Your Gift Is Practical, But Mine Was Pretty

With Christmas just around the corner it is no wonder that the Bathurst branch of D.I.T. (where I am currently employed) held their Christmas Morning Tea this morning. It was basically just a little "rock up and bring a plate of something, as well as a $2 gift for Chris Kringle..." The event was quite nice, considering how unprepared I was for it - and I managed to score two presents for myself!

So this morning before work, in a kind of "oh god I forgot this was a things!" rush, I grabbed the cheese from my depression-shop (which I didn't end up opening), and some water crackers from Woolies (where the evil robot lady did not attempt to kill me...this time...) as well as some paper plates to present what turned out to be a rather popular cheese-platter (someone else had had the forethought to provide some cabanossi, which set the whole thing off really quite nicely - plus I got rid of my depression cheese!)

As for my "Chris Kringle" gift - I ran into The Reject Shop this morning in a big of a rush (I do have a bus to catch, you know) and checked out what they had for $2. If you've never been to The Reject Shop before, it turns out that this is a very large assortment of things. I ended up settling on one of those "magic trees" which basically grows crystals on a cardboard tree by soaking it in a liquid made up of ammonia and some other things, and exposing it to air.

It might not sound like it, but I actually did put quite a bit of (admittedly ADD) thought into this gift. Initially I was going to buy one of those squishy balls with all of the flagella over it, as a kind of gooey (and relatively safe to throw) stress toy, but then I thought that that was potentially pretty dumb. Instead I turned around and stared long and hard at some decks of playing cards for a good while, only to be hit by the best gift idea that one could purchase for $2. Science.

That's right - This year I opted to give the gift of science! I mean, I work in the department of information technology. Surely, one would imagine, the average staff-member here would be more than a little scientifically minded, and may be a little curious about what was going on...Or, you know, they could think that it was pretty and place it on their desk for all to see. Either way, I gave a gift that lasted (you can repeat the experiment over again after the crystals drop off the tree, as long as you mix them back in to the liquid...)

In return for providing the miracle of crystalisation I was rewarded with the opportunity to either take another "player's" gift, or to select randomly from what was left wrapped on the table. I (stupidly, I might add) chose to go from the table - even though there was a perfectly good yo-yo currently in gift circulation! Oh my god why did I not steal the yo-yo?!

I picked the gift which most resembled a magic-eight ball (in the hopes of, you know, getting a magic-eight ball) and unwrapped it to find hand-soap. Not the gift I was expecting, but still one that enables my obsessive-compulsive tendencies, so I was pretty happy (although my therapist would probably be otherwise.) The other gift I received - a box of Belgian pralines - was in return for successfully answering a trivia question (which was, admittedly, really easy) - "What initials did rapper 'Hammer' lose from his name?"

I was more amazed that there were people there who couldn't answer that question, than the fact that I got in first.

The moral of this story is that it isn't the quantity of gifts you receive that matters. Rather, it is the quality of gifts - or the amount of joy you receive from them. I know people people tell you that it is the thought that counts, but really that's not entirely true. Today, someone received an angle-bracket in the Chris Kringle draw. An angle bracket. The thought was there, yes, but I'm sure that the person who received the yo-yo is having infinitely more fun with their gift. Damn I want that yo-yo...