The OP brought her mother into the discussion and made her fair game for the rest of us to try to dissect motivations behind the tale. None here should feel that they've stepped beyond bounds by including her when they tried to make sense of the situation.
The majority of us here apparently have/had mothers who would have followed the "why did you have to waste your money buying me a present" school of thought. Running into mention of a mother for whom that does not seem to hold true is a strange and unique thing for most of us - something that is virtually incomprehensible and worthy of discussion.
