Yesterday, hanging on our front door, was a anonymous wrapped gift, not addressed to anyone, but a note saying "on the first day of Christmas, there was light" and a scripture about Jesus being a light unto the world. Inside the package was a short set of Christmas lights. Today there was a bag with two Christmas cards in it, again not directed at any member of our family or even with our last name on it. The note read "on the second day of Christmas - two Christmas cards." Each card had a small square of chocolate in them. There was also some scripture I didn't bother to read on the note.

Even though I know someone is just doing this to be nice, or rather think they are being nice, it really bugs me. They are presuming too much - that I want their gifts or their scriptures. If it were family or a real friend, or maybe if we had very little kids, it might be cute. But all our family lives half an hour away (yes, we planned that) and wouldn't drive that far to drop by early in the a.m. with a gift. And most of our real friends wouldn't put scriptures on the gifts - even my religious friends wouldn't presume like that. It's got to be some Mormons who have decided to make our family a "project."

No one like being a project.

And I don't like getting gifts from people who almost certainly would never want to be my friends, even if I found out who was behind this. Most of the Mormons I'm friends with are either too busy or too scatter-brained to pull something like this off. That's probably why I sincerely like them :) I think another reason that it bugs me is someone, somewhere is talking about us, trying to figure out how to "help" us. It isn't sincere - it's proof of their gossipy, judgmental nature. I know they really think they are being nice and would be hurt if they knew how much they were bugging me. But it doesn't make them less annoying.

Leave a note directing them to give to those who are needy. And that the 12 days really rum from 12/25 to 1/6 on three kings day.

Amazing how many people don't get this.

Why not just leave them outside for 12 days. maybe they will get the message.

They think they can win people back with cheap little gifts.

None of that crap is worth the $ 10% gross they want to collect from you for the rest of your life.

Pathetic, and its not even a fun "church."

I would also leave a note saying they got it wrong, as the 12 Days go from Christmas Day to 1/6 or Epiphany.

Return the favor. for the three days of christmas, leave three cheap sex toys (whoever's doing this obviously needs to get laid) and a note with three good reasons for leaving the church.

Wait til day five and see if you get five CTR rings

I thought about regifting everything but nothing has been good enough to regift. Of course, we are only on day 2. The funny thing is, I wouldn't mind keeping the lights because I can probably use them but it would bug me every time I saw them. Maybe I'll put them in the gift basket we are giving my SIL's family for Christmas.

I would leave a card for your "secret santa" and either say, you are a person and not a project. Or how about a list of 12 truths about the mormon church?

That would bother me immensely too, CA girl!

There really ought to be a website called pestymormons.com or something... where people could upload videos of Mormons leaving stuff at people's doors and photos of stuff they've left. I think it would be funny. I love reading about what people find on their porches! :D And perhaps it make receiving the stuff less annoying.

I hope you update us about the rest of the 'days'!

I don't like the idea of anonymous religious nuts sneaking onto my porch and leaving little bits of junk and dumb-nut scripture.

This is obviously a manipulative effort to impress you in some way.

You didn't sign up for this and have no choice in it.

Cheryl, it's freezing outside now and the hose is frozen solid. What tactic would you use now to get those trifling Mormons off your property?

Put a small trash-can on your front porch with the items you have received thus far in it, clearly visible to whomever may come to your front door.

Maybe they will get the picture..

This.

I would do this absolutely and include a sign that says, "Please take back your gifts. I am not your project"

Leave a note saying "I consider this harassment. Please stop. From this day forward, all unwanted gifts will be thrown away unopened."

How about a good size note that says "NO THANKYOU"? It still bugs me that someone anonymously (ring and run) dropped off cookies on my doorstep after my daughter died. I can't be sure the sender was Mormon, but who else would think that was a good idea?

CA girl Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------

>
> And I don't like getting gifts from people who
> almost certainly would never want to be my
> friends, even if I found out who was behind this.
> Most of the Mormons I'm friends with are either
> too busy or too scatter-brained to pull something
> like this off. That's probably why I sincerely
> like them :) I think another reason that it bugs
> me is someone, somewhere is talking about us,
> trying to figure out how to "help" us. It isn't
> sincere - it's proof of their gossipy, judgmental
> nature. I know they really think they are being
> nice and would be hurt if they knew how much they
> were bugging me. But it doesn't make them less
> annoying.

My daughter lived in a neighborhood, (not mormon) where the neighbors would leave Halloween presents or Christmas presents (all the presents were just little tokens) around the neighborhood. They all did it. It was fun trying to guess who left what. My daughter did it as well.

No scripture though.

That's the thing - I can see situations where this would be fun and/or cute like in your daughter's neighborhood or if we had little kids and it was an aunt or cousin leaving stuff. But the scriptures and the lack of sincere people who might be gifting for fun, rather than manipulation, make it irritating rather than sweet or fun. But even so, I weirdly don't want to hurt the feelings of whomever is leaving it because I do think they honestly think they are being nice. Especially if it's a family with little kids leaving stuff and thinking they are being cute. I just visualize little kids, excited to leave tonight's gift, facing a note telling them to go away...

If I knew it was the Relief Society or my (non) Visiting Teachers or something, I'd tell them to knock it off. Maybe what I need is a motion-activated camera.

You need a motion-activated sprinkler!

I would find it both annoying and presumptuous.

I once received a ward newsletter for the local ward that I had never attended. It happened to be my birth month, and my name was on their list, right at the top of the page. How dare they ask other strangers to celebrate my most personal day? Infuriating.

Get up early and greet them with a shotgun in the dark from behind. That 'ka chunk' sound should get the desired response as you load it.

Do you have any friends who could lend you a motion-sensitive wildlife camera?

I'll have to ask around. I have a nephew who might.

I had this happen and found out I was their project by the 2nd "gift". I left a message on the door written on butcher paper they could not miss that read: "Please take these gifts to the women's shelter. I hope you know where that is. If you don't, you could never be my friend anyway.
The shelter was 5 miles down the road.

The family "gifting" us NEVER attended church. They were on the rolls, but never turned up, never baptized their kids. They were wonderful neighbors. They noticed we were poorer than church mice so our first Christmas there they brought over a Christmas tree.

We had always admired the dad's woodworking. He had a fold up plywood picnic table that we always admired. We didn't know who was sending the gifts until day 12 when the gift was one of those tables for us.

The fact that the ward looked down on these kind neighbors was one of many pointers to the exit we eventually took.

I've also been targeted for this. I'm not getting any cool gift, but at least a candycane isn't a complete waste of time. Mine are pissing me off because they all start with this paragraph:

"From 1558 to 1829, Roman Catholics in England were not permitted to practice their faith openly. Someone during that era wrote this carol as a catechism song for young Catholics. It has two levels of meaning: the surface meaning plus a hidden meaning known only to members of their church. Each element in the carol has a code word for a religious reality which the children could remember."

If you read the wiki on this, you can see within seconds that some guy made that whole story up!!!!! They probably read it in a stupid ensign, which is the same thing as fact right?

1st day: Partridge in a Pear tree WAS Jesus Christ
2nd day: two turtle doves were the old and new testaments

Right now I have a friend working on a photoshop image of jesus/partridge hybrid and I plan to display it on my door. I'm wracking my brains to figure out what to do because the person that drops these off rings the doorbell and runs. I want to return the gift of sharing MY beliefs with THEM. Any ideas?

If you could find out who was leaving it, you could gift them things like Starbucks Peppermint Mocha or a small cross for their wall or a statue of the Buddha. That's what I thought about doing.

It also bugs me that they don't address the packages. It doesn't say "To the "Smith's" or "To Joseph" or "To Emma." It could be the YM/YW to one of my kids for all I know. Not that it would make it better - it's probably for the whole family and that's probably implied. But still ...

Twelve days is too long for us... but for days 1 through 8, these would be okay:

8 comic books, 7 packs of smokes, 6 packs of two-four, 5 golden touques, 4 pounds of back bacon, 3 French toasts, 2 turtlenecks, and a beer... in a tree.

actually, I would be quite delighted to get all these free gifts AND be the cause of unneccesary frustration of TBMs after they realize that their $$ and time didnt buy me. Is that bad?

I know you don't want to hurt their feelings, but dropping off unwanted religious guilt gifts isn't exactly considerate. They obviously know you have left the church, so this is the very definition of a passive aggressive act: They pretend to leave "gifts" but they go against your beliefs and your stated desire to leave the church. Because the manipulation is disguised as pretty packages and includes sweet-sounding words, it makes YOU appear ungracious if you reject them. It's almost a no-win situation. THAT'S what passive aggression is all about.

So . . . .

how about

"Dear secret Santa,

I no longer subscribe to Mormonism and so your daily "gifts" are wasted here. Please bestow your generosity on a more pliable victim."

Just kidding. Don't say that last part.

How about:

"Sorry, but these gifts make be feel very uncomfortable, and I won't accept any more. I've left the church, and this comes off as an attempt to undermine my beliefs. Please respect my privacy and my right to choose my own beliefs."



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/16/2013 12:51AM by imaworkinonit.

Leave out a little card addressed to the Christmas elf - each day put in another section of the CES letter - and sign it exmormon.org

once they look that up you should be on a black list.

Otherwise, keep leaving them out, chances are they have assigned different people for each day, and one may actually read it or look it up.

Back in the 80's, the 12 days of Christmas was completely different. Someone would be chosen because their family was struggling financially. There were no scriptures and garbage gifts or bugging exes. The gifts weren't expensive, but they were enough to exite the kids for 12 days which helps a lot when your family is broke.