Gift Wrapped Bummers and Unintended Scavenger Hunts

Two recent news stories prompted discussion on the worst Christmas gifts people have gotten.

A Consumer Reports poll revealed that about 49 million Americans will soon be presented with an awful gift. In the survey, 20 percent of respondents said they’ve received lousy gifts. Mother- and father-in-laws were cited most often (11 percent) as the parties who gave the worst gifts.

Then there's the journey into the strange social experiment, as talk show host Jimmy Kimmel asked viewers to trick their kids by allowing them to open one gift early. The hitch: the gift was something the child would hate. Reactions ranged from disappointed to unhinged, begging the question: "What have we turned our kids into?"

I'm happy to say there isn't a single gift I've gotten that fell into the 'hate' category, or one that made me question the giver's sanity. Perhaps that was how I was brought up. It is the thought that counts, and I've either been surrounded by thoughtful people or the ones who haven't been, never bothered to get me a gift.

What I do recall are the gifts that I've chosen to buy from a list that seemed easy enough on paper, but in reality were as elusive as a world series appearance by the Brewers.

Case in point: short sleeved sweatshirts. My mom said she loved wearing them many years ago, as they were great for wearing when she was cleaning, which it seemed was all the time. Apparently, the extra 1/2 sleeve was more cost effective to make because my search from to Sherper's came up empty.

I unwittingly caused a scavenger hunt of my own, asking for an eight-quart popcorn popper. The Crazy Eight is made by West Bend, so it should have been a snap, but according to relatives the request drew blank stares and shrugged shoulders from many a salesman. Just because they're made doesn't always mean stores sell them, I guess. I credit my dad with finding the holy grail of popcorn makers (I don't do microwave bags) at Ace Hardware, albeit as a seasonal item.

Perhaps the age of the internet has made this less of a problem, but there are still those items that appear on someone's list based on something they saw somewhere about six months ago. That's when I'm glad that this is also the age of the gift card.