For almost every gift giving event I've had since I've been here, my MiL has given me a handbag. The first one looks like a tiny bowling bag with blue fur on it (arrival gift), a black vinyl bag with little red roses (which I suppose isn't that bad, but not really my style) (Birthday gift), and a huge patchy leather thing that she informed me is called a "shopper" so I always had room for groceries when I go out (Christmas). I don't know if she is hinting that my handbag is bad. I should really take a photo of the bags, especially the blue one.
I really don't mind her gifts, but they are always odd in some way. Like she gets Mr. A the weirdest clothing. Hoodies that say things like "New York Subway Pirates" or "Harlem '66". I have no clue where she gets these things. However, the worst by far was this rip off cologne of some high end designer. It has the actual packaging but it smells about 20 years old and awful. My husband thinks it's the actual stuff, but he never wears cologne and it all smells nasty to him. All Christmas day, the scent was stuck in my nosehairs even though he tried to wash it off a billion times.
When I was a teenager I went through the common "black period". I wore other colours, but I had a heavy "I wear black on the outside because black is how I feel on the inside" thing going on. My nain eventually got upset that she never saw me in the clothes she bought me (think sweatsuits with kittens on them or floral shirts). Few teenagers would have worn her gifts, at least anywhere where they might be observed by anyone other than immediate family. So she started buying me black blouses with sequins and black sweatsuits with various appliques on them. I ended up making sure she'd see me wearing them once in a while, even if it meant I changed after I left her house. I miss my nain.
I still have a fleece she bought me a few years before she died, and I love that thing, cardinal applique and all.
