Gifts

[Guest guest]

Friday while I was working my sister dropped off some Christmas

gifts for our family. I thought she was just dropping off gifts

from the siblings, but when I got home I discovered that she had

also dropped off some from Mom & Dad (I'm not mad at sis--I think

there was a genuine misunderstanding). The kids had already opened

some of them, and since you can't " un-unwrap " gifts and I thought it

would be cruel to make them return them, we decided to open them.

For me: a 104-piece flatware set, I'm not sure why—is it normal to

get people flatware when you've never discussed whether we need

flatware (we don't), and you have no idea what their pattern

preferences are? For my husband: a pullover. For my four year old

son: an inflatable toy for three year olds. For my six year old

girl: a Hannah Montana Barbie and a High School Musical 2 Barbie.

And for my eight year old girl: a Hannah Montana Barbie and a High

School Musical 2 Barbie. The same exact gift for both girls. This

is significant because my eight year old doesn't like Barbies, and

in fact gave my six year old all of her dolls/Barbies about two

years ago. My eight year old likes science stuff and books. I

understand that my contact with my parents was, well, limited for

four weeks prior to Christmas, but my oldest has been pretty

consistent with not liking dolls for the past two years. So she was

kind of disappointed. I can understand when people start having

tons of grandchildren getting them all pretty much the same thing,

but my oldest has always made it pretty clear that she actively

dislikes dolls, and they only have four granddaughters, so if they

wanted to be homogenous they could have picked something else. I

don't think it was a purposeful jab at her; in fact, I think it

stands as more of a perfect example of how other people's

wants/needs don't even register on Mom's radar screen. My daughter

must like Barbies, because all girls that age should like Barbies.

Maybe I'm being a little overcritical under the circumstances

(relatively recent NC), but it was always a huge pet peeve of mine

growing up that she never got me what I wanted, but what she thought

I *should* want.

We returned the flatware and pullover. We have no idea where they

got the toys so my oldest daughter will have to live with

disappointment (although I think she'll survive).

Oh, and I forgot to mention the postcards they had made from

pictures of my girls, and a picture of my Dad with my son. They

slid these into inexpensive plastic frames. Are framed postcards a

little bizarre? Why not just make prints? Are these meant to be

returned as thank-yous from my kids? I threw the postcards out, but

I'm still scratching my head about them. What do you guys think?

Are these gifts wierd or I am I just still angry from the NC thing?