My mom was a great Christmas gift shopper. Now this does not mean that we always got huge gifts or everything we wanted. But mom started early and did lots of stuff online. She was often done with her shopping by mid-November. And I knew that if I saw things throughout the year that I liked, but might out of my price range, I'd email it to mom with a subject of "possible xmas present" and at Christmas a couple of those items would show up under the tree. I have missed this little tradition all year. I've spotted things here and there that would have been things I sent her in an email. Even last year after she died she had already started her shopping... Dad showed us the box of gifts and the list. And my sister and I sat and wrapped all the presents for everyone (not everyone had been purchased for yet... the girls had been, but the boys were tougher to shop for so mom hadn't figured them out yet). So at Xmas last year, even with mom gone I had gifts from her to open.
I have so many things she gave me over the years. One of the biggest stand outs is a shirt. It is now out of style and a bit small... but I won't get rid of it. For some reason, despite the fact Mom knew me very well, she could not pick out clothes for me. And oddly I couldn't pick stuff out for her. If we were shopping together we would pick something up that we genuinely thought the other person would like... and we would get a turned up nose at it. Well, one year Mom bought me a shirt. I opened it, held it up, looked across at her and smiled really big... and said "Mom! I actually like it! Oh my god!" And we laughed. It was a stand out Xmas present moment. Oh... and one year in college mom and dad wrapped up 2 boxes of Tide laundry detergent for me. Sounds lame... but a broke college student who buys the cheap no name detergent was very, very happy to get 2 boxes of Tide. :)
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