Telltale Signs of the Closeness of Relationships

Tis the holidays, which naturally means that gifters are a-gifting and receivers are exclaiming their obvious (and sometimes overly exuberant and too obvious) appreciation for such well thought-out and/or lavish and/or exactly-what-I-need gifts from friends and family of various intimacy. Some gifts, of course, do fit the description, although a lot of the time those possibilities of re-gifting or please-please-please-let-this-come-with-a-gift-receipt seem too tempting. With the presents that I’ve received and given this Christmas it’s only fair that I give a breakdown. This would transfer to birthdays, too.

1)      Fragrances

Really? Really. I admit it, there are definitely times when I snagged a couple of body lotions from Bath and Body Works in lieu of actually spending time thinking about what to get for this one girl, but I sure know that the extent of this relationship will probably only proceed in a mostly academic direction. Candles, mists, and, of course, those huge containers of body butter that nobody with a college life (and therefore mostly lack of free time) would ever finish are reserved for newer friends and acquaintances with whom you’d like to keep in touch. Didn’t know what to get your best friend? If you know them well enough to call them your best friend you should probably spend a little more time before resorting to the Body Shop or Lush. Received fragrances from a supposedly close friend? It better be in your exactly fitted scent that you’ve either been using or dying to have.

Victoria’s Secret body butter. Nobody needs that much cream to put on themselves.

2)      Gift receipts

Opened a package to find a generic gift and a sheepish, unsure smile on the gifter’s face? We all know where this is going, especially if that sweater looks so disproportionate to you that you fight for any excuse not to try it on because the sizing is ridiculous. Better pray for a gift receipt in there, or at least someone from a different friend circle of that approximate size.

3)      Asking

Not surprisingly, my parents were the ones who asked me what I wanted for Christmas (a telltale sign that they don’t know me half as well as they thought). Of course, they told me that they’d been thinking of giving me the new $700 iPhone 5 (to which I politely declined; I’d much rather buy clothes than have an Apple phone that’ll break within 5 drops to the ground—no offence to all you Apple-lovers out there!), but it was evident that they thought the dollar amount of the new product would glaze over the fact that they really didn’t know what I want. You’d think my parents would know me better than that. They ended up offering to buy me fittingly cheap and on-sale Boxing Day items.

4)      Cards

image credit to tifotter on flickr.com

Also not surprisingly, the contents within cards (or the fact that it’s an actual card as opposed to those little notes that come with the gift bag) are likely to be the most telling of all. Got a “Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!” in an expensive, already-printed-with-nice-words Hallmark card? You probably wouldn’t be going shopping together for bras anytime soon. A long, drawn out, needing-an-attached-page-for-all-my-feelings that don’t repeat the same idea of joyful greeting ten times? You’ve got yourself a buddy there, no questions.