It's that time of year -- time to eat, drink and regift.

It begins in my household shortly after Thanksgiving when boxes pre-wrapped in commercial red or green paper begin to arrive. All of them contain the same thing -- chocolate. There's chocolate with nuts, chocolate creams, chocolate and caramels.

I write the perfunctory thank you note -- and then promptly regift it.

The reason is simple: I don't think a lot of thought went into the gift, and therefore regifting is my holiday right. My logic? I give the gift of calories to those who can afford them.

And, apparently, that's OK, according to etiquette experts.

At the Emily Post Institute, the answer is this: "regifting should be done only rarely, and under specific criteria."

The criteria?

_The gift is something the recipient would enjoy.

_It is brand new (no castoffs allowed).

_The gift isn't handmade, or one that the original giver took great care to select.

If you still need convincing, the Internet experts at http://www.giftingresources.com say it's about being resourceful.

"Regifting is a nice way to utilize unwanted or unneeded gifts that others may value. When it may be impossible or just impolite to make a return, regifting is a crafty means of 'giving back' -- (only to another person)," according to their Web site.

For those who aren't so sure, they can join the debate at http://www.regiftable.com , a Web site geared toward determining whether regifting is in poor form.

For me, holiday regifting is a right -- and as long as chocolate keeps coming in the front door, they'll be going out the back door to another recipient.

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asap's Chelsea J. Carter prefers gift cards.