Re-Gifting

Christmas morning is all about the joys of giving and receiving, little children running down their stairs to see what Santa Claus has brought them, and a time of the year that is known for the connecting and re-connecting of family. But how would you feel if ‘Santa Claus’ did not have his ‘elf’s’ make the presents; but instead went up into his attic every year and simple re-wrapped a once used product?

No matter how old my brother and I get, it is tradition that every year my family gathers around our Christmas tree, opens the presents from our parents –and then go to our grandparents.

Grandparents… aren’t they supposed to be the ones who give the best gifts? Well, not in my household –unless reindeer bottle shaped perfume that smells more like a rotting nursing home than the typical floral or fruity smell strikes your fancy.

However, sometimes re-gifting is not so bad in some people’s opinion. Jordan Taylor, a sophomore at Wittenberg University, happily said “One man’s trash is another man’s treasure!” While Brynne Mayne, a freshman at Witt, said, “I think that with our economy right now it's probably pretty common. I don't necessarily agree with it but I'm sure it's happening more than we're aware.”

To some, re-gifting is a way to save some cash or to get rid of their junk. However, to others –re-gifting is just an odd tradition. Ashley Jeter said, “When my best friend and I first bought each other presents we did not know what to get each other, so we got something we would originally buy for ourselves. And when her birthday came around I gave it back to her, and when mine came around she gave mine back to me. And ever since then we have always done holidays like that.”

Whether re-gifting is a way to avoid money spending, getting rid of trash, traditions, or “A way to re-gift to people you do not like that much (including relatives), and you do not want to spend time finding them something personal when I can just give them one thing that is mostly un-used laying around my house” as Kristi Bacca, a sophomore at University of Cincinnati, states. It is something that happens more than it should –although sometimes it is unavoidable when you are a poor college student!

Every year my Great Great...Great Grandma stumbles her way up to the attic to collect everyone a new bottle of perfume/cologne. Although the scent of the horrid odor lurks my Aunt Jill’s house for hours after twisting the cap off, it is still a good laugh throughout the family.

Trees, trains, reindeers, doves, not matter what the shape of your bottle is or how pretty the bottle looks –always know that with one twist of the cap, dangerous fumes release into the air, not quite deadly –but definitely unpleasant.

Although in my family re-gifting is the joke of Christmas Day, it is something people have done more than known. But the thing people tend to forget about is it is the thought that counts, not technically where it came from –or how many presents are under the tree. But I do agree with Jordan, “One man’s trash is another man’s treasure!”