Of Christmas Gifts and Givers
by To give or not to give, and what to give; that is the question each Christmas. This article will provide some answers and insights on giving gifts at Christmas, and some of the best gifts available.
Gift giving is a major part of Christmas. Retailers do everything in their power to assure the last two months of the year are the most profitable. Statistically, Christmas nets the largest profits in retail sales in the States and also in many Countries worldwide. With such an emphasis on buying and giving gifts it would seem we should be a lot better at this activity than our track record proves.
What am I saying here, that we don’t know how to buy gifts? No, just that many of us often get caught up in the frenzy of the last couple weeks before Christmas and stress out trying to get the shopping done. As a result, bad gifts are often purchased.
Bad gifts
No one likes to think about giving or receiving a bad gift. Now just what constitutes a bad gift? I had to think about this one for a while. Upon thinking this through I have a handful of circumstances in which a gift would be bad, or in poor taste.
* Giving a gift which would offend the recipient’s belief or value system. Such as giving a bar set to someone who is very opposed to liquor.
* Giving a food item which the receiver can not eat due to health or religious reasons. Examples: The Christmas following the summer my Dad had his heart attack, he received no less than 5 boxes of chocolates, despite my mom and I trying to let everyone know Dad was on a strict cardiac diet in which sweets of any kind were to be avoided.
Similarly, I have Mormon friends who are very committed to abstaining from caffeine; receiving a gift basket full of specialty blends of coffees and teas, was not a good choice of the giver.
* Gifts which can aggravate an allergy: Such as perfumes, plants, and even kittens. (Yeah, I love kitties, but I am allergic to them! Nuts!)
* Giving home-made food items which did not turn out well. One year a neighbor delivered a gift of date nut bread to our front door. She said she had made it. It was so over-baked it was the deepest brown-black color I have ever seen for date nut bread. It was also nearly impossible to cut through it with a butcher knife.
* Giving gifts that are inappropriate in regard to the person’s life style. For example: giving expensive jewelry to a woman who is strictly a jean and T-shirt person. Or, giving a gent a CD of classical symphonies when he is totally into swing tunes.
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