How do you tend to react when you are given a gift?

Like I’m embarrassed.

As a general rule with happiness if I like it. With feigned happiness if I don’t. I would usually try to act pleased with the gift.

It does depend who the present giver is as well. If it was a member of my family and I had gone to great lengths to make sure they knew what I wanted (I am not easy to buy for) and they disregarded my advice and bought something they thought I would like. I may tell them I don’t like it. This has actually happened when my husband bought me a handbag. I had shown him a range of handbags I liked at various price levels, and when I opened my present on my birthday it was something totally different and I really did not like it and I was very disappointed. It wasn’t cheap handbag but it was in a style I would never carry. So I had to say, “I don’t like this”. To my embarrassment, I wasn’t terribly gracious on that occasion. Not my proudest moment.

It depends on the person giving the present but I’m usually touched that someone has thought of me. So, surprise, followed by glee :-)

I’m all “dude, sweet!”

I look into their eyes, smile, and say thank you very much.

“Oh, boy. Oh, boy. Oh, boy. Thank you very much. That is sooo nice.” If it is wrapped nicely, I compliment the wrapping as I rip into the paper. If it has a really nice bow or ribbon, I save that. I try to make a personal comment that ties the gift to me and/or the person giving the gift.

For Christmas, my stepdaughter made me the most beautiful book of photos of when they were here in Florida this past summer. The front cover is my 2 and ½ year old granddaughter sitting on our golf cart. When I saw the front photo on the book, I started crying. She knew how special that silly conversation between my and my granddaughter is about coming back to see Granny and riding in her golf cart.

I thank them.

I get so excited!! And I thank them. If it’s wrapped nicely then I get even more excited!

Very thankful and happy.

I have no expectations on how someone else reacts to my gifts.

Laughs, :) My first thought is to make sure I make the gift giver feel good. My mother’s side of the family can be really clueless when it comes to gifts. “Yes Mom, the rooster lamp is really nice or Yes the battery powered crescent wrench will work great” give you an idea? So I always thank them and let them know I love them.

Happy and thankful. I like people I gift to thank me in return also, it just feels good to get affirmation that they feel a little bit of the surprise, joy or whatever that I intended. When people don’t thank me then I think I didn’t choose or plan well.

“Aaaaaah, you shouldn’t have….thank you so much!”

I’m not a very good actor, and so when I’m disappointed, I can not hide it, no matter how hard I have tried. So people never give me presents they didn’t carefully check out with me first. Hell, I usually buy my wife’s presents for me.

Part of the problem is that I tend to want pretty specific, expensive things. If you make a mistake, it’s a real pain. Even if you don’t make a mistake, it can be a pain.

I try to be as appreciative as I can. This year, my daughter gave me a pretty cool present. She’s a smart cookie. She went through our old photos on the computer, and printed out ones of both her and me, and then she arranged them on a board and framed it. She believes in making things, and understands they make a big difference, and is willing to put in the work to get it done. Amazing girl!

I was appreciative of that. It was easy. I just took time to look it over and discuss each photo. It’s the first surprise present I got that I liked in a long time. Except I think it wasn’t a surprise. I need to learn to keep my mouth shut sometimes. We have a tradition of trying to guess presents, and she asked me to guess it a day or so before Christmas.

I honestly had no idea, but I said something like “a set of pictures in a frame.” I was just tossing if off, but the sudden look of disappointment on her face told me maybe I hit it on the nose. I need to learn to be a bit more ridiculous, I guess.