I'm officially my Mother....

For as long as I've been able to understand speech, people have told me how like my Mother I look. My adult response has always been 'thank you' and if there's time, an explanation that I'm actually more like my younger sister than my sainted Mama.  And that's all true. It's also totally true that all those clichés and sayings about being like your Mother apply to me.
We could (and I stress "could" share shoes. There is a point in my memory when we did....early 1980's, we had the Marks and Spencer pointy toe high heel sling backs in every colour between us. I wore the white ones on my wedding day. Mistake that, with a hooped skirt on your wedding dress...the bloody hoop got trapped between my foot and the shoe on every step....argh. I digress.

I learned from Mama that if you see a potential gift for someone, buy it, if you can afford it. Save it for the occasion. If you can't afford it, write it down in a proper not-to-be-lost notebook rather than think you'll remember it. This has really been helpful. Mostly, I am therefore reasonably prepared. With ideas, if not actual presents for birthday and Christmas times.

Which is why, earlier this month, my desk was a wrapping station for Christmas gifts. Just as my Mother would have done, I used my niece's UK holiday as an opportunity to get my USA family's presents sent, carriage free, so to speak. I wonder if they open them all early, or if they're kept? I wonder if they think I'm amazing because I'm so organised. Or a bit of a nerd, or silly. No, as it's an inherited skill, they'd never be so rude. Would they?