Disappointing Christmas Presents.

A few decades ago I had been married a few years only (I must have been around 33 - I'm 75 now) with our first child of around 2 - my then husband was a Principal Lecturer at the local Uni, and had insisted I give up my good Civil Service job to be a housewife, so I had no money of my own. I saved and saved out of the housekeeping, and had driven to another town to a specialist shop to buy him a lovely suede coat (cost over £100 then!) for his main Christmas present - I also bought 'small' gifts. I opened my presents from him - 2 of them - a plastic Watering can and a nylon scarf!!
He was my EX some 8 years later ! Surprised?

My first husband gave me a duster-mop thing once.

Cue stunned silence all round, jaws dropped, mouths agape. He was oblivious.

He actually had no problem whatsoever spending money liberally as long as it was on himself. The children were outraged at his shabbiness. They were acutely aware of his habits.

I happened to be working at the Royal Highland Show the following year and I got a catalogue from the stand next door. I think they were called Convent Garden. Much like a previous poster, I pinned it prominently to the kitchen notice board so no one was in any doubt as to what was required when an opportunity presented. Like the following Christmas.

The totally brilliant children organised (aka dragooned) him into sending for a …fabulously thick, double velour floor length dressing gown in gorgeous colours, which was equally fabulously expensive. Eye wateringly so. It wouldn’t be a stretch to have heard teeth being ground

The children nicknamed it Revenge - definitely disproving the saying about it being a dish served cold, as I still feel a great sense of warm satisfaction when I put it on, 25 years later.

Sue I wonder if it’s to do with the era and occupation? I had the same experience of marrying an academic and of being persuaded to be a SAHM and give up my own bank account “because a joint account makes sense”, yet somehow he failed to get round to closing his own. Which meant he knew everything about my income and expenditure but I never knew anything about his! The result was he got new suits - necessary for work naturally - and my clothes came from charity shops.
I look back and laugh at it all now but when I first realised what a naïve and trusting thing I had been, I got pretty angry for a while (there was no way I could have guessed that aspect of his character so I can give myself a pass on that).
Then it dawned on me that he still has to wake up and live with himself and I don’t. And anyway, nursing grudges destroys your peace of mind and I’ve got much better things to do with my life - such as enjoying it with my new and improved model husband!

My husband and I usually receive presents from my Neice (in London) and my sister (in Cleethorpes), which we really look forward to opening as both are kind hearted and generous.
We also spend time and a reasonable amount of money on presents for them, too!
This year, I got a cheque from my sister, and a basket (which I have no idea how or where I can use it) from my Niece.
As we only have presents from these two sources in addition to the ones we buy for each other, it was disappointing.
There are worse things in life! Some people don't get any presents at all - so I guess we should just be grateful that we got something!

In the early days of our marriage I remember a present from my father in law. He was a great one for picking up cheap items from markets but he outdid himself this time. When we unwrapped his rather heavy parcel it revealed two gold painted plaster figures of viking warriors. They were flatbacked and presumably for putting up on the wall. I think we managed to say "Thank you" but after that we were lost for words. They sat in a cupboard for a while and eventually disappeared. I think DH may have "accidentally" lost them when we moved house.

Son and DIL gave me a Flash floor mop this Christmas - I was thrilled! They had thoughtfully asked me if it was okay as a Christmas gift. They had noticed how enamoured I was of their mop when I offered to clean their kitchen floor - so easy to use! I was delighted to receive it - I would never have bought one for myself.

We had a business and the quiet time was Christmas. So we splashed out on a Christmas and New Years cruise. DH brought a large parcel and said that is your Christmas present! No peeking. He had to pay extra weight to get it on the plane. On Christmas Day I opened it up to find a bathroom scales. He reckoned that as I was always concerned about my weight I would appreciate them! Needless to say they ended up somewhere in the Atlantic Ocean!

I love giving and receiving presents and I am always grateful for whatever I recieved. I have 4 grown up children but just on grandchild. I think Christmas should be a special time for everyone, regardless of age.

My lovely aunt used to buy a jumper for each of us. (Daughter, me, my mum)
We always wore them on boxing day, looking as if we were extras in "Dynasty", if we were lucky, with huge shoulder pads and lots of va va voom.
I always got a size 10 when I was clearly much bigger, but I'd still wear my jumper with pride.
I had one with a cute penguin sitting outside a little cottage one year.

Screwfix Vouchers for me sorted, love my DIY tools

Many years ago at Christmas I was heavily pregnant with my first baby. As a family we never spent huge amounts on gifts, just something like a book, a diary, a scarf but it was always a personal gift. This particular year when I was pregnant my
in-laws bought me a pram blanket. Now, I don't want to sound ungrateful but it was hideous, was poorly made and didn't match the colour of the pram- which they had seen by the way - and I never did use it. A similar thing happened a couple of years later when I was heavily pregnant at the time of my birthday, again something for the newborn from the inlaws.
My OH always received a personal gift, why do people assume that pregnant women should receive gifts for the baby for their own birthday or Christmas presents?

In my teens, when stockings came in sizes, my aunt used to give me nylons for Christmas. Very welcome, but she bought her size and her feet were at least two sizes bigger than mine.

I get a packet of ginger buscuits costing 50p from my brother. Always wrapped in Christmas paper. I don't even like ginger biscuits. One year a friend gave me a candle, with a very short wick, where she had trimmed off the used one. It had clearly been used. This year the same friend gave us a bag of peanuts and a paper tablecloth, all unwrapped. For my 50th she gave me a book, which she told me after I unwrapped it, that it was a loan and could she have it back after I'd read it. She has lots of other wonderful qualities apart from being a tight wad. There was a memorable Christmas when my son let my 3 grandchildren under the age of 8 loose in a shop to choose our presents! A cushion shaped like a turd emoji anyone? We also got Peppa pig cupcakes, 2 unicorn headbands, crayons and a bag of rainbow coloured popcorn.
Good job we love these people! I did enjoy the Peppa pig cupcakes!

For my 70th Birthday a friend bought me some perfume called "Tank".... Mind you it caused such hilarity amongst my family - and still does from time to time - that I'd say it was it was actually a great present (I gave it to someone for a prize in a raffle that they were organising)
BTW I apologise if "Tank" is someone on here's favourite perfume!

One of the worst foot-in-mouth moments I ever experienced was many, many years ago when I told a friend's dear mum that my boss had bought me a 'gold' powder compact for Christmas. I really went to town saying "Why would he think I used such a thing" and "I don't want it so I will give it to my mum" etc Guess what she had bought me for Christmas? Yes, exactly the same 'gold' powder compact!! I nearly died of embarrassment

As a teenager, a close friend of my mother, someone i called 'auntie' gave me a pretty lilac petticoat, except that it was clearly well worn, with little bobbles of rubbed nylon on it. I threw it away.