Do you get gifted things the giver knows you don't like?

My mil (who is no longer with us) spent the first decade of marriage collecting boyds bears figurines for me. Every gift giving occasion came with a resin boyds bear statue. I don't collect anything. I don't have a single knick knack anywhere in my home. I don't enjoy them and I don't want them. I tried to be polite. But then she tried to insist that I display them in my living room. I then admitted I didn't really care for them, but she never stopped buying them for me. When she died there were several more in her home in boxes for me. I gave them all to a friend who did collect them and was happy to have them.

Well we can't spit on someone but if we could I would so do this to your ex-MIL. OMG I can't believe she would say this about you and I want to yell at her for even thinking it! Who says stuff like this? I realize not all Christians are bad and there are millions of wonderful ones. She just sounds coo coo for cocoa puffs.

Just from my MIL, but you already knew that from the other thread.

The year I received slippers from her, before I had even opened them she said, "they're slippers. I know you don't wear slippers or like them, but I don't like seeing your feet".

When I receive an ugly purse, "I know you don't carry purses like this but I thought, hey! it's bright orange!" (I don't like bright orange)

When I receive sweaters, they are always the wrong size. When I'm fat, she buys size small and says, "ooh, I didn't realize you were so big". When I'm thin, she buys large/XL, and says, "wow, I didn't realize you'd lost so much weight.". We see them several times a year. She COULD call DH and find out what size I'm wearing, but that would mean she couldn't get a size dig in!

She also removes all store tags from clothing before giving it to me, so it's usually impossible to return.

Etc, etc, etc. I could go on and on.

My husbands grandmother used to give the worst and the best gifts.  It is kinda crazy. There were Christmases that she gave nice gifts and then there were those oh what the hell made her buy that Christmases. 

One Christmas I got this red lace night gown and robe. Something that a husband would buy a wife. one Christmas she gave my daughter a tv/vcr combo for her room... She was 5 years old... I was so pissed at this one....  she gave us a kitchenaid stand mixer one year the next she bought my husband and I clothes. I had to send back all the clothes she bought. They were all 3 sizes too small. It was like she wrapped them and forgot who's they were and put my name on them. 

The year she passed away. She had her daughter(husbands mom) take her shopping. She bought all the adult kids and grandkids digital cameras(when they were still too high to buy yourself) for Christmas that year. She bought all the great grand kids trampolines except for the granddaughter who lived in Montana she got ski stuff. It was weird because She passed away a couple days before Thanksgiving and while we were their my mother in law gave all of us our gifts so we could bring them home and she didn't have to ship them. We knew what it was so we unwrapped it in the car on the way home. I took pictures all the way home. That was a long car ride from Utah to Oregon. 

My mom... as much as I loved her could do really weird and crazy gifts to people. she didn't have much money and for more years than not she made things for people. 
 She would make fudge and banana bread. which was great but she always froze ours because she didn't want them to go stale we usually went up after Christmas to visit her.  The banana bread was always soggy and gross by the time I got it home and it thowed out in the car.  for about 5 years she made scarves and hats for every body. I didn't like any of them... I don't wear stocking caps so I got the scraves... but she always made weird colored and beaded and ugly scarves. 

Oh Lavender! I feel so bad for you. I've been on the receiving end of that sort of nasty behaviour. When dh and I first got together, my dad had been really hurt by the church we had gone to almost all of my life. My dad was on the board and gave lots of money to them. Then my parents decided to send me to Bob Jones Academy for the rest of high school because the local schools were so awful, and my mom was getting over her head in homeschooling. 

The church found out and "excommunicated" us. My dad just stopped going to church. I really liked dh's parents when I met them and thought that they would be a good testimony. Instead FIL kept sending my dad all these Christian self help books with dh when he would come visit. 

FIL never tried to befriend my dad or even talk to him. Just sent the books. Dh tried not giving them to my dad, but FIL got so angry at dh. So I suggested dh just tell my dad that he was being forced to give them. It became a running joke, and my dad really admired my dh for how he handled it. 

My MIL used to give me clothes. Things I would never wear in bigger sizes. When I gained a lot of weight after I got sick, my MIL loved to point out that I needed to shop with her and SIL in the "women's" department. I was never that size because I'm taller and carry my weight evenly. 

My MIL did change, and she is now like a mother to me. I just kept my mouth shut and tried to be gracious--not for me, but for dh. They were still his parents, and dh has always been kind to my crazy mom. 

My mom also gives strange gifts. She doesn't like my boobs, so she's constantly giving me "camisoles" that are either too big or too small, and she keeps insisting on giving me french wire earrings that are way too little for my ears. Then she asks why I don't wear them. She's also gotten upset at things I've gotten her--when they weren't right or something.

One year when we had no money, I ordered some items off a soap making site to make a huge thing of bubble bath--which my mom loved. I was really sick right before Christmas and the order got backordered, so I had to mix some of it at her house. Boy did she make me feel bad about that. Dh was furious. On the other hand, my dad was so gracious. 

My dh's grandfather was the best gift giver. I think it bothered MIL that he "adopted" me because then he wanted me to come for Christmases. Dh wasn't that close with most of his cousins, and the one that was local was really into porn, so he was so lonely. Grandpa insisted that I come for Christmas the year dh and I got engaged. MIL was furious. I was expecting no gifts or anything or a little gift, which was all fine with me. I was treated like a full grandchild--even in the will. My MIL didn't like change. Dh and I are also more observant than the other relatives, so we actually did stuff with grandpa and wanted to hear his stories. Grandpa loved showing me around. 

I cannot recall ever receiving a gift that the giver didn't truly feel I would enjoy. There may have been a few misses here & there over the years, but for the most part, I have always enjoyed my gifts, just as the giver hoped.

I'm so glad she had the courage to say it because.... I don't like seeing your feet, either, Ashley.

I'm sorry, that just made me laugh. In a kind way, I promise.

I don't really have anyone that buys for me other than DH and he isn't a bad gift giver.

I can't believe your ex mil did that! I'm really sorry...must have been tuff dealing with thag year after year. The smartass in me would have shown up the following year with some satanic t shirt on just to give them something to talk about

My boss, who really likes me, went to Germany and brought me back coffee. I have worked with him for 9 1/2 years and I don't like coffee. I feel like he should know this. I maintain the coffee machine and sometimes he has to remind me to order coffee stuff or fill it. My response "Oh sorry, since I don't drink it sometimes I forget to notice." MANY TIMES over the years. We go to lunch frequently, dinner and breakfast occasionally, he always orders an after meal coffee, I obviously NEVER DO!

I didn't need a souvenir from Germany but toting back a 1 lb bag of coffee for me actually hurt my feelings. The lack of awareness. I kept waiting for him to ask me if I liked it, nope, didn't care I guess.

I don't since my dh's stepmonster died.

I don't think it was on purpose by I was perplexed by my dad giving me a tabletop infrared oven. I have a viking range with 6 burners, a griddle and a full and half size oven which is also a convection oven. I have absolutely no use for it.

Ha ha, the relative I am describing also likes to remove tags before giving, so I thought, but it turned out that said relative was regifting used things .  Although that did help explain why nothing ever fit either myself or dh.

Nope. I don't.

OMG - My MIL must have been your MIL's twin.  One year I we had just redone our kitchen and I had bought new towels to match - pale blue and brown.  She handed me her gift at Christmas, announced it was kitchen towels, they were purple.  Bright Barney purple.  I used them to wash the dog.    One year she gave me a seriously ugly pullover sweater (I never wear those), to "replace the old, worn out sweater I usually wear"  Yes, she was a jewel.