What's the worst Xmas gift you ever got?

Time for a little light humor, so let's hear about the worst gifts ever. For myself, it's probably the trailer hitch ornament. A pig in a leather jacket riding a motorcycle. The whole thing's about a foot long and plugs into a trailer hitch receiver. When you put on your brakes, the "hog on a Hog" lights up and does a wheelie.

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dscott8 wrote:Next!

I was about eight, and wanted a science kit with a microscope. In the week leading up to Christmas, I very carefully peeked inside the wrapping and found I was indeed getting what I most wanted.

Come Christmas Morning, I was confident and bragging about my new Microscope as I unwrapped the package -- only to find that Santa had changed my Microscope and Science Kit into a common, ordinary BRICK!

I was absolutely devastated, and to this day, nearly sixty years later, I will NOT peek at my presents under the tree.

(The microscope and other components of the Science Kit were wrapped separately, so I did eventually get the Microscope and kit, but I've never forgotten that brick -- which was later painted gold and given to my sister for her birthday .)

dscott8 wrote:Time for a little light humor, so let's hear about the worst gifts ever. For myself, it's probably the trailer hitch ornament. A pig in a leather jacket riding a motorcycle. The whole thing's about a foot long and plugs into a trailer hitch receiver. When you put on your brakes, the "hog on a Hog" lights up and does a wheelie.

Next!

Not humorous but this is my worst Christmas gift and Walt Disney made that Christmas not so bad for us children. See below.

Not humorous but I remember because I lived through this event that occurred on just after midnight on Christmas Eve in 1955.

The 1955 Sutter County flooding resulted in 38 deaths, 160 hospitalized, 3,227 injuries, 23,000 forced from their homes, 467 homes destroyed, 5,745 homes damaged, 185 farm buildings destroyed, and another 2,770 farm buildings damaged.

Total damage to private and public property was estimated at about $65 million out of total assessed property of $200 million.

If one-third of the total assessed value of Sutter County properties were damaged in the same manner today, the value would be in excess of $2.5 billion.

Following the Yuba City flood on Christmas Eve, 1955, Walt Disney flew the Mouseketeers into town and threw a Christmas Party for the kids of Yuba City in the high school gym. I was five years old.


But I think the worst gift at all was years later receiving a portable typewriter. 50 yeas later I still have that typewriter and still use it though finding replacement ribbon is sometimes hard.

I can't rightly think of a "worst" Xmas gift that I received that stands out enough to remember.

I can think of a worst Xmas gift I caused someone to get, though.

A "fully functional" inflatable ewe. At the staff Xmas party. Given by our female supervisor to a male co-worker who made way too many crude jokes about his supposed ovine preferences. I never thought she'd take my suggested remedy seriously. It worked, though. Nary a sheep joke by him again.

Beyond the school clothes we all got as kids, I don't ever recall getting a bad gift. The ones that may be close to that turned out to be not so bad in some capacity.

My parents allowed us five things for Christmas. Two of them had to be thoughtful gifts for someone else. One had to be a thoughtful gift for yourself. This is a tradition handed down from my mother's grand parents that she insisted she carry on.

Well, one particular year I just couldn't displace the five main things I wanted for myself. So I put my order in to the chagrin of my parents. So they ended up picking only two of the things I wanted on my list. And not the two I would have picked. But that was a lesson to me. Well, what my mom picked as a thoughtful gift to me was a Charles Schultz special edition of "Peanuts." It was a shrink wrapped 16 by 20 inch full-on amazing, colored, high glossy pages special hardcover edition. The thing weighed a ton in my little hands. I was so disappointed that that thing supplanted one of the things on my list. My other brothers and sisters received a version as well. The book is amazing. I never even opened mine. I am offered over seven grand for it now. I'll never sell or open it. So much for the spoiled kid in me.

Then there was a time in school, seventh grade where the teacher had us draw names to exchange gifts. In those days you were not supposed to tell whose name you chose. But everyone did anyways. So it was accepted. This one lovely girl and I got lucky enough to choose each other's name. Well, at least I considered myself to be lucky because I liked her but didn't have the guts to actually tell her. We sat beside each other in class.

Well, I went all out and got her a lovely diamond necklace. About two hundred dollars of well earned money of a thirteen yr old. It was a big deal for me. All of my five sisters went along with, to help me pick it out. I remember that day so vividly. I was proudly strutting around the mall in hunt for the perfect treasure to betroth my love.

Come a week or so later, the last day of school before Christmas vacation, was, of course, the Christmas party and gift exchange day. I couldn't wait for her to open her gift. She was so pretty I wanted to jump her bones. And I thought she'd let me too after she saw that necklace.

The moment of truth. She unraveled her gift after all of the excitement of other people receiving some very nice gifts. It's taking her too long to open it. Yet she is refusing to rush it and she seemed sad. Before she even saw it? When she finally saw the necklace all I could hear from the entire class was "WOW!" -- from the other girls. And "you got her a diamond necklace!" from the other boys, who also liked her. But it was short lived because she bolted so fast out of the classroom leaving the necklace.

I got reprimanded for an expensive gift. Ten dollars was supposed to be the limit. I was all so confused. I kept awaiting her return to class. She never did.

Now it was time to open my gift from her. Everyone was screaming for me to open it. The teacher took me aside and told me to not open it until I got home. "Huh?" I was confused even more. She told me I'd understand when I got home. Later when I opened her gift, I received a very white nylon t-shirt and matching shoelaces. All of my friends were laughing. "You spent 200 dollars on a girl for Christmas and you only got a lousy t-shirt and some shoe laces?!!! Ha ha ha" "Ha ha ha!"

My sister ran them all out of the house. I was left staring at that t-shirt and two of my sisters that were home at the time came over to me to ease my disappointment and explain that the limit was supposed to be ten bucks and I couldn't expect her to spend 200 dollars of her money. "But I thought she liked me."

"I think she does," says my sisters. "It's a thoughtful gift." "And practical too." Yet my naive barely teenage boy brain couldn't fit all the pieces where they belonged. Until...

"You really like her don't you?" asked the girls. "Yes." "Well think about how she'd feel if you actually wore her gift to school." "The same way we feel when you wear something we've bought for you." Then it clicked. "Yea!" Then I realized how lucky I was. I was so stupid.

The sisters went on to explain to me why she probably ran out of the class. She would have been embarrassed by her thoughtful gift against a $200 necklace. Just as they warned me. One of my sisters sewed the girl's name on the t-shirt. "Anne." Then my oldest sister drove me over to her house to take her gift that she'd left. Her mother answered the door and I was greeted by her entire family. She ran upstairs. Her mother went upstairs to collect her. When she came down and saw me wearing the t-shirt with her name on it...

We lived happily ever after for two years. Two years is forever for 13 yr olds, until she enrolled in a private school. We're still good friends today. She's married and lives in California with two sons and a daughter of her own. She treasures that necklace, she says.

I wore that t-shirt to school so much it was like a second skin. The boys didn't laugh anymore after they realized how lucky I was. She was such a beautiful little Anne.