The Meaning of Gifts

Gift exchange is a part of our culture - one of the ways that we tell people who have a special place i our lives that they are special, that we care, that we want them to stay in our lives. Some of us play special roles with our gifts - we try to please, provide for, improve, make up for our own shortcomings, or just acknowledge the gift's receiver.

As the receiver, we want to be pleased. We want to have a heartfelt thank you to express to the gift's giver. But sometimes we aren't pleased. We might feel puzzled, confused, disheartened, or ambivalent.

These are some of the issues I'm studying with this survey on less than perfect gifts. Even if you've never received a gift you didn't love, please take a few moments to respond to the stories shared in the survey. And if you do have stories of your own, I hope you'll share those. All responses are anonymous, and the survey is completely voluntary (no penalty for not participating).

Visit http://bit.ly/GiftStories