It’s coming.
That most wonderful time of the year.
And like every year I’m doing everything I can to make it through…and it’s really pissing me off.
Every year I request less crap and every year my requests fall on deaf ears. Every one truly believes that they are going to get me the one thing that I didn’t know I needed, and every Christmas they are wrong.
“What are the kids into this year?”
They are into gift cards and movie tickets. They are into cash and experiences.
The older they get the more likely I am to get what I am requesting (teens aren’t as much fun as littles evidently) but this year I have a toddler. Despite the fact that I have clearly already raised two children through this phase of life, I have seemingly not realized all the crap that I need to do so again.
The poking and prodding for ideas for gifts began in early October and despite the fact that I have said at least twenty five thousand times that my toddler doesn’t play with toys much (like most early walkers he prefers cardboard boxes and large couch cushions) I’m told there are at least five presents tagged with his name in closets already.
“Diapers and books are not as much fun to buy as toys.”
I’m fully aware of this, but over the years the knowledge of how much crap I will be bringing home from other Christmas gatherings makes buying gifts for my own children much more challenging, and frankly that’s some bullshit.
Nothing has ever made the Christmas season more obviously headed in a terrible direction as the year I overheard my kids discussing that Santa didn’t matter because one of their grandparents would get whatever he didn’t and that they knew they would get more “stuff” at the other family get togethers anyway.
I hated that my kids were becoming so seemingly “spoiled”, but my hopes of stopping this process was quickly dashed when I realized that everyone was going to agree with me face to face then buy all the stuff anyway. It was as if Christmas became a competition as to who could get the “gift of the year” award and they all had 30 or more chances to get it right.
Then I got to look the Grinch for being mad about loading it all up.
“It gives them stuff to do while it’s cold!”
Not if they can’t move around the boxes or the piles of toys that broke while trying to get them out of the packaging that was constructed by a Swiss engineer.
I’m tired of having boxes full of crap and trash so interchangeable they sit by the door for a week, because there might be something important still in there. (Like money that someone gave my kid one year without telling me)
I’m tired of my kids getting so much stuff that there is no where for it to go at home and therefore room has to be made.
Clutter both exhausts and depresses me and this is the season of my seasonal depression so the gift of not getting me something useless is a gift in itself.
“I Can’t just get them NOTHING!”
If you enjoy purchasing “things” there are countless charities looking for donations. There are kids everywhere in need of a Santa gift on Christmas morning, but my children are not those kids. There are also parents everywhere struggling to make this happen for their kids but this year that isn’t me.
HELP THESE PEOPLE WITH YOUR OBVIOUSLY EXPENDABLE INCOME!!!
If the idea of buying something and not getting credit for it or getting to see the “Oh-my-gosh” facial reaction feels wrong then maybe do a little soul searching and see why that is, because that’s not a me problem, that’s a you problem.
“It’s the thought that counts!”
Yes. I agree. I’m not a rich person by any means and a lot of the gifts I’ve given in the past have been handmade. Thoughtful gifts are always appreciated. But if that gift is a “grab it at the last minute just because it was on sale” gift then please don’t.
I’m not going to be hurt or offended if you don’t get me or my children a gift. If you can’t afford to, didn’t know what to get, didn’t have time, etc. You don’t have to even explain yourself.
The part of Christmas I’m done with is the idea that we have to and are expected to get random cheaply made crap for everyone in our lives rather than thoughtful and meaningful gifts to those we care for and those who we feel need it the most.
I want a Christmas full of memories. Of making ornaments and seeing lights. Playing games with family and watching cozy happy movies that me feel all toasty inside.
I want all the things that make this season “merry and bright”. I want to love Christmas again and I want everyone to please stop making it Crap-mas.
A Hermitess 