<human>: I know, this post reeks of ungratefulness in magnitudes. Despite the salient virtues of the season, reality occasionally betrays those motives of our loved ones that, err, lack.

Mine wasn't exactly a gift to me, but effects me. Some backstory: My mother has been attempting to train my stepfather from his money-spending habits for years now. Unfortunately he's an unstoppable force of cud-chewing, bovine instincts fueled on pure heart. They have a small, artificial fish and turtle pond in their yard that houses some red-eared sliders unceremoniously left to them by my brother who moved away years ago. My mother's been taking care of them for years and she's sick of it. Being a huge animal lover, I can't bring myself to just abandon them. Basically, turtles raised in captivity become Plague Turtles (not the ninjitsu-learning kind) and must not be released to infect others and ruin ecosystems. So for the past two to three years I've diligently cleansed their adequate filtration system twice a week to keep it running and the little guys happy until I find them a new home. It's a pain in the ass and the fish we have in there love to nestle in the filter, so I spend quite a bit of time meticulously trying to save each and every little fish and fry before cleaning commences.

So come Christmas day and my stepfather's gift to my mom is a brand new, very expensive filtration system for their tiny pond. Like, a $500 complicated array of Rube Golberg-ian proportions that's complete overkill. For a pond we've been trying to get rid of. For some turtles none of us want. That will (upon reading the manual) suck up and kill all the fish I've spent the past 2-3 years saving twice a week. That he had special ordered and can't return. That he insists on installing. That they can barely afford.

And really, we all know he got it because he loves spending money and tinkering with shit. It's his bowling ball with Homer engraved on it.

So, any similar Christmas present atrocities?

Could you distill the essence of the text into 1-3 sentences?
<bot>: stepfather bought an expensive fish-murdering machine to murder all the fish I've spent years lovingly raising to be my only friends.