Comments on: The Big Question: I am NOT Neely O’Hara Edition

By: Jane

Jane — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 00:19:30 +0000

I have cats. I like cats. I do not like cat earrings, scarves, sweaters, posters, knickknacks, wall hangings, figurines, and in one particular case, an ostrich egg hand-painted with representations of my three cats. (It was a very thoughtful gift on the part of the giver, who was also the artist, but my heavens, what does one DO with such a thing?)

By: KESW

KESW — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 18:00:59 +0000

My theme gift for years has been rabbits… apparently I was a kicky fetus and my womb-name was Thumper, ala the Disney character. And funnily enough, I don’t think I have ever received a rabbit gift I didn’t like. It’s almost become an extension of my personality, to the extent that my husband calls me “Little Bunny”, and we have added a nose-wiggle to the traditional eskimo kiss to make it a bunny kiss. That and my family all has pretty good taste and thus I think the worst item I have is a random Easter figurine that involves a wheelbarrow full of eggs. Never understood the rabbit + egg theme of Easter.

By: La BellaDonna

La BellaDonna — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 22:32:45 +0000

Cara, I’d be interested, if you ever want to unload some day. Genuinely interested. So … there’s an ear to borrow, if you want it.
I’ve had some Very Mixed Emotions, myself.

Why is it, if you like an actual something, people seem bent on giving you, not representations of that something (Crystal cow! Pretty! Crystal bat! Pretty! Crystal giraffe! Pretty!), but “cuuuuute” representations: cows in tutus. Dancing giraffes. Caricatures, that no one could love. Ugh.

Sometimes no gift is better than the gift that says, “I was thinking … but not about you.”

By: De

De — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 13:21:31 +0000

Oh goodness, where do I start?

When I was a small child I loved Pooh. My dad even calls me Pooh. I have an affinity for the books and art of E. Shephard. Not so much Disney Pooh. One Christmas someone got me a very elegant, lovely print of an image from one of the books. I liked it very much. Friends and family took this and ran with it. I collected so much Pooh Crap (pun intended)…most of it has been re-gifted to new additions to the extended family (“oh no, let her play with that doll, in fact, let her HAVE it”).

Almost parallel to that time period, were the giraffe years. Giraffes are my favorite animal. I love them, I find them fascinating and feel a deep affinity for them. However, this does not mean I want to fill my home with stuffed ones, random ceramic representations of them or even posters of cartoon ones. Do I really appreciate it when someone finds me an age appropriate, sophisticated giraffe statue or other item? Yes. That’s lovely and thoughtful. Do I appreciate the random children’s books? No. I’m 30 years old for crying out loud, I don’t need a copy of ZooBooks.

Family and friends have learned their lesson so far…..lets see if something new pops up…

By: Constance

Constance — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 23:38:30 +0000

For me it was Santa. I told my mother I was fond of old fashioned Santas, not the Santa of the red suit, white fur and big belly variety. From that moment on I received Santa figurines for Christmas. Finally had to call a halt to the Santas. There is a crate of them residing in my cellar.

Ah, the cats. Why, oh why, do people assume that you want cat collectibles when you have a cat? Sheesh.

By: Synnamin

Synnamin — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 23:00:35 +0000

Thank goodness I somehow escaped the “useless gift curse!” I am a Halloween baby, and yet I never got a ton of bats (like Twistie, I would have been down for that!), pumpkins, black cats, or spiders. As a child, I got a lot of My Little Ponies, but I collected those, so that was ok. And there was that horrible year where my mom fell in love with E.T. and I had E.T.-themed everything (sheets, stuffed toys, underwear, pajamas, sleeping bag, etc). Thankfully, that didn’t continue.

These days, most folks know I’m utterly practical and I sew, so I often get inundated with fabric. Like I need more fabric, but you never know when it will come to use, right?

Food, on the other hand, was another story. I told my mom once how much I loved French bread pizza. Then it was French bread pizza every other night for months. That was 20 years ago and, to this day, I still can’t look at French bread pizza without wanting to urk.

By: Lee

Lee — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 13:40:04 +0000

I received five irons at my bridal shower. Did I look wrinkled? A lot wrinkled??? And, I once said I liked Wonder Woman. I now have a drawer full of the stuff.

By: Tiffani

Tiffani — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 23:34:57 +0000

One lovely afternoon in June mid 80′s my mom brought home a beautifully handcrafted gingham clown on a rope swing all done up in yellow to match my canopy bed and frilly yellow curtains as a gift for my 11th birthday. Normally this would have thrilled me to my toes however this particular afternoon was the cable tv debut of Poltergeist. And after watching the clown scene in that movie, I would not even have this “thing” in the house. No matter how my mom tried to convince me otherwise, it stayed in her trunk for at least another month or two. Its funny now…it was NOT funny at the time. She still teases me about though!

By: Holly

Holly — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 14:48:31 +0000

Well, given my name you can probably guess how many spiky-leaved-red-berried mugs, wrapping papers, boxes etc. I get around Christmas time. Which I don’t mind too much, because no one is hurt if you only get them out at the holidays, and there are tackier things in the world than holly branches. Although that wooly holly sweater was seriously ugly.

I love tea, and while I’m happy to get a teapot or two, and nice cups and saucers are not unwelcome, the tea warmer, tea towels, tea pot napkin rings, tea themed t-shirts are getting a little old.

My sister also knows that I like boiled eggs and I now have at least five antique egg cups. They are pretty, but I only eat one egg at a time, you know? However, since I must plead guilty to adding to her penguin collection I can’t really criticize…

By: Cara

Cara — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 09:10:12 +0000

I have a whole theme-country.
I used to be a japanophile, studied Japanese, got a scholarship and lived there for a year. That was ten years ago. As things go, for many different reasons I would like to explain at great length but I won’t for you sake, I soon felt like I have wasted years of my life in studying that language/culture and after a major life crisis I moved on. Now I thought that after crying and whining on and on and on about how wrong I was to go to Japan and study Japanese my parents, friends and relatives would have gotten the point.
No.
Oh, hell, no.
I still get japanese theme gifts, books, sake cups, fortunately no geisha dolls as yet.
After trying the sensitive approach I’ve started to tell them rather bluntly I’ve fallen out of love with Japan about ten years ago, yet —- do you ever have the feeling noone ever listens to you?