Someone sent me a holiday survey recently about Christmas memories. Questions like: do you use an artificial tree or fresh cut, do you wrap or bag your presents, do you know the names of the reindeer were included on the survey. One question really bugged me. The question was What was your worst gift? This question perplexed me for a several minutes. I couldn't come up with an answer. Are there bad gifts? Gifts that could be classified as WORST gifts?
A gift by definition is this:
1.
something given voluntarily without payment in return, as to show favor toward someone, honor an occasion, or make a gesture of assistance; present.
2.
the act of giving.
3.
something bestowed or acquired without any particular effort by the recipient or without its being earned.
4.
a special ability or capacity; natural endowment; talent: the gift of saying the right thing at the right time.
Here is something that you have been given. There is no work, no money, and no forthought in acquiring the item. So it was free...given to you. WHY WOULD YOU HAVE SOMETHING YOU COULD CONSIDER A BAD GIFT??
My answer to the question was a rock tumbler, because I never did get to use it. I couldn't run it in the house (too loud and messy) and I didn't want to use it in the garage until summer. By the time it was summer I had moved on to other hobbies, such as horse riding. So I guessed that the rock tumbler was a bad gift, because I wanted one...just not the timing of it.
Then I thought of another expample. My brother was bringing home his fiance to meet the family for Christmas. My sister and I set out to find a nice gift for the fiance, knowing nothing about her except she likes Disney's Goofy and the Utah Jazz. That's it. That's all we had. Being in Wyoming with limited store options for either Utah Jazz items or Goofy items we selected some beautful crystaly pink earrings and a soft knitted pink scarf with sparkles. Christmas came and went with the exchanging of gifts. Months later, as we came to know the soon to be sister...we find out....she HATES pink. So, I figure that the pink earrings and scarf could be Worsts Gifts Ever.
I think really I want to get to point that Christmas is more like what we learn from Dr. Seuss:
And the Grinch, with his Grinch-feet ice cold in the snow, stood puzzling and puzzling, how could it be so? It came without ribbons. It came without tags. It came without packages, boxes or bags. And he puzzled and puzzled 'till his puzzler was sore. Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn't before. What if Christmas, he thought, doesn't come from a store. What if Christmas, perhaps, means a little bit more. - Dr. Seuss
I have more to add...and it'll have to wait. I have an anxious two year old who has brought me his shoes and his coat and is ready to go. Please excuse any spelling errors...I shall fix them as time allows.
A gift by definition is this:
1.
something given voluntarily without payment in return, as to show favor toward someone, honor an occasion, or make a gesture of assistance; present.
2.
the act of giving.
3.
something bestowed or acquired without any particular effort by the recipient or without its being earned.
4.
a special ability or capacity; natural endowment; talent: the gift of saying the right thing at the right time.
Here is something that you have been given. There is no work, no money, and no forthought in acquiring the item. So it was free...given to you. WHY WOULD YOU HAVE SOMETHING YOU COULD CONSIDER A BAD GIFT??
My answer to the question was a rock tumbler, because I never did get to use it. I couldn't run it in the house (too loud and messy) and I didn't want to use it in the garage until summer. By the time it was summer I had moved on to other hobbies, such as horse riding. So I guessed that the rock tumbler was a bad gift, because I wanted one...just not the timing of it.
Then I thought of another expample. My brother was bringing home his fiance to meet the family for Christmas. My sister and I set out to find a nice gift for the fiance, knowing nothing about her except she likes Disney's Goofy and the Utah Jazz. That's it. That's all we had. Being in Wyoming with limited store options for either Utah Jazz items or Goofy items we selected some beautful crystaly pink earrings and a soft knitted pink scarf with sparkles. Christmas came and went with the exchanging of gifts. Months later, as we came to know the soon to be sister...we find out....she HATES pink. So, I figure that the pink earrings and scarf could be Worsts Gifts Ever.
I think really I want to get to point that Christmas is more like what we learn from Dr. Seuss:
And the Grinch, with his Grinch-feet ice cold in the snow, stood puzzling and puzzling, how could it be so? It came without ribbons. It came without tags. It came without packages, boxes or bags. And he puzzled and puzzled 'till his puzzler was sore. Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn't before. What if Christmas, he thought, doesn't come from a store. What if Christmas, perhaps, means a little bit more. - Dr. Seuss
I have more to add...and it'll have to wait. I have an anxious two year old who has brought me his shoes and his coat and is ready to go. Please excuse any spelling errors...I shall fix them as time allows.
