Elegante Mother is the gift card queen! She has been telling her family for several years not to buy her things for Christmas and birthdays. She has filled her rooms with quilting fabric and books and clothes and music, and there’s just not a lot of room left.
Of course, her family is not willing to let a holiday or birthday go by without giving her a gift, so half of them plan to take her places, and the other half have given her gift cards. She must have eight gift cards to bookstores, a couple for hobbies, one for fabric, and one for coffee. I think she may have a few other cards that I haven’t seen yet.
Each time we go out, I plan to make a stop at one of the places where she has a gift card, to give her the chance to shop. She’ll be able to pick up fabric to finish a quilt (or to start a new one *G*), books to while away the winter (if it ever arrives), and coffee for her breakfast stash. She’s contemplating beginning to paint again, so she may want to pick up oils, brushes and a canvas or two.
We’ll be stretching Christmas out for a couple of months. *S*

I took Elegante Mother shopping today. We went to exercise, stopped for a quick visit at Mickie D’s and then hit the local department store. We were intending to shop for a new purse and a wallet. By the time we left, I could have used some help to carry everything to the car.
EM was amazingly lucky. We were looking at cotton brand-name pants, and classic winter sweaters that had price tags in the $36 to $44 dollar range. At the register, most of them rang up in the $14 to $20 range.
We bought two sets of fleece PJs, and a pair of wild pajama pants. I picked up a pair of fleecy socks to go with the PJs. We’ve just persuaded Elegante Mother to shift from nylons to trouser socks for the winter, so we stocked up on six pairs of trouser hose.
EM chose a purse, a wallet and a new checkbook cover, at least three tops and two pairs of slacks.
AND, we did all that in roughly an hour. The woman knows what she wants!