Christmas Loot

Now that it's the last week of the semester before school lets out for the holidays, gifts from students and parents are coming in. I've received gifts ranging from expensive baked goods from the shop of a luxury hotel (the least expensive room there costs $500 a night) to a chicken-shaped basket full of eggs. In the meantime, my husband receives gifts such as flowery, pretty, scented candles, and chocolates. Always interesting, always amusing.

Because most of these presents are not to our taste, and we don't want to lug them home or throw them out, or because there's just too much for us to use up before we leave for the holidays (like the eggs), we've decided to give them away to the janitorial staff at school, our cook, and our maid. We're not giving them to the school secretaries because they are all actually very wealthy and well-connected, and little gifts like these might insult them (they wouldn't say that to our face, of course). The people we give these things to will appreciate the gesture and know how to make use of the gifts. We already gave the basket of eggs to our maid, who has three little kids at home and is the sole earner in her household of five, and our cook got the tamarind juice concentrate because she probably knows how to use it in her cooking. 

Tamarind juice concentrate.

Very expensive cookies that tasted horrible.

A chicken full of eggs! Apparently, all these eggs are double-yolked. Former teachers of this student also received the same present in previous years, so her family must own a chicken farm or something.

Handiwork of my son's? No, these are made by a 16-year-old student for me and my husband. 

Different "flavors" of hand lotions from Crabtree & Evelyn.

These are the kinds of presents my husband has been getting: scented candles and a diffuser with scents and pretty candles. From his male students.