The gifts that keep on giving.

afterlight

Over the weekend we spent an afternoon with my brother-in-law’s family to celebrate Christmas. I haven’t really been privy to how other people do Christmas, except for how my family does it. Hubby is an only child so Christmas with his family is particularly quiet, low-key and very seafood-filled.

My family is crazy. It’s noisy, and there’s always an abundance of food. We usually put on those hats that come in the bon-bons, laugh, talk, eat, and then find a soft piece of real estate to pass out on for the afternoon {except me, I don’t day sleeps… I eagerly wait for them to wake up}.

Christmas over the weekend was similar to ours, except after the eating there was no passing out, in it’s place was an explosion of present opening.

I’m not sure I’ve ever seen so many presents. Seriously. It was an epic display of giving, and of course, receiving. I watched on as everyone opened up their gifts, even the adults were as excited as kids. Then something happened that made me laugh inside. The presents from the grandparents were opened.

I’ve heard stories before about the grandparent gifts, and I’ve always laughed hard, but I’ve never been there to see it first-hand until this weekend. I’m guessing most families have one person who gives funny gifts. My aunt is that person in our family. If never before you thought you need a toilet seat cover, you could very well be enlightened at Christmas time. The gifts are always unexpected, and make you ask, “Where on earth are these people shopping?”

The grandparents once asked my sister and brother-in-law, when they were visiting one day, if they needed a cutlery set that they had. They pulled it out from the cupboard to show them. “No thanks,” they replied, “We’re OK for cutlery at the moment.”

And then BAM, guess what was under the Christmas tree that year? So funny and slightly adorable too. So back to the weekend, I watched as one grandson opened a super-bright green Hawaiian shirt, which he quickly put on to the grandparents delight. My sister got an oriental fan, a t-shirt from a faraway country, and my brother-in-law got the jackpot; some hankies and a grid cleaner. Not only do they get an array of gifts, but cash is given out too. Who doesn’t love cash? In my family everything has to be even, I’m sure my Ma spent exactly the same amount on every kid when we were little, but the grandparents over the weekend don’t mind mixing it up a little. Some got a sweet $100 and others a $50.

I love Christmas-time. I love it for the laughs, the experiences and the quirky family traditions. It was kinda cool to see how other families do it.

Do you have a family member who gifts some quirky goodies? What’s the weirdest gift you’ve been given at Christmas time?

8 thoughts on “The gifts that keep on giving.”

  1. We love some quirky gifts in my family. Amongst the adults, we now do a Kris Kringle so everyone gets one nice present but we have a new tradition. We buy each other terrible gifts we found at charity shops and compete for the worst Christmas gift. It’s hilarious to watch as everyone opens their gifts. Plus the money we spend on silly things goes to charity and a lot of stuff gets donated back to the stores too so it doesn’t feel so wasteful. Can’t wait for Christmas morning!

  2. this Christmas I have just unwrapped a can of red island Olive Oil spray…. For my birthday it was a dish sponge

  3. We used to do a Secret Santa but you could only regift a strange present you’d received. It was Ok until you ended up giving someone something they’d given you in all seriousness the year before. I also have an ‘aunty’ who once gave everyone a laminated photo from a previous years calendar of a random landscape.

  4. My husband is also an only child, but I grew up with a large extended family, so we do things differently too. We woke up and raced straight out to open presents, they have a long leisurely breakfast first (what kid can wait that long?} But now we’re making our own traditions with our kids and we invite everyone to our place. I think the funniest Grandparents present I have received would have to be Granny Undies from my husbands’ grandparents in New Zealand. We were like “Seriously, you posted these?” Then I went on a diet!

  5. I like those quirky goodies we usually get cash from my husbands family which i like ,hello sales and my mum either gives us what we want or cash as well.This Christmas sounds very fun x

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