When my boys were little, Christmas shopping was actually kind of fun. The first Thing (kid) got everything I loved as a child. The second got all the things I wanted as a child. The third got all those things they didn’t have when I was a child. Thing 4 was just gravy.
Now, just to be straight with you, I dislike shopping with a passion. I really, really REALLY hate to shop, and Cyber Monday was somewhat of a disappointment this year. But – I’m almost there! One child (and family) and one grandchild left to go and I’m -done-.
The older the kids get, the harder it is to shop for them. Now that they’re adults I don’t know what they have, know what they want, know what they like… I started a Christmas tradition with them years ago: Send me a direct link to what you want and, within reason, you shall have it. Four of the six remembered that rule this year. Thing 3 has been trying to get a Lamborghini outta me for years, but remembered to send a reasonable link. (We -did- get him a Matchbox Lamborghini one year)
The older -I- get, the more I turn into my grandmother (that’s NOT a bad thing). I keep my Christmas present book, write down everyone I need to get a gift for, check it off when I get it, cross it out when I wrap it… I can tell you every Christmas gift I’ve gotten, and for whom, since 1997.
But now, it’s gotten to the point that I don’t even know what I’m getting the kids. This is -what-?!? It shows up at the door a few days after I order ‘whatever’ then I get to open the box, read and wonder “Why didn’t I get one of these for me too?” The grandkids are even worse. If I ordered half the things I wanted to, the grandkids wouldn’t ever see ‘em. I’d play them out before wrapping them.
One hard rule I try to live by with the grandkids is not to buy them anything that makes noise or takes batteries. This rule goes -WAY- back to the days when my mom would buy presents for my kids when they were little. If I didn’t approve of a gift it stayed at her house.
She still has the Barnie Banjo she got for Thing 1 (I -hate- that purple dinosaur), it still works, and has been played by many children.
“I love you. You love me. We’re a happy family…”
Happy Sparkles, ya’ll!
- Bess Tuggle