Christmas Shopping

It's almost done.  Every year, I dread Christmas shopping.  I always feel I never know what to get family, friends or even my own children.  Thank goodness my brother and I are old enough to just ask what each other wants and get it.  It makes things so much easier.

Andrew and I felt we went a little overboard last year with our own kids, so we decided to dial it down a notch.  We don't want those bratty kids who think they are entitled to everything on their wish list.  Although getting a wish list out of my kids is cumbersome since they change their minds every 5 minutes.  Jackson is the only one who is getting a little better about it, but he's only 4.  In the next few years, I'll probably wishing this was the case instead of them wanting every electronic gadget under the sun.

We have approached gift giving with the philosophy of something you want, something you need, something to wear, and something to read.  And of course, Santa will bring an extra gift or two.  With the change in philosophy, it's almost done.  Yea!

I just need to wrap (ugh!) and decide what to get Andrew (double ugh!).

In the Christmas spirit, we participated in the kids' preschool's Angel Tree again this year.  We bought a gift for an underprivileged child and brought it to school.  Trying to explain to my kids what we were doing was difficult.  They're not quite old enough to understand the full meaning of the Christmas spirit, so I'm starting young.  Jackson is old enough to start understanding it, but I feel like I'm jamming it down his throat.  Gift giving is more important than receiving.  You need to be grateful for what you have and not always expect or demand things.

I'm trying.  It may be fruitless, but in another year or two, he'll start to grasp it.  That's what I keep telling myself in the mean time.  I'm planting the seeds to his understanding so he'll be a giving, selfless child/adult and not a little brat.  It's my mantra, and I'm sticking to it.