Last summer my parents went on a cruise to Mexico. For some reason, they went on an elaborate hunt for the perfect hat for DH, who has a very large head. But they were hell-bent on finding him the perfect hat in Puerto Vallarta or where ever, that actually fit. They made a really big deal about it and then sent it in a box of gifts they had bought for us on the cruise.

The box comes and the hat not only is hideous and not anything DH would ever wear, it's also totally smushed. My dad was asking daily if we had gotten the gifts so finally I said yes we had, thank you so much. "What about the hat? Did he like the hat? Does the hat fit? I spent an hour packing it just right so it wouldn't get smashed. How does he like it? Isn't it a great hat?" I knew he'd be so hurt if I told him the truth so I said it got a little bent in shipping but yes he likes the hat and thank you so much. He was disappointed and the next three or four times I talked to my dad he still asked about the hat and I swore DH liked it and thank you again.

Fast forward about 6 months, my dad is visiting. My 3-year-old has two toy chests overflowing with toys, one of which I had stashed the hat at the very bottom of months before. While my dad is in the living room she disappears for a few minutes and then comes back with...the completely mangled hat. Of ALL THINGS to bring from her toy box. My dad was borderline aghast and I had to try to fumble through some explanation. It was horrible but also hilarious. He still will mention the hat and just shake his head.

By the way, also in that box of cruise gifts: a Cabo t-shirt for me in size XXL (I'm definitely not an XXL), and two dark-chocolate salmons (as in, solid blocks of chocolate shaped like fish), each weighing like a pound, that clearly had been sitting at my parents' house for an untold length of time.

One year my DH bought me a blender and I bought him a drill. If we were being entirely honest about our skill sets, we should have swapped gifts.

One year, either when I was in high school or early college years, my mom got me a Da Vinci Code jigsaw puzzle. I mean, I had read the book -- I read a lot of books, it wasn't a particular favorite or anything. It was so weird and I was so mad because it felt like she put zero thought into it.


Another year my little brother requested "funny shirts." He was probably like, 15 or 16, so I was in my early 20s. I bought him a bunch of t-shirts with super-bawdy, totally inappropriate stuff on them (probably from Abercombie or maybe even Spencer's)...I mean, I thought they were funny, but I didn't really think it through. So not only did he have to open those in front of everyone on Christmas morning, he also came out a couple years later. I'm embarrassed about those shirts to this day!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When my daughter was 7 she, in typical little girl fashion, asked Santa for a pony. This got back to my husband's aunt, who is wealthy, loves horses, and has no kids of her own, so she bought her a freakin' pony! Thankfully all of my other kids were too young to understand that their sibling was just gifted a real live animal and all the got were some action figures and clothes.

We lived in Arlington at the time and the pony was in Middleburg on one of the properties the aunt owns. She also gifted her riding lessons, so every weekend for a year I had to make the trek from Arlington to Middleburg for lessons. My daughter decided she liked horses but not riding them (thank god!) so the lessons stopped and we started visiting twice per month instead. When we moved out of Arlington and into Loudoun we were able to visit a few times per week and she started taking lessons again because all of her friends at her new school did.

When my daughter was about 14 and my next oldest was 10, he finally asked why DD had a horse and no one else did. I asked him if he wanted a horse and he said no, but he'd like a cow. "Do you think Aunt M will buy me a cow if I put it on my Santa list?" I had to call her up and remind her about the rule I put in place after the pony incident that she was to buy NO more animals no matter what just in case because a cow? No. Just no!

This is crazy! Did the aunt take care of boarding and maintenance expenses or were you on the hook for that? I’d be annoyed if someone got my kid a fish without checking. A pony or a cow? There are no words. Maybe this year have one of your kids put a Tesla or a ski vacation on their list.

Yes, all expenses were covered (and are still covered) by the aunt. That daughter is now 18 and off at college and we've received no other animal gifts from her.

It's kinda fantastic that she got your dd a horse. I would have wanted that cow!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When my daughter was 7 she, in typical little girl fashion, asked Santa for a pony. This got back to my husband's aunt, who is wealthy, loves horses, and has no kids of her own, so she bought her a freakin' pony! Thankfully all of my other kids were too young to understand that their sibling was just gifted a real live animal and all the got were some action figures and clothes.

We lived in Arlington at the time and the pony was in Middleburg on one of the properties the aunt owns. She also gifted her riding lessons, so every weekend for a year I had to make the trek from Arlington to Middleburg for lessons. My daughter decided she liked horses but not riding them (thank god!) so the lessons stopped and we started visiting twice per month instead. When we moved out of Arlington and into Loudoun we were able to visit a few times per week and she started taking lessons again because all of her friends at her new school did.

When my daughter was about 14 and my next oldest was 10, he finally asked why DD had a horse and no one else did. I asked him if he wanted a horse and he said no, but he'd like a cow. "Do you think Aunt M will buy me a cow if I put it on my Santa list?" I had to call her up and remind her about the rule I put in place after the pony incident that she was to buy NO more animals no matter what just in case because a cow? No. Just no!

This is crazy! Did the aunt take care of boarding and maintenance expenses or were you on the hook for that? I’d be annoyed if someone got my kid a fish without checking. A pony or a cow? There are no words. Maybe this year have one of your kids put a Tesla or a ski vacation on their list.

Yes, all expenses were covered (and are still covered) by the aunt. That daughter is now 18 and off at college and we've received no other animal gifts from her.

This whole forum made me crack up. There are so many examples OP, it is hard to narrow down. I'll try two memorable ones:

1. My mom had 8 kids so that meant some years she had just delivered a baby and couldn't shop. One year my dad bought my sister and I matching cheap dolls from Walgreens with gray hair. They were the ugliest things you've ever seen. Who would put gray hair on a doll?

2. My MIL didn't like me. One year I had just delivered a baby and she gave me the ugliest robe one could possibly find that was about 10 sizes too big. I had just had a c-section and almost busted my stitches laughing about it.

And there were a million other examples. As a kid, I had the meanest nun ever who seemed like a Nazi. She said they didn't have enough food to eat. So, I gave her a pack of bacon because she was a pig. The whole class and even the nun laughed for a good 5 minutes.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ohhh! I have the worst one!

THE SEVEN CHINESE BROTHERS book. So we could "learn about our heritage" (half Asian).

Ughhhh...

Look on the bright side, it could have been Tikki Tikki Tembo or Ping the Duck, which are equally awful.

What’s wrong with these books? It’s obnoxious to be told you can “learn about your heritage” but are the books bad in themselves?

Have you read them? They are incredibly racist and full of the worst stereotypes about Asian people.

I'm not even Asian and I found them cringe-worthy.

Anonymous wrote:When my daughter was 7 she, in typical little girl fashion, asked Santa for a pony. This got back to my husband's aunt, who is wealthy, loves horses, and has no kids of her own, so she bought her a freakin' pony! Thankfully all of my other kids were too young to understand that their sibling was just gifted a real live animal and all the got were some action figures and clothes.

We lived in Arlington at the time and the pony was in Middleburg on one of the properties the aunt owns. She also gifted her riding lessons, so every weekend for a year I had to make the trek from Arlington to Middleburg for lessons. My daughter decided she liked horses but not riding them (thank god!) so the lessons stopped and we started visiting twice per month instead. When we moved out of Arlington and into Loudoun we were able to visit a few times per week and she started taking lessons again because all of her friends at her new school did.

When my daughter was about 14 and my next oldest was 10, he finally asked why DD had a horse and no one else did. I asked him if he wanted a horse and he said no, but he'd like a cow. "Do you think Aunt M will buy me a cow if I put it on my Santa list?" I had to call her up and remind her about the rule I put in place after the pony incident that she was to buy NO more animals no matter what just in case because a cow? No. Just no!

This is crazy! Did the aunt take care of boarding and maintenance expenses or were you on the hook for that? I’d be annoyed if someone got my kid a fish without checking. A pony or a cow? There are no words. Maybe this year have one of your kids put a Tesla or a ski vacation on their list.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ohhh! I have the worst one!

THE SEVEN CHINESE BROTHERS book. So we could "learn about our heritage" (half Asian).

Ughhhh...

Look on the bright side, it could have been Tikki Tikki Tembo or Ping the Duck, which are equally awful.

What’s wrong with these books? It’s obnoxious to be told you can “learn about your heritage” but are the books bad in themselves?

Have you read them? They are incredibly racist and full of the worst stereotypes about Asian people.

Anonymous wrote:When my daughter was 7 she, in typical little girl fashion, asked Santa for a pony. This got back to my husband's aunt, who is wealthy, loves horses, and has no kids of her own, so she bought her a freakin' pony! Thankfully all of my other kids were too young to understand that their sibling was just gifted a real live animal and all the got were some action figures and clothes.

We lived in Arlington at the time and the pony was in Middleburg on one of the properties the aunt owns. She also gifted her riding lessons, so every weekend for a year I had to make the trek from Arlington to Middleburg for lessons. My daughter decided she liked horses but not riding them (thank god!) so the lessons stopped and we started visiting twice per month instead. When we moved out of Arlington and into Loudoun we were able to visit a few times per week and she started taking lessons again because all of her friends at her new school did.

When my daughter was about 14 and my next oldest was 10, he finally asked why DD had a horse and no one else did. I asked him if he wanted a horse and he said no, but he'd like a cow. "Do you think Aunt M will buy me a cow if I put it on my Santa list?" I had to call her up and remind her about the rule I put in place after the pony incident that she was to buy NO more animals no matter what just in case because a cow? No. Just no!

Lol. At least you can't fault the aunt for her generosity. That is an amazing gift ... just not at all practical for anyone who isn't already committed to a horsey lifestyle.

(Do you eat meat? Your kids should put a cow share from a local farm on their Santa list ... )

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm a high school teacher. One year, a senior was telling me that his mom really liked me at conferences, and had gotten me a Christmas gift that was "kind of extravagant, but you'll like it."

The last day of class before break began, his mom arrived in my classroom with two giant shopping bags full of Disney character plush toys, all new with tags. There was a big Cheshire Cat, the cat from Cinderella, the dogs from Lady and the Tramp, and all the princesses. They were the big ones, not minis.

I have no idea why she/they thought I was into Disney, but they spent quite a bit of money on these things, and I ended up lining them up along the window sills in the classroom.

I am not a Disney type person, I don't think. I am serious and wear dark colors. The student was an 18 year old hockey playing rugged type, and I doubt the gift was due to his input, but..who knows? It was one of the most lavish gifts I've ever gotten from a student, but...I still wonder why.

I have an 18 yr old "hockey playing rugged type" son. I can guess, as this kind of happens to me with him sometimes. Once, during class, you make some offhand comment about Disney, or stuffed animals, or princesses...something that you can't even remember but he took note of for some reason. He repeats it to Mom with way more emphasis and importance than it ever had for you, and you end up completely puzzled by gift. Because he's actually listening to you, but not quite hearing you.

So what you're saying is... he's being a man?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ohhh! I have the worst one!

THE SEVEN CHINESE BROTHERS book. So we could "learn about our heritage" (half Asian).

Ughhhh...

Look on the bright side, it could have been Tikki Tikki Tembo or Ping the Duck, which are equally awful.

What’s wrong with these books? It’s obnoxious to be told you can “learn about your heritage” but are the books bad in themselves?

When my daughter was 7 she, in typical little girl fashion, asked Santa for a pony. This got back to my husband's aunt, who is wealthy, loves horses, and has no kids of her own, so she bought her a freakin' pony! Thankfully all of my other kids were too young to understand that their sibling was just gifted a real live animal and all the got were some action figures and clothes.

We lived in Arlington at the time and the pony was in Middleburg on one of the properties the aunt owns. She also gifted her riding lessons, so every weekend for a year I had to make the trek from Arlington to Middleburg for lessons. My daughter decided she liked horses but not riding them (thank god!) so the lessons stopped and we started visiting twice per month instead. When we moved out of Arlington and into Loudoun we were able to visit a few times per week and she started taking lessons again because all of her friends at her new school did.

When my daughter was about 14 and my next oldest was 10, he finally asked why DD had a horse and no one else did. I asked him if he wanted a horse and he said no, but he'd like a cow. "Do you think Aunt M will buy me a cow if I put it on my Santa list?" I had to call her up and remind her about the rule I put in place after the pony incident that she was to buy NO more animals no matter what just in case because a cow? No. Just no!

Anonymous wrote:I'm a high school teacher. One year, a senior was telling me that his mom really liked me at conferences, and had gotten me a Christmas gift that was "kind of extravagant, but you'll like it."

The last day of class before break began, his mom arrived in my classroom with two giant shopping bags full of Disney character plush toys, all new with tags. There was a big Cheshire Cat, the cat from Cinderella, the dogs from Lady and the Tramp, and all the princesses. They were the big ones, not minis.

I have no idea why she/they thought I was into Disney, but they spent quite a bit of money on these things, and I ended up lining them up along the window sills in the classroom.

I am not a Disney type person, I don't think. I am serious and wear dark colors. The student was an 18 year old hockey playing rugged type, and I doubt the gift was due to his input, but..who knows? It was one of the most lavish gifts I've ever gotten from a student, but...I still wonder why.

I have an 18 yr old "hockey playing rugged type" son. I can guess, as this kind of happens to me with him sometimes. Once, during class, you make some offhand comment about Disney, or stuffed animals, or princesses...something that you can't even remember but he took note of for some reason. He repeats it to Mom with way more emphasis and importance than it ever had for you, and you end up completely puzzled by gift. Because he's actually listening to you, but not quite hearing you.

Anonymous wrote:Several years in a row, starting when I was 20 and my sister was 16, she would write "I can't believe how old you are!" in her card to me, which at the time I found very hurtful. But we're both in our 50s now and I bet she has forgotten it.