'My husband bought me the worst ever gift for Christmas – I just wanted a book'
Many would agree the 'true' spirit of Christmas lies not in the gifts we unwrap but in the precious moments shared with family and friends, creating memories that last a lifetime.
However, when you receive a particularly disappointing gift from someone who should know you inside out, it's hard to hide the letdown.
One woman has openly branded her husband as "c**p at gifting", revealing he outdid himself last Christmas by straying from the usual safe bets of chocolates and socks, opting instead for a £11.99 disaster. Taking her grievances to Mumsnet, she questioned whether she was being too harsh on herself for feeling this way, concerned about coming across as "ungrateful".
READ MORE: Amazon's huge Cadbury Heroes 2kg chocolate box deal is cheaper than supermarkets
READ MORE: Russell Grant's horoscopes as Capricorn told close friend will have unexpected news
Describing it as the "worst Christmas present" ever, she posted on Christmas Day 2023: "I feel ungrateful but also very disappointed. My husband is c**p at gifting, but this really takes the biscuit. I am a 53-year-old woman, and we have been together for 26 years. He bought me a periscope. Am I being unreasonable to be disappointed and ungrateful?"
Periscopes, available on Amazon for a mere £11.99, are described by Britannia as devices where "a periscope includes two mirrors or reflecting prisms to change the direction of the light coming from the scene observed: the first deflects it down through a vertical tube, the second diverts it horizontally so that the scene can be viewed conveniently" - making it quite the unusual Christmas gift choice.
The recipient clearly had no desire for the periscope; her complaint about it led to a massive 87% of people agreeing she was justified in feeling disappointed with her Christmas present.
In the comments section, others shared their experiences of receiving less-than-ideal gifts, with one woman recounting: "I have a December birthday, and a couple of years ago, my mother-in-law got me an iron for my birthday and an ironing board for Christmas."
Another commented: "Wow. That is bad and really, really odd. Why on Earth did he think that was a good choice? Is this a case of him wanting a periscope?" To which the original poster replied: "He thought I might like it to look out of the skylight! I would have preferred one of the books I asked for."
Some dubbed the gift "outstandingly weird," questioning if the original poster had ever expressed "any interest in looking out of the skylight".
One mum revealed her son's grandma gifted him a "Barbie car air freshener", despite him being "as masculine as they come", highlighting how some people's idea of presents can be quite "odd".
