A few days ago Imagethief, in maximum Grinch mode, wrote a long rant on the miserable office ritual of "secret santa" gift programs. In that post I agonized about how awful I am at buying cheap presents for people I don't know.

It seems I'm not the only one. I missed the office Christmas party on Friday as I was flying back from Tokyo (where a five km taxi ride in traffic costs 15 times what one in Beijing does -- let's hear it for purchasing power parity). So I missed the regular ritual at which the office Santa dispenses presents to the victims joyful recipients. Fortunately the company ahyi swung by my office this morning and dropped off my present. It was reassuringly heavy. No Ferrero-Rocher in there. Could it be something actually cool?

No. It was an ashtray and lighter set. I realize that China is one of the last redoubts of the respectable white smoker. In fact, almost all of my foreign colleagues smoke. I don't smoke. Secret Santa, it would seem, is not without a sense of irony.

But it's not just some vanilla ashtray and lighter. It's a "Beijing opera" themed ashtray and lighter emblazoned with a leering, traditional mask. The box is charmingly labeled, "Tomato: Inspiration from German". The set may be one of a series, as the lighter is inscribed, "Types of facial makeup in operas: Beijing Opera". Collect them all. Then smoke till your head shrinks like a tiki doll.

This makes me feel much, much better about the box of Ferrero-Rocher I gave.