Results: Some people spend a lot of effort trying to find that special gift for a loved one, in some cases their spouse. Sometimes the gift is opened to cries of joy. Sometimes not. This survey is about gift giving and other Christmas disasters.

I was a big fan of The Beatles (still am) and had the hair, the boots, the fan magazines, the records and other stuff. It seemed quite reasonable to my parents that I would also like a copy of one of the suits The Beatles wore. The ones without the collars. I think even the Fab Four were too embarrassed to wear this for longer than it took to take the photographs. I appreciated the generosity but the reaction I got when I wore the suit at Christmas dinner confirmed my own when seeing The Beatles in it - just plain goofy. Have you ever received clothing as a gift that was unwearable (or some other word)?

There was a time when I had two girlfriends I was equally fond of and this caused financial difficulties at Christmas time gift buying. I wanted to buy my girlfriends each a friendship ring. I was a poorly paid bank clerk and had enough money for one ring but not enough for two. My solution seemed a good idea at the time. I went to an "ethnic" jewellers and bought two rings made from "Siamese Silver" for less than the cost of the one. They each loved their ring at first. Then their fingers started to turn green and I had some explaining to do. Have you ever given or received a gift of jewellery that backfired.

This next one is slightly different. One Christmas we decided to take everything for dinner to grandpa's house in the country (the meal, the dishes, the cutlery, linens etc). My parents had just bought a new dinner set and it was still in the boxes so this made it easier to transport to grandpas. The farmhouse kitchen had a stone floor. The bottom of the boxes must have been damp. The boxes gave way and the dinner plates ended up on the floor in pieces. In those days, stores in Scotland were open on Christmas day so we bought whatever plates we could find. Have you ever had a disaster like this and how did it work out in the end?

One of the Christmas traditions where the myth does not always match up to the reality is the visit to the mall with the kids to see Santa Claus. After a couple of hours of shopping in a crowded mall, everyone is tired and grumpy. It is perhaps inevitable then that the kids may not take kindly to their visit to an overweight (padding), sweaty, hairy guy in a used red suit who may also be in a bad mood. We have had some enjoyable visits when the kids were young but perhaps we were just lucky. How about you?

Did/would any of the events above prevent you from having A Merry Christmas. If they did I hope you have one this year. Merry Christmas!