--Insert title with blog pun here--

I just participated in an event known as the “White Elephant.” I assume most people know what this is, but I had never even heard of it before this year. For the benefit of others who have not heard of this, you wrap a crappy present you have received and don’t want or just something from around the house. Then you go around and pick one to open, but you can choose to steal someone else’s present rather than open a new one, etc. I think basically the point is to get at least a laugh out of crappy gifts, but if you think about it, all it is is organized re-gifting. It’s quite sad really. We sit there and crack jokes about this terrible crap we are exchanging when some obscure relative or co-worker probably agonized over whether or not to get it for us in the first place because they don’t know us well enough to pick out a good gift but yet felt obligated to get us something. It just goes to show you, the thought doesn’t count for sh**. Am I allowed to curse on this site? I mean, it’s the internet but I think this is supposed to be a family site or some crap like that. Anyway, I would have felt bad giving away something someone bought for me, so I just used a hideous t-shirt that I had bought for a Halloween costume. I have included a picture of what I got below.

As a side note- The only thing worse than a crappy gift from someone who doesn’t really know what you like is a gift card from someone who probably should. At the grocery store they have an entire wall of gift cards from every store, restaurant and website you can think of. Who is so lazy that they have to do all their Christmas shopping at Safeway? The gift card, even more so than the gift certificate, is the ultimate declaration of apathy on the part of the gift-giver. At least with a certificate it’s got a handwritten amount and maybe a signature to show that the person at least went to the store to get it. You can get a gift card in any grocery, convenience, or liquor store in the city. It’s like, “Aw, a gift card. Thanks so much for thinking of me when you were buying booze and rubbers.”





The question you need to ask yourself is not whether or not it is the ugliest picture frame in the world, for the answer is most certainly "Yes." But "Why on earth would anyone make or sell such a hideous abomination? Why would anyone buy it? And why, oh why, would I choose to steal this from someone in a game of White Elephant rather than open something new?"