Not a single gift, but my MIL has this obsession with keeping things “even” for the holidays so everyone receives the same number of gifts. This inevitable means that everyone receives a set quantity of filler gifts. So I get grouped in with my BILs, who are nice but we are different people. She’ll split sock packs between us, bulky shirts that don’t fit me, car and garage accessories that I have no use for, etc. I got a single roll of duct tape once. Not even good duct tape, a thin dollar-store roll. I’ve said so many times I don’t need a pile of things to unwrap, that I’d be far happier with just one, thoughtful gift I could really use instead of having to haul a boxful of cheap useless things home. But nope, gotta get those numbers up.
I have a similar experience with my extended family that I only see once a year during the holidays. They usually gave me cheap gifts that I had no use for, and I always had to pretend to be grateful for them. I’ve said for years that I’d rather just get nothing at all than the gifts that were obviously just given to me for the sake of giving me something.
Not a single gift, but my MIL has this obsession with keeping things “even” for the holidays so everyone receives the same number of gifts. This inevitable means that everyone receives a set quantity of filler gifts. So I get grouped in with my BILs, who are nice but we are different people. She’ll split sock packs between us, bulky shirts that don’t fit me, car and garage accessories that I have no use for, etc. I got a single roll of duct tape once. Not even good duct tape, a thin dollar-store roll. I’ve said so many times I don’t need a pile of things to unwrap, that I’d be far happier with just one, thoughtful gift I could really use instead of having to haul a boxful of cheap useless things home. But nope, gotta get those numbers up.
This is where she crossed the line.
The nerve of that woman.
I have a similar experience with my extended family that I only see once a year during the holidays. They usually gave me cheap gifts that I had no use for, and I always had to pretend to be grateful for them. I’ve said for years that I’d rather just get nothing at all than the gifts that were obviously just given to me for the sake of giving me something.