That does sound good Izzy , thanks! :) I am not doing transport; the parents are going to bring them and then either drop them off and go shopping :) or stay and hang out and have cake and pizza. Welcome to the Bench by the way! Feel free to stay as long as you like.
Another dilemma! My mother (who is not without her own, shall we say, "personality challenges") and her only sister do not get along. They never have. When we (my brother and I) were younger we all lived in the same state and I remember them arguing a bit but not much as I was very young. When I was 8 we moved to another state 1,000 miles away so I only saw my auntie sporadically after that. I'm really not close to my mother's siblings and the cousins on that side at all. My grandmother died when I was in my teens. I adored my grandfather; he passed away about 5 years ago. ( I can still get choked up writing that.) I'm much closer to my father's siblings and their kids because my grandma on that side owns a vacation cabin near us and they would all come visit every now and then.
Anyway, the aunt in question did come to my wedding, I'll give her that. She was the only relative from my mother's side who did. I haven't seen her since. (It will be five years ago this fall.) Anyway, she's never met DS but did once send him a Thomas blanket that she made. We exchange Christmas cards but that's about it.
My mother told me a month ago or so that she and her sister were not speaking again. My aunt has mental health issues and can be very...dramatic. She's also always ill and having marital problems, always mad at and not speaking to someone, so I can understand why my mom doesn't want to speak to her. My mom said that she (my aunt) always liked to hear stories about DS, etc, so "don't be surprised if she tries to contact you."
Today, she did. She called and left a message, so I called her back and she was perfectly fine. She said that she had found a vintage tin pail with a pirate on it and wanted to send it to DS. I feigned ignorance about the whole spat with my mom and she said that they weren't talking and she just "missed me and DS so much!" Again, she's never met DS so I think she just means she misses hearing about him? Sigh. I told her it would be fine to send the pail to DS. She asked if we could email and I said sure.
She gave me her email address and I sent a couple recent pics of DS. The question is, how do I broach this with my mother? I feel like I have to because a) she knew about this pail (my aunt had told her about it) and will see it or DS will mention it to her and b) my aunt would be the sort to throw it in her face as in "Well even if you're a spiteful bitch Cheerful still talks to me!" (Oh yes, winners they are. 
)
It's not that I'm doing anything wrong. My aunt has always been good to me despite being a little, erm, round the bend :) and I'm an adult and can decide whom to allow in my life. (Or is it who? I dunno.) I'm trying to get ahold of my dad as he's been handling the volatile situation between my mother and aunt since he was 16, bless the man. Anyway, guess I just wanted to vent about it and where better than the bench, eh? I love you guys. Sorry this was SO LONG. :)