At the Present Moment

Christmas is a time of gift-giving, whether it be goodwill or capitalism that compels one. People who don't get any gifts would feel being unloved, and hence it has almost become a duty to give gifts to people you love (or at least are supposed to love, if modern wisdom has come to bear) even if it means slipping them fifty-dollar notes under the table at the family dinner. Though I think money is the most imaginative of gifts (because it provides the most opportunities, like the imagination) many people think that giving an original gift that the receiver surely would like is the best thing to do. Good intentions, while arising from thoughtfulness, have been the root cause of many awful things, like the atomic bomb or watermelon liquer. Hence arises the culture of fencing goods that other people thought that you would love.

Present recycling, or re-gifting is, like many other scientific but ultimately useless things, an art, for, before turning one's nose up at a present and hastily repackaging it for its new destiny, there are many considerations to be made. A quick ethical check reveals no inherent moral short-comings, for a present received becomes property and with that the free rein to do what one pleases with it. From an economic viewpoint there is market efficiency, for designer shoe polish might actually get to someone who cherishes it (though it might take decades).

Then a careful removal of the old wrapping paper, an inspection for hidden, personalised notes that may or may not have crudely drawn hearts on them before the final presentation. This is what mini-nightlights, tartan scarves and celebrity cookbooks were made for. Of course, this can't become a habit, or there would never be sweaters with bunny motifs sold afresh again.

But as it is with all human interaction, things can become complicated. The two unwitting parties might find out in a rather red-faced moment, and they either feel cheated or unwanted.

This, and other horrors of opening your present to see one of your "re-gifts" coming back to bite you in the ass, are of course only a concern of those who have an established "under the Christmas tree" gift-giving tradition. For everything else, there's cash.