Ok, I have had my rant and now we can move on.
Christmas with kids is a wonderful thing! If that isn't a happy topic I don't know what else could be except for puppies or cupcakes. Anyway, there is something about the amazement and wonder in their face when they see the tree and present and stockings on Christmas morning that makes all the running around and non-stop craziness for the last month worth it all.
The kids were up at 6:30am in disbelief that we were not already awake and begging for us to hurry up so they could go see what Santa had brought them. Like almost every other family did this year at the start of December, we swore that we would not over do it this year. Although I do not think that the number of presents decreased this year from previous years, we were smarter about our gift giving and ultimately, it made for a much more enjoyable and satisfying Christmas than in years previous.
Last year, the year before that, and probably the year before that, about 11:00am on Christmas morning, I look over the piles of boxes and torn wrapping paper and find an explosion of new molded plastic, made in China toys that will be played with for the next three months before they break, lose pieces, the batteries die, something newer comes along, they are relegated to the back shelf, or all of the above and become clutter for the house and garage sale 25-cent items. The kids excitedly ask you to open each box and play with the new toy for 5 or 10 minutes before clamouring for the next box to be opened. Of course, it took you 20 minutes to open the last box because you had to use scissors and blow torches to blast a hole in the plastic sealed packages and then unwrap three twisty ties around each side of the toy just to get it outside the box. We always end up feeling overwhelmed with stuff on Christmas morning and dreading the next week trying to find new places to store the toys in closets and bedrooms throughout the house.
This year, we did things differently and I must say I enjoyed Christmas a whole lot more. The first thing was we bought the kids clothes for school and gift cards to restaurants that they always ask to eat at. It was money that we would have spent anyway, but now the were gifts unwrapped at Christmas time which was more fun for the kids. We made gifts for people who asked for things in the past. Dana's mother had been asking Dana to make a quilt for her since last February and Dana made a scrapbook for her father so he had a place for his family pictures other than the shoebox in his hall closet. It also let the kids help and feel a part of the present. Admittedly, Andy helped sort paper the same color and used a gluestick, but he felt like he had made a scrapbook for his grandfather. We made cookies for the neighbors. Maybe it was a little Martha Stewart or Stepford Wife type of a thing to do depending on your perspective, but all of the neighbors appreciated it and none of them needed another Christmas decor knick knack to store in their house. We gave my sister and her husband a gift donation to a charity (http://www.modestneeds.org/) where they could decide who and where to donate the money. The kids gave their aunt movie tickets so she could take them and spend an afternoon together.
We still gave the kids toys, but instead of ending up with a bunch of stuff, we worked with everyone to get something that went together. Audrey wanted a baby doll. So we got her the doll and someone else got her doll an outfit and someone else got the doll a stroller and someone else got the baby a bottle and food. We took a picture with Audrey and her baby things and included it with each thank you note. For Andy, it was similiar, but with a video game theme. Instead of two piles of clutter on Christmas morning, we ended up with things that went together and made sense.
There was also one gift that was plastic, probably made in China, and had no redeeming or educational value of any kind. It was a "Sizzler" race track that I gave my brother and his son. Steve's kids are finally at the age where they understand Christmas. To help him, I sent the same race track that Santa had brought the two of us when we were that age. He remembered it right away and set up the track and raced the cars on Christmas morning. Yes, it was worth it even if it cost more to mail the present to him than it cost to buy it.
This year Christmas was fun. Instead of fighting with crowds at the mall and only finding sweaters in XXL or sweaters the right size but only in black, charcoal, and dark brown that loooks alot like black, we put a little bit of thought into each gift and had fun giving people gifts that we wanted to give them.
