The only thing I've got is... Well, there are certain people in this world who should just not make cookies.
Every year, the personally assistant to a friend of my boss makes a HUGE platter of cookies for everyone he knows. We're talking like 50 different cookies. And I mean it when I say DIFFERENT, each platter only has one of each kind of cookie he makes.
And they're all bad. Most have a sugar cookie base. I don't know how he does it, but cardboard tastes better. They aren't even sweet. A person can rectify a lot of culinary wrongs by just overloading with sugar so you can't taste the wrong, but this guy missed that memo.
He is, without a doubt, the worst I've ever encountered when it comes to people who do the whole holiday baking thing.
Anyway, like I said, there are some people who should either just not give food, or, if they really must, invest in the fancy baskets from a gourmet company. Their heart may be in the right place, but love is not an actual ingredient and it doesn't fix things when it's gone horribly wrong.