{"id":138,"date":"2005-11-30T15:41:05","date_gmt":"2005-11-30T19:41:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.law.harvard.edu\/sweetpea\/2005\/11\/30\/gifted\/"},"modified":"2006-04-28T00:39:36","modified_gmt":"2006-04-28T07:39:36","slug":"gifted","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/sweetpea\/2005\/11\/30\/gifted\/","title":{"rendered":"Gifted"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/a><\/p>\n

We picked names for our Secret Santa gift exchange at work today. Until last year, apparently each attorney on my litigation team used to get gifts for all the other attorneys on the team, but we moved to a Secret Santa system because the team had gotten too large (it’s a given that we’re all expected to get gifts for our secretaries and other support staff).\u00a0 JP2 is in charge of the Secret Santa exchange this year. We’ve picked our names but haven’t determined a price range yet (my Secret Santa giftee, btw, is JP1). Apparently, JP2 had discussed it with A1 and had tentatively suggested $100 but asked her to consult with A2 and I (the only other junior associates on the team) because, “Well, you guys are the ones the limit’s really for.” I think it’s sweet that the partners are worried about whether we can afford the $100 gift with our low six figure salaries.\u00a0 =)<\/p>\n

I always find Christmas time to be a bit awkward. Mostly because of the gifts thing. I just don’t have a talent for it.\u00a0 Some people are really good at it and enjoy the whole process.\u00a0 To me, gift exchanges are fraught with peril. A minefield of potential hurt emotions and disappointment. As I mentioned, I’m horrible at buying gifts for other people (since I\u2019m too easily distracted with things I want).\u00a0 I’m also horrible at knowing who I’m supposed to give gifts to.<\/p>\n

Gift giving isn’t just about who you want to give gifts to but about who you expect will give you a gift (and therefore expect one in return). Sadly, I think gift giving requires a level of awareness of others and a sensitivity I’m just incapable of.\u00a0 Or perhaps ignoring it just requires a level of insensitivity which I’m also incapable of.\u00a0 Every year, I end up with gifts from people I didn’t expect to give me anything and end up giving gifts to people who didn’t get me anything. I don’t particularly care except the uneven exchange of gifts is often riddled with awkwardness and insincere declarations of, “Oh, you shouldn\u2019t have!” and “Um, I left your gift at home by mistake.” I\u2019m pretty good at ignoring awkwardness (or at least acknowledging it and generally alleviating it) but not everyone is and, in this instance at least, denial is a joint effort.\u00a0<\/p>\n

I realize Christmas is not all about gift giving and material things (*cue Hallmark theme music*), but Christmas\u00a0gifts have become an acknowledged means of showing gratitude for the people we care about. Unfortunately, I don’t have an endless supply of time, money and patience (or even a limited supply actually) so not everyone’s going to get the perfect gift. Maybe when I’m more organized and prepared and buy gifts at some point before December 24th. Until that time\u2026um\u2026your gift’s in the mail.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We picked names for our Secret Santa gift exchange at work today. Until last year, apparently each attorney on my litigation team used to get gifts for all the other attorneys on the team, but we moved to a Secret Santa system because the team had gotten too large (it’s a given that we’re all […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":110,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[171,174],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-138","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-friends-family-and-everyone-in-between","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/sweetpea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/sweetpea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/sweetpea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/sweetpea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/110"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/sweetpea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=138"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/sweetpea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/sweetpea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=138"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/sweetpea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=138"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/sweetpea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=138"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}