Merry Christmas Eve- Eve! …. are you ready for it?
I am..
I think… well maybe…
I mean, I’m pretty confident that I am mostly done.
See, the thing is… I have a problem with “the cut off point” when shopping for the kids.
I started the season by explaining to my 4yo that Santa will bring one BIG toy, for which he asked for The Zippity and 3 other smaller toys – he picked out Astro Boy, The Ben10 Alien Creation Challenge and the Star Wars video game for his leapster. I figured this would manage expectations and give me some room to come up with a few other “surprise gifts” -2 new books for his Tag pen, Bakugan Maxus & another Leapster Game.
Well when it came down to it… it just doesn’t look like he got much! The video games & action figures are so small! So my once reasonable Christmas plan– is out the door.
The complicated Princess’ “list” brought its own challenges… mostly of- she didn’t have a list? She’s only 15 mo., so she doesn’t realize what’s going on- but yet, I feel I need to put on a good show for The complicated boy. Princess is OBSESSED with YoGabba Gabba… seriously, the show puts her in a trance like no other… so I thought ok, thats easy I’ll get her some Yo Gabba Gabba stuff... except, since the show is mainly geared to pre-schoolers, there is a VERY limited amount of age appropriate toys… and by VERY, I mean… like 3. Mega Bloks puts out an adorable boom box set, but the blocks aren’t very “MEGA” in size and so its not made for babies. They have a dancing Brobee doll, but being that I’ve never been a fan of the Tickle Me Elmos and stuff, because of the repetitive music OVER AND OVER, I opted to not get it.
So I got her a DVD, a “Don’t bite your friends” YGG book, a shopping cart, TAG Jr. and the Mega Bloks Play & Go Table… Sounds like a lot, but it looks like nothing.
So now with hours left, I’m starting to second guess it all and wanting to run out and get that Brobee.
I remember Christmas morning looking like FAO Shwartz just exploded under my tree, and while we were far from rich, Christmas morning was always so exciting looking.
So now, in an age where kids are mainly asking for smaller yet pricier items, I still feel this pressure to replicate my memories of a room filled with big toys, even though- I know my son got everything he asked for! Its a ridiculous pressure to feel, I know that…but, do any of you face the same challenges in this new technologically savvy age where kids want lots of video games who’s price tags add up quickly?
