Mother in law

I love my Mother In Law. I do. She is odd and difficult, but she is family.

MIL is pretty cheap - she rarely spends any money on anything nice, she would rather pay less for something of lesser quality. And except for Christmas and S's birthday she rarely buys S anything, unless it is a nickel at a yard sale or similar.

We have received many weird items from her over the years. But one thing that really bugs me is that she ALWAYS buys S clothes in sizes at least 4 years larger than she needs! Today she called, and I thanked her for the shirts she had sent S. (I am really grateful, I am. They were cute too!). But I made sure to tell her I had a hard time explaining for S why she couldn't wear the nice shirts. MIL asked "Why?" Well, they are a SIZE 8 YEAR OLD! "Oh", she said. "I though they might shrink... Are you sure they won't fit?"

Sigh... The shirts even had a sticker on them that said: "Improved fabric for MINIMAL SHRINKING". In bold letters on a very colorful sticker on the shirts, not to be missed...

What is up with this? I know my mom (grandmother) used to do similar things, like buying me shoes a few sizes too big, saying I would "grow into them". And than make me wear the too big shoes. Which were too worn out to be worn when they finally actually fit me...

Since MIL ALWAYS buys us weird things as gifts, (and I always feel bad for not liking the gifts or being able to use them for that matter), I gently started to prep her in time for Christmas last year. It worked! We got gift certificates! S got a few odd toys from her as well, but that is fine, since she doesn't have to wear them...

I have an entire drawer full of odd clothing items from MIL to S in sizes that she will grow into. Eventually... Sigh...