When given a loathsome gift by somebody you like what do you do?

A woman who works at my home 5 days a week gave me a gift for my birthday. I won’t even try to explain what it looks like but suffice to say it is an item I absolutely loathe. Unfortunately it is something you are meant to have on display. If it had been given by somebody I see rarely, such as a well-intentioned fond aunt, I would simply put it away in a drawer somewhere and pull it out when she visited. But this is somebody I see often. We are totally different from each other and have quite different tastes. Anyone who knows me well would never dream of giving the item to me. The problem is that I really like this person, she is very sweet, loyal and helpful in ways that are important to me. At the moment the aforementioned item stands ‘sort of’ on display, although tactfully placed in a position where it is not exactly prominent. Perhaps I am incredibly shallow or maybe just vain but I am embarrassed to have this thing in my home. Especially when I have visitors that do not know me well; I hate the thought that they might actually think I like this thing! Also, I just plain don’t like it, it offends my sensibilities I suppose. It is incredibly ‘bad taste’. I must admit that it has been the fuel for some very humourous discussions between myself and several of my friends though. When my 23-year-old daughter first saw it she said “where did you get that!” I guess that kind of sums it up. I am interested to know how other people would handle the situation as it has become rather a sticky one for me.