Shoppin’, Aunt Marie Style

I can’t remember if I’ve introduced y’all to my feisty Aunt Marie or not. She’s not really my aunt, she’s a family friend, but most everyone calls her Aunt Marie. This past week Aunt Marie celebrated her 91st birthday. She’s in remarkably good health and she still lives alone. The only thing she seems to be having trouble with is her memory. Don’t worry. She’d be the first to admit it. Aunt Marie has a great sense of humor. She’s still laughing about something that happened last Christmas and the joke was on her.

Aunt Marie has always loved the holidays but she’s also a realist and last year she made a difficult decision. She decided it was time for her to consider giving gift cards to her nieces and nephews in lieu of presents. (She never had children of her own.) The shopping had just gotten to be too much for her. So, she bought some pretty cards and a number of gift certificates and mailed them out. Poor Aunt Marie, the Christmas season came and went and she never heard a single word from any of those kids about their gift certificates. Not a thank you note out of the bunch. She was more than a little surprised by the lack of manners. “To tell the truth,” Aunt Marie said. “I was downright miffed about it.”

Until that is, she got around to cleaning up her cluttered desk after Christmas. That’s when she found the stack of gift certificates that she had forgotten to enclose in the Christmas envelopes.

“It’s okay,” I told her, trying to make her feel better. “A lot of people just send cards for Christmas.”

“Yeah,” Aunt Marie said with a mischievous grin, “I’m sure they do, but not like mine. My cards all went out with a little note from me that said, “This year, you can buy your own present. Merry Christmas, Aunt Marie”

Hugs,
Shellie