It’s Cyber Monday, and I have been shopping for Christmas gifts already the past few weeks. But not spent a dime. I have been in this shopping business for years, and sharing my finds is a way of living and what I enjoy doing, but to be honest, I haven’t even started shopping for Christmas yet for my own family, but I do have a wishlist what I want to buy.
To be honest, I normally do not make wish lists for me for Christmas or for any other day. We normally buy something we/I need anyway, and it is just “my gift”, and to be honest, it’s OK. I don’t really seek for the excitement to open gifts. My best gifts have been experiences like going skiing with family, going to a concert with my husband or a trip to Europe or a car that we needed anyway and just happened to order around Mother’s Day.
But this year, when we are really tight on money, due the economy and the recent move from Colorado to New York and my ever growing medical bills among other things, there are two gifts that I really really want this Christmas (for the entire family). It’s weird, in the past years when we could have easily swung the money for these two gifts, I never really had big things in “my list”, I didn’t have a “list”. This year – I’m really upset we can not just swing these two gifts, due money. Money or things don’t make me happy, and that’s not what Christmas is about, and has never been to me or our family. Spending the time with family, making the memories and baking the cookies, seeing kids laugh and be happy… that’s much more important.
Even our kids know this. My 8 year old said she is looking forward of Christmas since it is fun family time, that it’s not really about the gifts, even though chapter books would be welcome. My 6 year old said she wanted to have a few TAG books for Christmas to improve her reading, but no toys this year. My 5 year old wants his LEGO Police Set and a HESS truck, but said he’d settle for nice pajamas to keep him cozy at nights.
Why it is that after all this… after explaining kids the meaning of Christmas, and it not being about the gifts, and my kids actually accepting it… it is me, who is dying to buy two big gifts for our family? Why do I have this nagging conscious I’m being a bad parent, because I can not buy these two gifts? Even though I know deep inside that I am being a good parent, and teaching my children the right values.
Oh.. and the gifts that are nagging me.
A puppy. We lost our Frank earlier this year, and we now all feel we are ready for another dog in our life. Nobody will ever replace Frank, but we would like to welcome another rescue dog in to our family.
Wii Fit. Everybody talks about it, it looks so much fun, and it just looks something our family would enjoy playing together. I need to get in better shape for the ski season, and this would do the trick – bringing the virtual slopes to our living room. Just in case we can’t afford many ski weekends this years either.
How do you feel about Christmas shopping this year?
PS. I’ve been attending Wii giveaways (too bad nobody is giving away puppies) online, and my best trick for you too is to attend giveaways to fill the Santa’s sack. Check out several giveaways my friends & I are hosting.
