I'm not sure just who exactly came up with the idea of the white elephant gift exchange. Maybe it was some poor guy that had just gotten a bunch of really bad presents for Christmas, and instead of moping about it, decided to make a game out of giving them away. Very resourceful of him, I think.
The path of a white elephant gift is quite interesting. Where does it begin? Mine began as something useful. My parents sent me extra batteries for my alarm clock when I went off to college in 2009. However, circumstances being what they were and my carefulness being what it is, I accidentally melted my alarm clock with my clip-on lamp, therefore rendering it useless. Meaning I didn't need batteries for it. So when I pulled out my options for a white elephant gift I saw batteries, crayons, a Speed Racer folder, and hot chocolate. Everyone said, "Take what you'll use the least . . . " And I said, "I don't use any of these things." (Except the crayons. I do use those, but I already had another box of them that was bigger. More selection, you know.) I searched for something that needed double A batteries, but I found nothing but my broken alarm clock. So, thinking that I would be a nice person and take something useful to a party for useless gifts, I wrapped the batteries with masking tape and last week's edition of my university's newspaper. Perfect!
While at the gift exchange, it recklessly changed hands several times, as is the nature of the game, eventually ending up in the hands of my pastor's wife. When asked why she picked the batteries over another gift, she said, "Do you know how many of my grandchildren have toys that need double A batteries?" She was quite pleased. And I was quite pleased, because, it is better to give than to receive. Thus, those batteries traveled halfway across the US, sat in a box for over a year, and eventually will be used to power the toys of happy children.
Isn't that a good ending for such a small object? I think so.
Wanna know what I got at the exchange?
m(r)
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Throw in your two cents worth! Every little bit helps :)