Worst Christmas Gifts... EVER!

I will be the first to admit that I had it pretty good. I mean I grew up in Tsawwassen. I was the youngest. The only girl.. ya, I was spoiled... to a certain extent. I mean my mother did sew all my clothes til I was 12. I had to do work around the house to earn my allowance and it was a given I had to keep my room & bathroom clean. Things I consider to be pretty average run of the mill stuff.... BUT then there was Christmas.

What a gluttoneous feast that was. I pretty much always got what I wanted and more. (My parents managed to surprise me every christmas with some huge gift. Mostly because they got something cool for my older brother & felt that they should match it as I asked for things like a cabbage patch kid while he asked for a TV.. Hey man, that's the same to a 9 year old girl! which I did get, thank-you) and of course being the impatient imp that I was (k... am) I would sneak out to the living room & open my stocking before everyone got up, re-wrap it & go to bed.

I got so good at guessing my gifts that my mother resorted to coding all the gifts. So she'd have to come down Xmas morning with a list stating who got what. I am formally known as 311AB.

But it's since I've become an adult that the level of gift giving has gone DOWN HILL and not just by my Dad but my brother too.

For example one year I recieved a Kling On Dictionary in my stocking.......................... I couldn't even sell that at my yard sale. My mom always thought it was better to give us things we "need" as opposed to gifts so when I was 18 my stocking was full of toothepaste. Hey Mom, I Live at home! My dad has since given up trying to shop for us claiming he "just doesn't know".

I may have been the final nail in the coffin when I scoffed at the sweatshirt he bought me. I know what you're thinking "What's wrong with that?" And oh, nothing if it wasn't mint green. According to him I didn't specify a colour. A: I didn't know they made mint green sweatshirts and B: Isn't it obvious I'd like something in a gray perhaps?

So now he just gives us money.. which doesn't provide hours of entertainment opening but if you inch your way across the envelope every 15 minutes you can successfully drag out that formality...

Then there's my brother & his family. The gifts vary depending on whether or not I spend the Christmas with him Edmonton as the challenge of mailing the parcel isn't there and I have to say, the value shoots right up when I'm in person.

Because this year as I stayed in Vancouver, I got socks. Lots & lots of socks and not just sport specific ones... No, I got "Cat Walk Queen" and some orange number. People make fun of my feet all the time when they see them.. now you know why... they're bought for me. (FINE I'm the one that bought the toe socks but I kid you not, my tootsies are warm in the winter!)

My favourite is one that came from his children. I definately know their his & I definately know they're Gillespies. We're not a coddling bunch of people nor are we ones that hold back the quips (which will be an entry at a later date... why I'm the way I am: part 2). My sister-in-law thought it'd be funny to make me a "Bad Day @ Work Box" full of things that help you get thru that bad day (which was actually cool as it was a small care pkg of sorts) But it's the children that pipe in:

Robyn "Does she even have a job!?"
Scott "Ya, may be we should make it her LAST day at work box!"
and then the laughter ensued...
Ya, awesome, my 7 & 5 year old neice & nephew are throwing the 'tude around.... Yes, they're my family.