Re: Gifts.

^{(Image credit: Polly Becker for this New York Times article on re-gifting.)}

Last year I resolved to acknowledge the birthday of each and every friend with something special or handmade. If you were born in the first part of January, you probably received something pretty amazing. By the end of January, something personal but rather hastily assembled.  By February I had mostly given up and spent the rest of the year feeling guilty. Perhaps I should release the guilt and focus on re-gifting instead.

People do it. According to Kitty Kelley, Nancy Reagan was an enthusiastic "re-gifter" during her years in the White House. The problem with re-gifting is that, inevitably, mistakes are made. Reagan made a birthday present to her step-grandson. Cameron, of a teddy bear that had been recycled from the White House gift closet—the same bear Cameron had lost there a few months earlier.

I received a beautiful bowl from friend just after I was married - with a card to and from someone else at the bottom of the box. I might have thought nothing of it if the accompanying linens hadn't been stained and worn. There is vintage, and then there is vintage. Even stranger is the habit of putting bland, identity-less objects in storage to pad last-minute gifts. You know what I'm talking about. Dollar store coffee mugs, decorative napkins, or knick knacks you might display as 'decor' in your bathroom.

Perhaps I'm being unfair but, for me, a gift is an expression of love and care. I put quite a bit of thought into what I package up for my friends and loved ones. I do have things in storage, but only because I think of you all year long, wherever I am. If I'm shopping in San Francisco and I find something I think you'll like, I put it in a box in my closet that has your name on it.

I was touched to learn that Neil Gaiman writes stories as gifts for friends. What more could you ask for on your birthday? I may try that next year.

How do you feel about regifting? Have you ever received a regift? Have you ever given one? 

Comments

[Jennifer greenburg]

Nancy Reagan? She's the devil. That story doesn't surprise me.