I liked what I got. All I can say for those dissatisfied with well-meaning presents: just smile and say thanks!
I gave my father a gift certificate for a high-end apparel chain (think Paul Stuart, Hugo Boss, etc.). He’s bought plenty of things there before.
He gave the gift card back to me, saying that he had no use for it, and asked for a replacement gift!
We have gotten so practical at our house. We typically exchange lists & internet links of things we like. We do add a few things that we are quite certain will be enjoyed, but most items come from the list. Works great for us. As much as we love each other, none of us are mind readers.
This year DH and I bought ourselves an expensive piece of art, so Christmas morning itself was rather paltry, especially because our kids weren’t home. However, we did sit on the couch in the living room and stare at the artwork for quite some time. That worked.
No weird gifts here. But the strangest one I ever got was DH’s adult nephew giving me a DVD of a single episode of the Andy Griffith Show. I never liked that show to begin with and a single episode? Really? Just give me a couple of dollars and call it good. Now that said nephew has a wife the gifts to everyone have improved.
A dented tin containing seven varieties of nuts - not wrapped, no bow, no gift tag, no accompanying Merry Christmas. Yes, we know who gifted it and he should have done better.
@suburbmom I think you win. An electric stapler without the plug???
@SuburbMom ((hugs))).
I have taken to emailing direct links to items with specific colors wanted in order of preference. 
DH did fairly well this year. He normally will buy me several gifts of food items but they are never name brand candies or teas so they never have good flavor. I have gotten a large $5.00 popcorn tin from him as well. Over the years he will have gotten me jewelry in yellow gold when I always wear white gold. I have pointed out some blanket throws in the past. One was a winnie the pooh christmas throw. I ended up with one where he was fishing. I also wanted one one year that was stars and moons. I got a green throw with trout on it. Now he pretty much sticks to my list but will still get sizes and colors wrong.
I did get a dvd from him this year that I will be returning. Mike and Dave need wedding dates. Why he ever thought I would want to watch this I will never know.
my FIL (85) knits. it keeps him busy all fall. We love the scarves, mittens, hats and etc. that he makes us all each year.
but - it’s odd. the left over yarn he makes into headbands. the headbands are usually about the size of a bracelet. they dont fit anyone or anything. I have 14 of them that he gave me this year. No idea what to do with them!
Looks like I’m in good company here. This is our third married Christmas together. The first year he went crazy and I was very upset because he spent so much $$ (although I really liked all my gifts, especially the jewelry). Last year he tried really hard but he noticed that I didn’t wear/use the things he bought for me so he begged me for a list this year. Against everything I believe in lol, I posted a list on the fridge for anyone that cared to look at it. I know that my D gave a copy to my mother and son. There were a dozen things on it, from a $12 manicure to a $65 bottle of perfume. I got one thing on the list and that was from my daughter which she supplemented with a couple of small items that I really like.
My husband bought me two pair of very expensive Ralph Loren pajamas, a Nautica bathrobe, and Pandora jewelry that I don’t like. He knows I detest labels and the all have the company emblem on the breast. He also knows that I dont wear pajamas because I am 5’1 and they are always at least 4" too long. He bought me a few other things that I can’t even imagine what he was thinking. So much for the list. And yes, I hurt his feelings this morning when I told him I was taking the pjs and robe back and wanted the receipts, not the gift receipt because I never shop at that particular store. He begrudgingly gave it to me.
I have many friends that purchase their own gifts, wrap them and put them under the tree. I always said I would never do that. I guess the other alternative is to stop gift-giving between us or hurt his feelings. I just can’t throw $400 gifts into the closet and forget about them. I’m really at a loss.
Hold the phone! Maybe those aren’t headbands at all - could they be for slipping onto a hot paper cup of coffee, you know, like the cardboard sleeve you get at Starbucks? That would explain the small size and the large number.
I have learned that if I don’t give my husband a list , I could end up with things that I don’t care for or are my taste. This was the first time in several years that I didn’t get anything for my kitchen other than a few small stocking stuffers. I liked a few sweaters from Sundance and my husband got all of them ! He didn’t think they were " fun " gifts but I really love them. He is a gadget guy so he got a few gifts for me that are really for him 
and that is fine with me. We have some feral cats that stay around our house and we both have taken an active roll in keeping them fed and warm. He got an automatic feeder for them so that the food goes to them and not the nocturnal creatures that roam.
Also a heated bed for them that we put in one of our sheds. Also, wireless cams that he set up around the property so that we can watch the animals.
No weird gifts this year at all
A chocolate bar. I am close to diabetic.
^^^OMG.
Only oddity at our house was a big bottle of blueberry syrup from my mom “in honor of our vacation.” This past July we went to Bar Harbor for a week, and invited my parents to come along. Before we came home, we stopped at Hannaford so she could get something for the women she meets for breakfast once a month, and she bought six or eight bottles of blueberry syrup. D suspects that she ended up with one too many and so pawned it off on us. Not a terrible gift or anything, just weird as we were with her when she bought it…for someone else.
Nephew received from MIL (his grandmom) a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles racetrack with “Ages 3 and up” prominently displayed on the box. Nephew is 14. It was like watching a cartoon in fast motion; first he looked puzzled, then slightly shocked, and then quickly summoned up a smile and a thank you. His mom gamely chimed in with, “Oh, the Turtles! Everyone loves them!” thus quashing what could have been a really awkward moment. I did tell him later, quietly, that I was impressed with how polite he’d been.
I am someone who will order a few gifts I’d like and then when they arrive at the door pass them onto D2 to wrap for me. I admit to being sort of difficult to buy for - I prefer shopping on my own - but at the same time I am always a bit disappointed that H can’t come up with a small gift or two that would be something I would like.
This year the only thing that really came from him to me was an assortment of Burt’s Bees lip balm. Right. And the topper is that he had called me a few weeks ago and said, “the kids told me you’re the one that likes Burt’s Bees - what flavors should I get for you?” - so in summary, it wasn’t a “surprise” and the only reason he got them is that Rite Aid had some type of rebate going on. So yeah, that was my “weird” gift.
And to think I thought MAYBE he would get the hint that I would love a new iPad!
Why would it go against “Everytumg I believe in” to provide a list of gifts you would like? Even those closest to us can’t read our minds. The fairy tale idea that somehow they should be able to divine exactly what would be perfect for us time after time (Xmas, Valentine’s, birthday, anniversary) and year after year is ridiculous and unattainable. I bet that list was posted with a sigh and an “if I must…” attitude that told them clearly that what you REALLY wanted was them to figure out something not on the list. Relationships are hard enough; setting up the other party for failure by being coy about your expectations & desires just adds to it.
Asking feels crass. I think we all harbor a secret wish that someone knows us so well that we don’t have to ask for what we want.
Weirdest gift was a very very large wood button (7 inch diameter) with a loop- I guess it’s meant to be an ornament? Or decoration? From my boss’s wife. Also from her, a strange angel porcelain figurine that is so cheaply made, it won’t even stay standing up. My co-worker received similar gifts so we had a private chuckle.
Well, maybe our attitude toward Christmas gift-giving is weird; we don’t give gifts to anyone, except our son. DH and I gave up giving gifts to each other many years ago as anything we want or need we just get when we need it. I don’t see the point of telling him I’m out of a particular perfume or want a particular bracelet, for example, just so he can buy it, wrap it, and put it under the tree. We don’t exchange Christmas gifts with family or friends either, haven’t for at least twenty years. After some stressful Christmases early in our marriage and some very bad gifts, DH and I suggested that we stop the madness altogether, save our money and sanity, and agree that each family just focus gift-giving on its immediate members, and we’d simply enjoy each other’s company over the holidays. Not one family/member pushed back, so now we enjoy meals and Christmas movie-watching together but keep the retail to our own kids.