One of our favourite festive traditions is giving a present that's meant to show how much you care for a person, but actually shows the exact opposite.
"This is giving a present to London, the best present you can imagine," said Karel Lannoo, the chief executive of the Center for European Policy Studies, a research organization.
One tells of him being given a present of a Galápagos turtle.
One, recounted in the New Yorker this week, tells of him being given a present of a Galapagos turtle.
He knew he was to be given a present, but after being showered with silly string, was faced with every man's nightmare – carpet slippers.
One childhood friend, Laura Cecil, recalls being given a present of a scene from The Love Of Three Oranges, "which, of course, I had never heard of.
As he left, he was given a present - the name plaque from his door, with his title picked out in modern lettering.
A great movie will be just as good with mediocre titles, but if the titles are great too, it's as though the audience has been given a present.
She sat there with that chewed-in yet absent-minded smile on her face, as if she'd been given a present that she knew she'd like, even though she hadn't got the wrapping off it yet.
Days before the press conference, each of the 300 guests – analysts, journalists, investors and Amazon's most diehard of customers – was given a present: Bezos's favourite book, Mr Pine's Purple House.
She sounded a little disappointed, like she'd been given a present and then had it taken away.
