:p


That would be ... an improvement over what we had. Actually, all I wanted was some thought to go into it.

LOL!

/me sends Myedvedeya an All-Clad Panini Press.

/me cooks Katganistan a smoked salmon panini.

I've really been lost for my worst ever present, but I can assure all if I recieve that god awful "Irish Obama" single several kittens will die.

That would be ... an improvement over what we had. Actually, all I wanted was some thought to go into it.

No, I know what you meant. I was being facetious. Lingerie, jewelry, etc. is the same to me as <random kitchen appliance> it's thoughtless and more of a "hey I wrapped it" than a gift.

I like gifts that are personal. Although the practical is nice. My friends gave me a microwave for my birthday, I've been living without one for nearly a year since my kid broke mine......they wrapped it up with some microwave popcorn and a card that said "have a movie night on us". Sweet.

The worst gift i can remember getting is the clapper. I think it was meant as a joke present, but it just wasn't funny.

best gift: sonic screwdriver
worst gift: 18' scarf

Hehehe, may she rest in peace, but my grandfather's oldest sister had a tendency, I guess because of how old she was, to give people (including me) the gifsts others gave her the Christmas before. One time she gave me the Maja soaps and creams my grandmother gave her one Christmas. She liked doing that too with the fruit cakes.

So why not get her something you want, then get it back next year?

The best gift I ever got was one christmas after my parents separated. My brothers had been spending the year sucking up to my father and getting gifts of money off him, while I spent my time in court sueing him for for regular payments for myself and my brothers (my mom couldn't do it, as she would have had to carry the lawyers fees herself, while me being without income got them paid by the court. If it hadn't been for that legislation, we couldn't have taken him to court to begin with).
So when christmas came around, it was quite clear that he would spend thousands on the gitfts for my brothers, while I would be pointedly overlooked. My mother talked to me and offered to make it up and get me a bigger present herself, but I told her not to. We nearly got into a fight then.

On christmas eve, when we were all unpacking our presents I found she had in fact bought more for me... she had bought me a lexicon. I had always wanted one, but it had always been way to expensive to even consider. I had told her before that I would return anything extra she'd buy me and giver her the money back, but the lexicon... well, I've still got it.

I seriously can't remember a worst present...

I am nothing if not happy at facilitating and enabling your rubbing of things in people's faces.
Enabler!

... oh, and did I mention just how much I rubbed the fact that I got sent all those delicious sweets into people's faces? I'm still all aglow about it (it being both the candy and the rubbing into faces).

Enabler!

... oh, and did I mention just how much I rubbed the fact that I got sent all those delicious sweets into people's faces? I'm still all aglow about it (it being both the candy and the rubbing into faces).

Your avatar's making me cry.

I love to cook, and I have been given cooking-related gifts by my kids - because I asked for them. But, that's the point - I aked for them. When a husband thinks that household necessities are appropriate gifts for his wife, there's a problem. Yes, they're useful, yes, I'll use them, no, they are not what I want to see in festive packaging under the tree on Christmas morning. I want to see Chanel # 5, diamonds (or a reasonable approximation), lingerie or something that indicates that our relationship is more than house-servant and master.

Not asking for much are we? :tongue: But fair enough.

I believe my new best gift is the 4 pounds of fudge that TSI sent me.

Just now for my birthday (which was yesterday) I have received a broken music box and used cosmetics. This might be worse than the whole divorce lawyer gift certificate. It's certainly just as tacky methinks.

Just now for my birthday (which was yesterday) I have received a broken music box and used cosmetics. This might be worse than the whole divorce lawyer gift certificate. It's certainly just as tacky methinks.
who gave those to you?

Best gift, a box of condoms at a baby shower.

who gave those to you?

My mother. I don't understand it really. She's never in my life given me a gift that wasn't used.

She gives other people new things.......not me.

My mother. I don't understand it really. She's never in my life given me a gift that wasn't used.

She gives other people new things.......not me.
are you sure she doesnt have a mental illness?

how are you getting along with her these days? she didnt ever have to move in with you did she?

are you sure she doesnt have a mental illness?

how are you getting along with her these days? she didnt ever have to move in with you did she?

She does have mental illness, but she's on her meds, so she should be fine.

She's doing well, I got her into a program where they physically go to her house daily and make sure she takes her meds and they don't give her more than a dose a day so she can't overdose either.

Luckily I've found enough support through the community that she's not having to live with us.

She does have mental illness, but she's on her meds, so she should be fine.

She's doing well, I got her into a program where they physically go to her house daily and make sure she takes her meds and they don't give her more than a dose a day so she can't overdose either.

Luckily I've found enough support through the community that she's not having to live with us.
good. its too hard a thing to have to have a woman like that in your house when you have children to raise.

I'd like to change my "worst present" choice.

Worse Present: A coffee cup with the ingridents to make Hot Cocoa and a bag of mushed up chocolate candy, thus proving that one of my cousins and their parents know nothing about me.

good. its too hard a thing to have to have a woman like that in your house when you have children to raise.

As much as she wanted to move in, my husband made it clear it wasn't really ever an option. The options she had were to accept the help that was available so she could live at home or to move into a nursing home.

He's much better at this "healthy boundaries" thing than I am.

I'd like to change my "worst present" choice.

Worse Present: A coffee cup with the ingridents to make Hot Cocoa and a bag of mushed up chocolate candy, thus proving that one of my cousins and their parents know nothing about me.

:p I'm totally giving that to my MIL. The coffee cup has a dopey Bible verse on it and everything....about peace and joy so I'm filling it with Almond Joy's and Reese pieces.

Before I hear any B.S. about it, she gives me horrible presents. So, like I'm justified...or something.

As much as she wanted to move in, my husband made it clear it wasn't really ever an option. The options she had were to accept the help that was available so she could live at home or to move into a nursing home.

He's much better at this "healthy boundaries" thing than I am.
its good that someone is. (an excellent reason to have a spouse. that person can keep you from massive mistakes brought on by manipulation)

as long as there are alternatives you dont have to let her move in.

I love to cook, and I have been given cooking-related gifts by my kids - because I asked for them. But, that's the point - I aked for them. When a husband thinks that household necessities are appropriate gifts for his wife, there's a problem. Yes, they're useful, yes, I'll use them, no, they are not what I want to see in festive packaging under the tree on Christmas morning. I want to see Chanel # 5, diamonds (or a reasonable approximation), lingerie or something that indicates that our relationship is more than house-servant and master.

I'm going to have to interject here, I don't know anything about what your marriage was like, so I'm not going to comment on that. However, from my prespective, if I was married to a woman who loved cooking, I would buy her cookware, cook books, etc. Now that wouldn't be the only thing I'd buy her. I mean I'd also buy her jewelry, or take her out for a nice romantic dinner, but at the same time I would cater to my wife's interest.

It has nothing to do with me wanting her to be a servant and me a master, I'd just be buying her those things because it's her interest. By the same token, she'd be buying me stuff related to aircraft, Siamese cats, Paranormal, Paganism stuff like that.

:p I'm totally giving that to my MIL. The coffee cup has a dopey Bible verse on it and everything....about peace and joy so I'm filling it with Almond Joy's and Reese pieces.

Before I hear any B.S. about it, she gives me horrible presents. So, like I'm justified...or something.

Yea, this happens every year, Hell even my grandparents get me generic gifts, and on my mom side, we do secret Santa. When I get a name, I try to find out something about the person, I try to see what they like, what they need, and get them something that I hope that they enjoy.

However, the past few years, I've just received generic gifts, the only time I gotten anything that I'd actually like was when my parents brought them and put my grandparents name on it.

:p I'm totally giving that to my MIL. The coffee cup has a dopey Bible verse on it and everything....about peace and joy so I'm filling it with Almond Joy's and Reese pieces.

Before I hear any B.S. about it, she gives me horrible presents. So, like I'm justified...or something.

You should throw in a pamphlet about preventing diabetes.

Your avatar's making me cry.

But, but,... how?! She's the sweetest, cutest, and bestest thing ever!