General Etiquette > Life...in general

Another "Present" question

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mumma to KMC:
Dh's sister, who moved out west this past spring/summer, gave us some "stuff" for Christmas.

Please allow me to set up a quick background. Her family is BROKE. Outgoing money is greater then incoming money. They moved out west without selling their house here first. They are asking $30,000 more for the house here then it is worth because they took out a second mortgage to put up a barn/garage that they never put up. (Oh and spent the $30,000 on something, who knows what.) When they moved out west, they bought a place, that according to SIL, was "almost out of their price range" but as long as they sell their house here by X date, they would be fine. X date was prior to the move out west. The house here has not sold. In September, we found out they were having a hard time buy groceries and paying other bills. So dh and organized a "family fund raiser". We called his parents and siblings to see if they might be able to contribute a few dollars to buying a grocery gift card to send out there. Oddly enough, this dysfunctional family, in total gave almost $700. So off we mailed it and they were very happy. They came back east for Thanksgiving and we heard all about their money woes again. (Hard for me to stomach as BIL makes close to $100,000 a year and we make substantially less then that and manage to survive.) Oh and they managed to make it home for Thanksgiving by cashing in BIL's 401K.

So with that background, here is the present story/question. We received some gifts from them...and something for my ds's first birthday. The Christmas gift consisted of a cowboy hat, some "Western State" knick knacks (reindeer poop (Chocolate covered raisins), donut seeds (cherrios) and so on) and two packets of hot chocolate. Ds is having a grand ol' time with the hat, however, the other stuff (save for the hot chocolate) is useless AND the very reason we request each year not to get anything from these people. (Done very politely, as in "We don't need anything, please spend your money on the kids.")

So today, I had lunch w/dh and figured his coworkers would get a kick out of the knick knack things and left them at his office. My question is, am I evil? I feel bad because they actually spent money on this stuff but I don't want it cluttering up my house!

Then, in a related story that may just send my butt to ehell, we got that stuff and dh's older brother and his wife got gift cards to a local restaurant. I don't know how much, but it was enough for them to take out their family of four. (Okay, I know it is the thought that counts, but each year I get things from sil that just go right to good will or collect dust for six months until I get fed up with them and either freecycle or recycle them).

HogwartsAlum:
You are not evil.  As long as you thanked them graciously, it's nobody's business but yours what you do with unwanted gifts.  Once someone gives you something, it's yours. 

Hee hee hee...donut seeds....that's funny.

mumma to KMC:

--- Quote ---Hee hee hee...donut seeds....that's funny.
--- End quote ---

They were funny but not funny enough to keep around the house. There were candy cane seeds too. Little mint disks.

HushHush:
I wouldn't feel bad about it.  My family frequently takes things we don't want around the house to work and its nice to see other's getting some enjoyment from them.

charlotte

HogwartsAlum:
Ah ha ha ha ha ha ha!!!

I got something from a co-worker once that was a gag gift - it was a little bag of mini marshmallows with a poem that said:

"You've been naughty, so here's the scoop...
All you get for Christmas is snowman poop!"

I laughed and laughed!

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