Christmas gifts.

Jessie, that's so funny. I think you must have peeked in my cabinets. I have to do a mug purge every now and then too. Everyone knows I'm a coffee nut (my brother bought me a new Keurig to replace my dying one this year...LOL) - so I either get coffee, mugs, or something related to coffee as a gift, which is fine by me.

Thank you for all your responses. You made me laugh and I had a great holiday with my friends, stress free

RusselStover, buying gifts is hard. I usually just go for candies, nuts, and cheese. Then the only things I have to remember is who has false teeth, who is diabetic, and who is lactose intolerant. The good thing about these gifts is they don't accumulate and clutter people's houses. I'm a coffee drinker, so every year I get flavored coffee and mugs. I have so many mugs now that I could open a coffee shop. I'm also a black coffee purist, so flavored coffees are wasted on me. I really need to find someone who likes them. They usually just sit in the cabinet until the next Christmas, when I dispose of them before anyone sees them.

BlackHole, my mother is the same way. I think it's her way of keeping control of things. It's hard to put down the old matriarch role. It is kind of funny. I can prepare a banquet fit for the royal family and she say, "You mean you didn't make potato salad??" like I'd committed a terrible crime. It doesn't mean anything. It is really her feeling of loss from the time that she used to do everything.

Flashback! Your mother's dig about the tea is exactly how my mom responded to anything that was not her idea. Before her difficult elder years....and moreso during. Never dreamed I'd spend so much of my adulthood "trying the bigger person." Thought I could just "be." Ha!

russellstover52, good heavens, your Mom expected you to shop for gifts while you had a cast on your leg? If it were me, I would have said "no, this year you write everyone a check and mail it". People would understand.

Lol, Russell Stover is my horse

Next time get everyone Russell Stover. It always fits.