My in-laws always give me the worst presents. At first, I though that they just had bad taste but now I'm starting to think that they give me crappy gifts on purpose. For example, one Christmas they gave my husband some expensive sporting equipment and they gave me a box of cheap, ugly kitchen towels from Dollar General that had big green and orange roosters on them. They're also fond of giving me dirty, broken junk that they find at yard sales while everyone else in the family gets brand new gifts. I think that they're just doing it to see my reaction when I open the box, so I deny them the satisfaction of seeing me get all pissed off about it. I've found that the best way to handle getting their crappy gifts is to smile and say "thank you, you're so generous" and then I'll take whatever they've given me to the Goodwill later on.
There is a silver lining to my in-laws behavior - it really makes me appreciate my own parents more because they always try to be fair to my husband and I when they give gifts and they always put a lot of thought into the items that they give to each of us.
There is a silver lining to my in-laws behavior - it really makes me appreciate my own parents more because they always try to be fair to my husband and I when they give gifts and they always put a lot of thought into the items that they give to each of us.