Worst holiday gifts you ever received.

[Rising Phoenix]

I am torn between three.

1. A medical encyclopedia given to me when I was 13 by my 15 year old brother so I could "make up more diseases"

2. An "I DO WHAT THE VOICES IN MY HEAD TELL ME" tshirt the year I was diagnosed bipolar. Same brother

3. An eminem action figure. I was a full grown woman.

edit....a guilty pleasure of mine is eminem songs

I know I know....bad feminist and bisexual. don't judge.

[Ikonoklast]

1. What did the Eminem 'action figure' do?

Besides look stupid, abuse drugs and women, and desperately wish it was born a black person?

[Rising Phoenix]

5. nothing....it had a chainsaw in his hands

[Amerigo Vespucci]

2. A "Secret Santa" gift I received when I worked at Cisco Systems

The old "everybody draws a name and then goes home to see what crap they have lying around that did not sell in the last two garage sales."

I don't even know what this thing WAS...it was like a bong filled with oil and it had several weights inside and was supposed to be a thermometer / barometer, I DUNNO...it was ugly as sin and I left it in the trash in my cubicle.

And the worst part of all is I BOUGHT A GIFT for my participation...don't remember exactly what it was but I know I didn't go to some dollar store hole-in-the-wall.

But Cisco was like that. It was my least favorite place to work in my entire career, period.

:toast:

[HopeHoops]

3. Was the action figure anatomically correct?

Actually, I'm not sure there is evidence that the guy has a penis, so probably.

[Rising Phoenix]

6. nope he had overalls painted on

[HopeHoops]

8. For the longest time, every time I saw that name I read "enema".

I finally noticed it was pronounced M&M like the candy.

[NightWatcher]

4. Chicago Blackhawks jersey and cap

oh, I forgot to mention that I'm a Native American activist

and my brother knew that

[Rising Phoenix]

7. lol

I shouldn't have laughed, I really did laugh out loud. Might be the beer, hehe

That is pretty similar to my health gifts.

[PassingFair]

9. My mother got sick one Xmas, and my father had to buy the presents...

I was 19...he bought me a god-awful red, white and blue
FLANNEL NIGHTGOWN that buttoned up to the neck.

I wore it when I was sick.

[Rising Phoenix]

10. lol

dad's usually don't buy the best sleepwear, they want you to be nuns.......

dads are awesome.

[PassingFair]

12. The worst thing was, I think it was completely subconscious on his part....

he thought that I would LOVE it, and he paid
a ton of money for it, so I couldn't even let
my disappointment show.

[Rising Phoenix]

13. ouch

that is rough.

[Rising Phoenix]

11. Oh another bad one

I was 13, and my godmother ( my dads sis) who lived in Mass, I was in PA

sent me a really slutty shirt. It was a half shirt, skin tight, low cut, black with giant white letters all over it.

:wtf:

[NightWatcher]

14. what did the letters say? juicy or something quaint like that

[Rising Phoenix]

15. oh no

this was obviously from some cheap store....Rave or 357 ....I think if the shirt was in a 100 mile radius of a spark it would burst into flames cheap fabric. The letters were random. No words. Just letters.

[soleiri]

16. This one's the most memorable

Okay, when I was a thirteen year old who wore all black and would have never worn anything that let people know that I was err.... developing, my father gave me pastel pink short shorts with the white piping around. Shorts that would have barely covered my rear had I ever bothered to try them on.

[Rising Phoenix]

20. I bet he was trying to make you feel good about yourself

its a shame dads were never 13 year old girls, they would know better.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

17. A couple I can think of...

The first Christmas after I got married my MIL (now ex-MIL) gave me a dish towel. One dish towel. I'm sure she put a lot of thought and effort into that one.

And when I was about 11 my grandmother gave me an ugly outfit in what was then called a "chubby" size. Although I was kind of stumpy and awkward at that age I wasn't significantly overweight, and the outfit was way too big. But I felt terrible that my grandmother thought I was so fat I had to wear a "chubby" outfit. I went to my room and cried my heart out after opening that gift.

[Call Me Wesley]

18. I'd really like to come up with one,

but I can't. We usually ask around what to give or want to have instead of awful surprises, and I pretty much like it that way. Of course, there might be always an additional 'What is that?' along it, but overall, I really can't complain.

(And yes, that's from a guy who got the complete works of C. G. Jung at the age of 15. - Now that's what I call gifts! - The Toshiba Walkman (with Radio!) and the David Bowie/ELO Collection wasn't bad either when I was a teen.)

[theNotoriousP.I.G.]

19. Well aren't you special????

you have a family that actually communicates with each other and knows what each others interests are???

[Rising Phoenix]

22. lol

[Call Me Wesley]

23. Ha ha! Saves us

from killing each other! ;) Besides, gift exchange for a long time is only with the closest part of the family, and our nieces probably get the most. No big deal anymore. And the usual holidays don't apply to us, anyway, but I still like putting up lights 'n stuff! :)

[theNotoriousP.I.G.]

We are getting a little long in the tooth to care about presents anymore

too. I'm spoiling my 16 year old niece this year and as you know HerrHerr has already spoiled himself with a new x-box 360. I just like the holiday.

How much do you charge for hanging lights? My mann would be dead within minutes of trying it. Two left hands. :evilgrin:

[Call Me Wesley]

31. Ohhhh, a gamer!

:rofl:
"There! There, I get it!!! I get it!!!! Yeeeessssss!!!! Du sau batzi! Hoit dei babn du zipfeglatscha! I glab dei huat brend ... griagst glei a so drum a fotzn ... host me? Ohh, darn."
<Press #1 to restart N00b-Level 1>

I don't hang the lights, I just throw them over some small trees we have here and around stuff, like this:



And here's one with snow:

[theNotoriousP.I.G.]

35. I like your work!

even though it looks like a drunk elf went wild and went silly with it!

We'll expect you on 22/12/2009 and we will provide sandwiches and two radler beers. See you then!

[Rising Phoenix]

21. Jung would have been most welcome to me after the age of 10

[Call Me Wesley]

25. I could've hooked you up

with one of his students/secretary/co-writer of his auto-biography, which was a dear friend of mine: http://www.amazon.com/Aniela-Jaff%C3%A9/e/B001J3L6Q4

[Rising Phoenix]

28. abnormal psych is my passion

art and abnormal psych.....and they go well together

[Call Me Wesley]

33. If you're interested in Jung,

start with this one, psych and art in one: http://www.amazon.com/Man-Symbols-Carl-Gustav-Jung/dp/0440351839

Sorry for the sexist title, but this was the sixties. :hi:

[Rising Phoenix]

34. thanks for the link

[theNotoriousP.I.G.]

24. Hey, I would like to get another

medical encyclopedia. I had to leave it home in the US, it weighed too much. Have you ever seen what eye cancer looks like?

Worst Christmas presents ever:

When I was 9 years old, I worked for a friend's mother to earn money to buy my sister and mother Christmas presents. I easily spent almost 50 dollars on them. My sister got me a fuzzy pencil. I still tease her about that.

My mother-in-law hates me. She has tried to make my life a living hell but I just ignore her. Two years ago she bought me a towel head wrap (like from the 1950's movies) a one dollar pair of orange hand towels, a hair accessory kit from the German equivalent of the dollar store (all the rubber bands broke on first use) and last year she bought me a can of Cappuccino mix. I don't drink Cappuccino.

What can you do? I just laugh and shine her on.

[Rising Phoenix]

26. lol

it was a cheapo paper back tiny print thing....I left it in PA when we moved back to Boston.

Bastard.....when I got disability I gave him a big fat "I told you so"

[theNotoriousP.I.G.]

29. Good for you!

:evilgrin:

[Rising Phoenix]

30. indeed

I had proof I was sick.....damn bastards

[blue_roses_lib]

27. When I was 15-16~

My grandfather or great-uncle, can't remember which, bought me a small solar powered calculator, so that I could start practicing stretching my "household budget" for when I had my own household to manage. Offended me then; see it as totally practical now.


A gift card for a store that wasn't in AK; still isn't here. The relative KNEW that store wasn't up here too. I wanted to say "DON'T get me things just to say you got me something."

[DU GrovelBot]

32. ## PLEASE DONATE TO DEMOCRATIC UNDERGROUND! ##

This week is our fourth quarter 2009 fund drive. Democratic Underground is
a completely independent website. We depend on donations from our members
to cover our costs. Please take a moment to donate! Thank you!