My mother Christmas-shopped year ‘round. Usually second-hand shops and yard sales. She kept a stash of gifts down in the cellar, which came in handy when one of us kids brought friends for Christmas (one year my husband & I asked to bring a friend who was a single mother with a 3-year-old daughter, and my mom had gifts for both of them). It took my husband a while to adjust to my mother’s gift-giving skills: our first Christmas together, my mother had given him a set of Old Spice. He was gracious and thanked her; I, on the other hand, informed her that Old Spice made him sneeze. To my husband’s shock, my mother took him by the hand, led him down into the basement, set him at the “men’s department” (yes, she had everything categorized), and said, That’s OK; pick something else." This Christmas is going to be hard without one of my mother’s wonky gifts.
My mother Christmas-shopped year ‘round. Usually second-hand shops and yard sales. She kept a stash of gifts down in the cellar, which came in handy when one of us kids brought friends for Christmas (one year my husband & I asked to bring a friend who was a single mother with a 3-year-old daughter, and my mom had gifts for both of them). It took my husband a while to adjust to my mother’s gift-giving skills: our first Christmas together, my mother had given him a set of Old Spice. He was gracious and thanked her; I, on the other hand, informed her that Old Spice made him sneeze. To my husband’s shock, my mother took him by the hand, led him down into the basement, set him at the “men’s department” (yes, she had everything categorized), and said, That’s OK; pick something else." This Christmas is going to be hard without one of my mother’s wonky gifts.