Regifting?

I read a magazine article about holiday ettiquette today. One item on the list was a Regifting rule. The rule was to make sure and double sure you will not get caught. Pardon me? It is only acceptable to Regift only if you do not get caught? Isn't that the attitude that gets athletes in trouble with drunk driving and steriods?

In other words, it is wrong to regift because it is thoughtless, deceiving, and easily can offend someone. Think about it. Someone you love buys you a gift they think you will love receiving. You do not like it so you give it to someone else thinking they will love the gift they are receiving.

I must have been raised wrong because I was taught to say "Thank you" whether I liked the gift or not. If I didn't like any gift, we either took it back to the store and exchanged it, or stuck it on the garage sale pile. My parents are pack rats with cardboard boxes full of objects ready for the annual garage sale. Sometimes my Mom called a local charity to come out after the sale was over and take whatever they wanted, free of charge of course. We still have the habit of hand me downs in my family. Whevever we get rid of things, we announce it and see if anyone wants any of our usable junk. Last week I got free snowman salt and pepper shakers with a purchase of 3 greeting cards the sales clerk insisted I take with me. I asked my sister if she would want them, if not I would ask Mom the same question. She said she could use them for a snowman display at work.

What does one give to an ungrateful wrench, like my sister who hates every gift she is given and insists on stopping gift exchange all together, for Christmas, or birthdays, or Mother's Day? I have learned to stop giving so many presents and give gift certificates where you know they shop or perishable food in tins as gifts. But then one year I made Christmas cookies for my sister and placed them in a shoe box to hear her announce she went on a diet the day before. My Mom shunned my sister after I locked myself in the bathroom and everybody could hear me crying. Then there is the donation to a charity in someone else's name, or money, or bonds if they are children, or paying for dinner at a restrauant. Who said presents have to be clothes, jewelry, or the latest gadget?
Post later. Bye!