The ugly Christmas shirt held a message it took me years to understand | John Crace

This was the sludge-brown garment that absolutely no one wanted. But later I realised that the uncle who chose it for a self-centred young man had been right all along Call me perverse - or just plain ungrateful - but the present I remember most was the one I liked the least. Like most of us, I've been lucky enough to be on the right end of some tremendous presents, as well as on the wrong end of some fairly indifferent stuff. I've been overwhelmed with both generosity and futility. Once even at...