Finally, the Christmas season is over. We can take a long breath, put up our feet, sip from a cup of good tea and relax. The frenzy, starting from Black Friday right after Thanksgiving until Christmas Eve, of gift shopping, buying, wrapping, giving, receiving, opening, returning... is exhaustive and time-consuming, but it takes place every year.
There is considerable difference between the cultures in China and western countries when it comes to gift giving. In China, it is not polite to open a gift in front of the gift giver, and gift is only looked at after the guest has left. Here in America, gift givers always wrap their gifts, large or small, priceless or valueless, carefully and decorate them with colorful ribbons and little pretty paper flowers; and the lucky receiver is expected to open the gift right away in front of the giver, with great eagerness and curiosity, and should always express appreciation with the all time truthful comment, "this is just exactly what I wanted!" Well, as a matter of fact, most people would take their "always wanted" gifts back to the store to exchange for something they really wanted.
Finding a gift for somebody, even a close family member, you"ll have to know what the person likes and shop for days before you can locate the perfect gift. But, still the person may not like the gift from you. Nowadays, stores would provide two copies of the receipts for anything they sell as a gift, one of which is included in the gift package so that the receiver can come back for an exchange. I know, it was unthinkable to cash out gift you get, but, times are different. Another good way to avoid all that shopping hassle is to purchase a gift card from one of the stores and send it to your niece, nephews, or a family member, so that they can get whatever they want or even keep the money.Gift giving is the same thing in China and America in that （）.