THE ART OF THE GIFT
And the unwanted gift exchange...
How embarrassing!
Or it would be if anyone else noticed or found out. Three of the items on the display table were gifts that I had given.
The party invitation read, “Unwanted Gift Exchange.” The premise of the party was similar to a white elephant gift exchange, except rather than purchasing joke gifts for the party, you were supposed to bring an item you had received but didn’t want. I had trouble selecting an item I didn’t want. I generally like all gifts well enough, but apparently my gift giving was not as positive as my gift receiving.
There may be an explanation for this. I’m sure I’ve told you that my routine is to buy my husband the gifts that I want. Does that still count as receiving a gift? Criticize it all you want, but that routine has worked for us for years. Smiles on Christmas morning, and no returns!
Giving and exchanging gifts has certainly changed over the years. When the kids were little, our friends group held birthday parties for Jesus. Everyone—moms as well as kids—brought a gift to exchange. We sang Christmas carols, ate birthday cake, and played party games. It was during those years that I built my collection of serving platters and decorative items for the house, which were the most popular items in the moms’ gift exchange.
Maybe that was the answer to the theme of the rejected gifts displayed on the party table. How many platters and candle holders do you really need? I, for one, think you can never have too many, but I see that I may be alone in that belief.
Another popular category of unwanted gifts on display was vintage items. Just like ceramic platters and decorative home goods, I’ve always loved just about anything vintage. I can spend hours perusing racks of purses, scarves, and jewelry at tag sales and consignment shops. One of my most recent treasures is a scarf with the words Paris and France intertwined with images of the Eiffel Tower and the Arc de Triomphe. I like thinking about who may have worn it … Did she live in Paris? Was she an artist? The owner of a winery? Perhaps a designer or a fashion model? My imagined heroine is plucked from an episode of the television show Emily in Paris. I can easily picture her walking down a cobblestone street, adjusting the scarf knotted around her neck as she drops in at an outdoor patisserie for a croissant and coffee. By simply wearing this scarf, my life seems more exciting.
Apparently, not everyone feels this way. A friend told me she loathes the smells of resale shops. I hadn’t noticed it until she mentioned it. She also made it clear that she had no plans to wear something a stranger had cast off. Her rebuttal was unexpected. I hadn’t thought of her as pompous or arrogant—perhaps she is just lacking in imagination.
Or perhaps she and I both could put in a little more effort and consider that when your “thoughtful” gifts show up on the reject table, like a little museum exhibit of poor decisions, it’s time to re-study the art of the gift.