My Grandma Swift was a wonderful woman.  Bless her heart, her only fault was that she was a kleptomaniac.

When ever she visited either my parents house or my uncles house, she would scan our cupboards and closets for obscure and seldom used items.  And, once she found one she would take it.  She would then use these items as Christmas gifts for the other family.  Items that she took from our house were given as Christmas gifts to my uncle.  And items from my uncles house were given to us as Christmas gifts.

I will never forget the first time that we finally figured what she was doing.  We were at my uncles house when my mother commented that she had a candy dish just like that.   When my uncle commented that it was a Christmas gift from grandma, the whole table went silent.  When  my mother got home, everyone suspicion was confirmed; our candy dish was missing.

Once we understood what grandma was doing, it became quite simple.  Gifts received on Christmas were returned to their rightful owners at the next get together.

Unfortunately, grandma Swift liked to travel and visit distant relatives.  So, it was only a matter of time before there were unrecognized gifts at Christmas.  And while we suspected that these gifts were purloined from other relatives, we had no way of knowing for sure.

I guess we should be grateful that she was never picked up for shop lifting.