A few days went by, ….

A few days went by, and when I glanced at the big black pot residing on my cabinet, it seemed to glare back at me.

Finally, I called my son and explained my reluctance to use it and asked if he could take it back.

I was hoping that he could return it and get a refund, but he chose to keep it and picked it up the next day.

I recently had a birthday, and my grandson got me what he thought was a wonderful gift.

It was an online subscription to a company that would ask me questions throughout the year by e-mail (personal questions), and they would compile my answers and then put them into a book which they would send to me at the end of the year.

I have to tell you that I am a little paranoid when it comes to online scams, and I thought this was very invasive.

I am not going to answer personal questions by email because who knows what the recipients are going to do with the answers? So I deleted the app and told my grandson about my feelings. He was good-natured about it, but I am sure he was not happy that I rejected his gift.

So I hope my kids have learned a lesson this year about giving me gifts. I am advising my family that just a card or a box of chocolates would be very welcome, and they can bet I wouldn’t return them.

On thinking about it, I realized that my mom was the same way at the end of her life. So maybe it is an aging thing, and this reluctance to accept strange gifts comes to us all eventually, along with arthritis and fallen arches.

I know I should be grateful that I have kids who think of me in this way, and I probably shouldn’t reject their gifts.

But being practical, I tend to look the gift horse in the mouth, and this indulgent tendency seems to grow worse as I grow older.

However, I am really looking forward to those chocolates.