I remember when Christmas was easy. My boys were little and begged for the newest Power Rangers or GIJoe toys. The lego castle system provided a lot of pricey entertainment but still fit in the budget. We enjoyed shopping for our baby girl and all those doll things we'd never purchased before. Things have changed.
The boys are in college and one of them already out and working. My little girl is in high school. Gift requests now range to things like $60 games for Xbox 360 for the boys and a list of gift cards. The girl wanted a new indoor hockey stick, not too bad at $85 and driving four hours to pick it out. Oh, and the class ring of which we won't mention the price. But by far the worse gift list is from the oldest. A single guy working at a pretty good job, he doesn't want anything in particular. I'd rather he ask for something expensive.
I guess all mothers hold onto those memories of Christmas morning when your child opens that special surprise with a squeal of delight and joy. So every year I waste hours prying and pondering the perfect gift. And every year it becomes more difficult. So I'm busy worrying about it and haven't come up with more than one idea for one child so far.
Do you do this? How difficult are those adult children to delight? Maybe I should just wait for those grandchildren to come along and rediscover the magic of Christmas with them.
6 comments:
My kids have all left the nest and scattered across the country. With all the travel expenses we forego gift-giving and now it's just the thrill of just seeing each other and having that all too short time to spend together. And carrying a bunch of gifts on the plane isn't that practical anyway. On the occasions when we do give our kids gifts it's money-- they seem to appreciate that the most.
Lee
http://tossingitout.blogspot.com/
You sound like you have the right idea for the season. We too find most of our joy in the hours we get together over the holiday. Hope yours is safe and joyful.
I gave up on getting clothes for my daughter. She returns just about anything I pick out. She's grown, living on her own, and she has her own style. At least my son will tell me exactly what he'd like.
Helen
Straight From Hel
I'm still in the little ones stage, trying to steer the presents in the appropriate directions (have you seen some of the things out there for little girls? It's scary!). But it's the time spent together that's the best part. Hope your holiday is full of fun!
Except for a few sweatshirts, my boys are as picky as my daughter. I wish they would give me a few more specifics on what they want.
My kids are in between, and we end up doing some "family" gifts from Santa, one big expensive gift for each kid, and then some smaller stuff--and actually, their lists are full of smaller stuff! So they're still easy.
Ava, I hear you about the gender crap. I've ALWAYS bought gender-neutral gifts for both my kids and my nieces/nephews and let others do the gender stuff. :)
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