I appreciate that people have taken time to think what I would like and then acted on that, but it’s been a huge swing and a miss.
Out of the 7 presents, 5 were clothing items, 1 was something my wife wanted (not me), and the last was actually something I had been mentioning I had wanted for a while, so that was a silver lining.
When it comes to clothing and fashion, that is not me. I’d rather wear a £10 t-shirt from some high street chain, than whatever emperor’s new clothes rubbish is being pushed by the designer brands. On top of that, I have a young child, so it’s not uncommon for there to be food, spit, mess etc. on me at a given time. I don’t want to get that on my nice clothes, so I just wear old sports t-shirts most of the time.
Maybe they’re telling me I should change my style? But I’m happy with my style, I dress for comfort and practicality over looks. I don’t care what strangers on the street think of how I dress.
On top of that, 1 of the clothing items was smart, suit-like, work trousers… I’m in the office maybe once a week, and even then I normally wear smart casual attire, nice jeans, chinos, etc.
Then there’s the joint present my wife and I got. I appreciate it was expensive, but it’s something my wife has been raving about since she saw it, and I don’t really have any interest in it. At least she’ll be happy I suppose.
What I think disappoints me the most is I saw all the effort my wife and I were putting in for my family members, coming up with ideas based on their interests and things they may not think about, so I was excited for her presents for me expecting a similar level of thought, but it was just more clothes; some nice printed t-shirts, but I’m not going to wear them much, due to the aforementioned messy nature of having a young child.
I hope I managed to hide my disappointment. The only saving grace was the fact I was cooking Christmas dinner at the same time, so I could go out to the kitchen and “check on the veg” to compose myself and come back.
I dislike the gift giving thing as a grown-up but I go along with it because the wife loves it. I’d much prefer being given gift cards so I can get things I want but I’ve been informed that’s not fun for the giver.
I found myself annoyed by my gifts this year too but that is also fairly common most years.
The thing that I struggle with is the sense of obligation to keep gifts that I just don’t want to keep, and the burden of pretending I am enjoying a gift when the giver asks about it 5 years later when I threw it away the day after I received it.
I grew up with a dad that was a hoarder, so I see the accumulation of stuff you don’t actively want as a ball and chain you willingly carry around. I’ve seen what it does to you and I’m not going to live that again.
I’m getting better though, slowly. One gift was related to a hobby of mine but it was mall ninja garbage tier and I asked them to get their money back on the spot. In the past I would have quietly trashed it when nobody was looking.