I'll never forget that Christmas morning.
It was chilly and blustery and we were inside, cozy by the fireplace and the tree. My brother and I were excitedly pawing through the presents, honed in on exactly what we were looking for: Two packages from my Memere in New England.
For months we had been begging for sweatshirts from Dartmouth College in New Hampshire.
My brother was born at the hospital there (my parents were living in Vermont at the time and he was six weeks early, so they rushed Mom there) and we had visited the campus a few times in our lifetime and now, as high schoolers, we were stoked to get Dartmouth College sweatshirts.
Don't ask me why. It just seemed cool.
So, we found the boxes and excitedly tore them open. My brother reached his prize first, spying the forest green fabric nestled at the bottom of the box. He reached in and grabbed it and with great gusto he pulled out his gift ... only to discover that it was, in fact, a green velour jogging suit. Complete with a gold zipper. Horrified, I ripped open my box and pulled out a red sweatshirt dress. That's right. It was a red sweatshirt that hung to the floor and mine not only had a gold zipper, but it had a striped collar to boot.
Somewhere, I think the lines of communication got crossed. My brother's item WAS the dark green of Dartmouth and my sweatshirt dress WAS technically a sweatshirt ... but oh my gosh. Naturally, we immediately put on our newfound treasures and I think the picture of my brother in his (too small) velour jogging suit striking the "Saturday Night Fever" pose is still floating somewhere around my parents' house.
I think we can safely chalk those gifts up to the "worst" presents we ever received, even though they made us laugh and rank up there with one of our favorite Christmas memories.
How about you? What is the "worst" present you ever received? I use "worst" in quotations because really, gifts shouldn't be bad or good since it IS the thought that counts.
But, knowing that, I think it's okay to chuckle at some of the gifts that were, say, slightly unexpected!
My grandfather and his wife always sent the same present to all the girl cousins, and pretty much every year it required a phone call between all of us to figure out what exactly the gift was! Strange chotchkys, ornaments, accessories. If you don't even know what the gift is when you open it, it can't be good!
ReplyDeleteI don't remember any really bad Christmas presents. I do however remember a Mother's Day gift from the hubs who was quite pleased. A HUGE Princess House Crystal baking dish, biggger and deeper than a 9x13, that cost a fortune. Seems someone who had a party told him I would love it and really wanted it. I'm sure someone needed more $$ for their party to get free merchandise. Any way, I was so disappointed because really who wants bakeware for Mother's Day? Now, I use it quite a bit, so it worked out great.
ReplyDeleteThe "worst" present i ever received was from my Grandma. At the time I loved tanning... laying in the sun. So she bought me (at a garage sale) a car shade. The kind you put in your windshield to protect it from the sun... but she told me it was a tanning mat. It was silver and reflective. I think I would have fried to a crisp had I actually ever laid on it. It's the thought thst counts right! :-)
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