My favorite part of Christmas is the joy of opening the most absurd gifts and trying to rationalize what the gift giver was thinking.

Like the time I was completely baffled by a pair of leopard-print stretch pants. Do I look like a lady of the night, because I certainly can't wear those things during the day?

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Or what about the year I got a Nintendo 64 for Christmas? Umm I was 27. Yes, I occasionally played Mario Kart with my younger brother, but did that mean I needed my own game system? My dad thought so.

Last but not least, one year I got tires from the man who is now my husband. Trying to hang those from my ears got to be very painful.

Nevertheless, we all accept our ill-fitting gifts with a smile and remember "it's the thought that counts." NASCAR drivers are no different. They too receive hilarious holiday items and live to tell about it.

"I got a telescoping fork one year. It extended so that you could eat off of someone else's plate," said Stewart-Haas Racing driver Ryan Newman.

Well Ryan, if you still have said fork maybe you can use it to poke Tony Stewart in the rear when he gets too mouthy. I don't want to encourage violence inside the NASCAR garage, but we need to find utility for some of these misfit toys found under the Christmas tree.

Speaking of usefulness, the Christmas gift Kurt Busch received from his parents as a young boy is most endearing. While his friends were opening baseball gloves and comic books, little boy Busch opened a ... wait for it ... squeegee!

When Kurt and his brother Kyle Busch were growing up, the family ran a tool sales and delivery business in Las Vegas. The boys did all the ordering, inventory, delivery and customer service. Washing the delivery truck thoroughly was one of the most important jobs.

"A 13-year-old kid might have opened up a present that had a squeegee in it and said, 'What the heck is this?' Not me. I knew exactly what it was and what I was supposed to do with it," Kurt said. "When I remember those times, though, I have to be thankful. It instilled in me the desire to always keep things neat and clean.

“

I had a relative buy me a horrendous looking plaid sweater vest in high school. There was no way I would've worn that thing in public.

”

-- MARTIN TRUEX JR.

"But when I think back on getting that squeegee, it reminds me of nothing but hard work, which I really don't mind, but as a 13-year-old kid, it sure did cut into any play time that I had with the other kids in the neighborhood. Using the squeegee on the truck was one thing, but you can imagine where it went from there. Our home always had the cleanest windows of any house in Vegas."

Stories such as these encourage me to be more appreciative of the tires I received, because practical gifts are underrated. That doesn't mean, however, men can get away hiding a bottle of wrapped Mop 'n' Glo under the tree. Let's be serious.

And there's nothing more serious than the gift that can potentially cause public humiliation. I have at least two sweaters and three purses in the back of my closet right now that fit this description -- and so does Martin Truex Jr.

"I had a relative -- I won't say which one -- buy me a horrendous looking plaid sweater vest in high school. There was no way I would've worn that thing in public," Truex said.

These presents are priceless for re-gifting or eBay.

Apparently, the worst gift Clint Bowyer received was so horrible the driver barely could find the words to describe it only stating, "It was something flannel."

Some things are better off forgotten I suppose. But the most heartbreaking gift ever received was given to David Ragan as a young boy.

The Georgia native is an avid hunter and you can imagine his excitement the year he found a BB gun under the tree. Fortunate for young David, he never had the chance to "shoot his eye out," because the BB was yet another misfit toy.

"It broke the first day I used it," Ragan said.

Bottom line -- Christmas is not about presents. We are all old enough to know that Christmas is about peace on earth and good will. That said, I shall surely perish if my husband gets me anything labeled KitchenAid as opposed to Kate Spade!

Kidding! Happy Holidays everyone!

The opinions expressed are solely those of the writer.