'Tis the Season

Christmas gifts are hard for me to get in some respect. I find myself in search of the "perfect" gift, and that is sometimes so hard depending on who you're buying for.

As the cousins in the Bytheway side of the family drew names for the gift-giving, I overheard one cousin say, "Oh, good. I'm giving to so-and-so. I thought for a second I had to find a gift for Ashley." Now, all I can say to that is "I can relate." I think my kids are just at that age where I am at a total loss as to what to give them for gifts! I find myself asking parents of children the same age what THEY are giving THEIR children!

Now, this may come across as some type of "out of touch" parenting, but in reality, I just don't know what to buy!!! Here's the problem: My kids are extremely cute and grateful, and basically don't CARE what I get them for Christmas. "Whatever you choose is fine, Mom" is the usual response when I ask them what they want.

In our family, John and I have adopted the "3 gift" rule where we only get 3 presents for our kids. Coming from a home where Christmas was like a smorgasboard of everything Toys R Us, Sears, K-mart, and Target COMBINED and presented at our feet on December 25th, I had a hard time adopting this rule. But I knew I wanted to choose QUALITY rather than QUANTITY, and let me tell you, when you're only getting 3 presents for a child, you want to CHOOSE WISELY.

So, in an effort to ease the burden of thinking I might somehow disappoint my kids on Christmas morning, tonight I sat them down and asked each one of them to make out a Christmas list. (Note: My mom is TOTALLY AGAINST this, and this is NOT the way I was raised. You NEVER asked for gifts...but inevitably, Dad would ask us to write a list down so he could shop accordingly. Now I know where I get it from.)

So, here are my kids' lists:

ASHLEY'S LIST



(I think she forgot to mention penmanship lessons ;). Hmmm....not so easy to interpret that, now is it!?

ANDREW'S LIST



Andrew's is a little more realistic, but as I looked over his shoulder, number 2 was actually "CHECKBOOK." WHAT????? I asked him if he knew what it was, and after after he gave me a very accurate explanation, I told him that I got my first one after I was married. It was a "no-go." Number 7 was a "credit card: Mastercard." I told him no, so he crossed it out, and wrote again "credit card: this time VISA." You can't see the back of the list, because by then he was getting silly, but he included "debit card, a passport to Guinea, AA Batteries, a girlfriend, and a stage." He's gonna be one sad boy on Christmas morning!

NATALIE'S LIST



She didn't want to bother with spelling, so she drew pictures. I laughed out loud when she drew her doll, so I wrote her commentary on the picture: "Doll. Well, I don't like Barbies. Just a regular doll like a French doll or a Chinese doll or something." Yeah, like my regular French doll. I'll run right out to Toys R Us and get that "regular" French baby doll.

Then she drew flowers...she wants an indoor flower garden in winter, a belt, a bunny, and she wants to watch t.v.! Ok, I can accommodate.

So, as you see, my kids make it a little difficult. Why can't they just want balls, and books. I marvel at that song where the kids tells Santa what all the children want: "Sally wants a pair of Skates, Suzie wants a dolly, Nellie wants a storybook..." etc. AMAZING. I need to get that child's email so he can tell me what to get my kids!

I've already given Ashley "life"...number one on her list, so maybe this will be an easy Christmas shopping year after all. Wish me luck. Actually, I have a better idea. I think I'll write a letter to Santa myself, and ask HIM what to get my kids. After all, HE always comes through.