Christmas is coming

Christmas is coming and true to form I am still running around trying to do the last minute shopping, grocery shopping for entirely too much food and wondering if my kids will be disappointed at Christmas time.  They shouldn't, because they haven't gone without one thing in their entire life, but I'm sure I feel no differently than other parents.  You want your children's memories of Christmas to be magical.  You want them to remember waking up to sea of wonderful gifts from Santa because they were so good that year.



Where does it stop though?  When does magical turn to excessive?  Seriously, this is a real question.  The unfortunate thing, in my opinion, is that Christmas has turned in to a competition to see who gets what and how much.  Now, I love gift giving and I love to receive gifts.  Who doesn't?  But here is a little story of something I experienced the other night.

I was sitting there watching the news.  Something that as a child I thought was the most boring thing in the world and honestly it is, but every once in a while there is something worth listening too.  I say this, because I truly believe that I am given information that they want me to hear and not necessarily the full story.  Anyway, that is for another time.  They were discussing the latest Christmas craze and how all parents think that their kids MUST HAVE the Zhu Zhu pets.  Do you even know what a Zhu Zhu pet is?   Neither did I.  The only thing I had heard about them is that there were some concerns about safety with young children.  Ok so the story is similar to the story about the Tickle Me Elmo from 3 years ago.  You know, when people were fighting over them, buying them in bulk and then selling them for hundreds of dollars on ebay.  Same thing with the Zhu Zhu pet.  It is an $20 toy that every child MUST HAVE and people are selling them on ebay for $60 because people have gone nuts.  It is a toy that spins around on the ground, rolls through hamster tunnels and makes animal noises.  I honestly don't get it, but in that moment, I thought, "Jack must have that for Christmas!"  Why in the world did that thought even enter my mind?  I don't even know what that thing is, but more importantly neither does he.  At that moment I had to stop and have a little self talk.  It went a little something like this...

"Amy, that is the dumbest thought that has popped into your head all day.  Because someone on the television tells you that your child MUST HAVE a toy, you immediately think you have to run around town and find it or his Christmas will be destroyed.  Get a hold of yourself woman!"

Ok, so I am not going to run around and buy this toy, and this is a very long winded way of saying that Christmas has gotten out of control.  I have kind of a love-hate relationship with Christmas, but all I really care about is spending time with my family and friends, some good food and good times.  I want my children to feel the same way.  While it is very nice to have gifts, that isn't what the holiday is about, but that is what it has become.  I called my husband the other day and said, "Jack doesn't have enough presents."  How ridiculous is that?  He doesn't know what is too much or too little, but we teach them from an early age what to expect.  Now, don't go assuming that I am all of a sudden going to take a stand and do something different, because chances are, I won't.  I don't know how.  I have tried several years to keep things under control and then I run around like a mad woman at the last minute because I feel like I haven't done enough.

Here is the fortunate thing with just about every person that I know, both family and friends, they don't need anything.  I am thankful for that.  Every single person has a roof over their head, food on the table clothes on their back, and a few nickels in the bank, which is a lot more than many people can say.

What does all of this mean?  Nothing, it is just some of my daily ramblings.  I really didn't know what to talk about today, but I was informed that I don't blog enough.  So, see what happens when I don't have a plan?   You get random thoughts.

Lucky you :)

Love ya -

Amy

PS - "you will love your Zhu Zhu pets because they're so fun without the mess"