Christmas Worries

The other night I went out to dinner with some lovely Mummy friends of mine.  I casually asked them what they were getting their daughters, all the same age as Little Miss, for Christmas.  They listed off lots of things!  All the gifts sounded brilliant.  Most of the stuff we can’t afford.  They asked me what we were getting for Little Miss and sheepishly I admitted that I didn’t really know.  I didn’t know what we could afford!  And I also haven’t given a ton of thought to what I want to get for Little Miss as well.  You see, as much as I want to give Little Miss the world, a) we can’t afford it and b) I don’t know that Little Miss needs to have THE WORLD at the age of 17-18 months.  I feel like if she gets a ton of things this Christmas (which she won’t), then we have to equal or better it next Christmas which then just becomes a contest and more of a stress than it should be.

I remember Christmases growing up.  We had TONS of presents!  My brother and I would hand out the presents to everyone and then we’d sit and take turns opening pressies.  I would always stack mine from biggest to smallest and carefully unwrap each present; never peeking until the entire wrapping paper was off.  In fact, I would carefully unwrap each present in order to prolong the surprise.  No tearing into pressies for me!  No, I wanted to make the suspense last as long as possible.  And then, when I got whatever present out, I would savour it and gaze at it until it was my turn again to open another present.  This present opening usually took HOURS with an intermission at some point so the adults could sneak a drink and the kids could burn off some energy.  I loved Christmas…it was my favourite holiday EVER.

Back to the present.  What to do for our Little Miss??  It’s a bit tricky really.  We have family in the US and it’s hard for them to buy things for her (Amazon is good…other online “wish lists” are good but if I put things on them, usually nothing comes off of them!).  My family here will get things that we suggest, I’m sure.  It’s just hard…I so want Little Miss to have a stack of presents to open and be so excited about what’s in them but I don’t think that stack will be very high.  And to tell you the truth, I don’t want her to have a ton of things that she’s not going to play with a lot.  I would rather have a handful of toys that she’ll love and will entertain her and won’t be relegated to the bottom of the toy bin.  In fact, I really need to go through Little Miss’ toys and take things out that she never plays with and pass them on to a charity shop or new home.

What are you doing for your child’s Christmas this year?  We’re all struggling with the recession/being stay-at-home Mums/maternity benefits/one income/etc.- how will your family cope?  Please share any suggestions…I’d love to know!  I’ll leave you with two items I’d love Little Miss to have…we’ll see if Santa is reading!

Dotty Wot

Fisher Price Farm