Yes, I did. Not once, but four times. I spent all these years thinking it was a terrible, nasty thing to do, but, you know, all the stuff you see and read finally wore me down. So I did it. And it was great! I'll do it again and again, every chance I get!

I'm speaking, of course, of re-gifting. But you knew that, didn't you? After all these years, I realized that every year some gifts are like the leftovers in the refrigerator -- you know, the ones you don't use but you can't throw away with a clear conscience until they are evolving into an intelligent life form. I would hang on to them, tell myself I'd use them someday, and eventually donate them to charity. (The gifts, not the leftovers.)

I started innocently enough. I bought myself a DVD player and case, thinking I would leave it in my trunk, and play exercise tapes on it when I was on trips. Then Guppy pointed out that my laptop plays DVDs. Now if there's one thing I don't need, it's more stuff to haul into the hotel room. I was ready to return it when I noticed that the case unzipped into a little shelf, and by attaching it to the back of the front car seat, you could entertain whiny children in the back seat. Light bulbs over the head! The Professor's son does not have a DVD player in his car! The perfect gift! So I wrapped it up for them. See, it wasn't totally re-gifting. Just because I didn't originally buy it with them in mind didn't make it leftovers.

Ah, what a slippery slope rationalization is. The next thing I knew, I received a mobile work station, which is actually storage on wheels, that I apparently won at Employee Appreciation Day. Without a moment's hesitation, I slipped a large gift bag over it and put Guppy's name on it.

I also won a clock that makes bird sounds every hour when I was at the factory in December. I left it behind, but they shipped it to me. I debated that one for a while, but decided the Prof's DIL would like it. I think she did. She grinned from ear to ear.

Then I did the unthinkable. Someone brought me a lovely Christmas soap dispenser and hand towel. It was really nice, but I already have two Christmas soap dispensers that I usually forget to put out, and it was a totally different theme than the one(s) I already have going. So when I realized that the Prof's daughter's present is a day at a spa, leaving her nothing to open, I whisked out the bag, wrote her name on the fortunately blank tag, and gave it to her, towel, soap dispenser, bag, confetti and all. I suspect I may burn in hell for that one, or at least have a lot of explaining to do to St. Peter. But she seemed very pleased with it, and, I think, quite surprised at how much my taste had improved.

So there you have the story of my descent into re-gifting. So come on, tell me, have you done it, too?