Planning a Christmas on a Tight Budget? Me too!
Today I am sharing some real-life, this actually happened Christmas stories from my life as mom.
Let me take you back to when I only had three kids. Yes, when you have seven kids, three gets labeled as "only three"! Back in the year 2003 I was feeling guilty that my six year old daughter, Christin, did not have a "Bitty Baby" like her friends did. Being that she was the big sister and halfway to seven, getting just a Bitty Baby seemed childish to me when according to the American Girl Company, the historical dolls should be given at age 8 and Bitty Baby was for girls aged 3-7.
I knew she was not ready for Kit or Felicity so instead I chose to buy her the Bitty Twins (boy and girl) and their double stroller, several outfits, highchair and books about the Bitty Twins. If you know anything about American Girl dolls, you know that all of that cost around $400. Yes, I now know I was crazy!
The kicker? For that entire next year her birthday gifts, Easter basket, and special rewards revolved around more stuff for her dolls. As Christmas list time came around again she practically begged not to get stuff for those dolls. She did like them, she did dress them up and stroll them around a bit, but I had pigeon-holed her into that marketing scheme. Because the dolls were such an investment I felt like she needed to collect all the pieces. Today, that little girl is 17. She barely remembers the dolls at all. When asked what her best Christmas gift was from growing up she always responds, "Talking Angelina from Rugrats". Ironically, she received that annoying doll the same year as the Bitty Twins. It didn't have extra parts, or clothes, or a catalog of stuff to go with it. Angelina simply had a button that you pushed and she spoke different phrases from Christin's favorite show "Rugrats".
Fast forward a few years to when my daughter Ciarra was around five years old. I'm sure at that age she had created a list for Santa. I always try to buy the kids at least a few items from their Santa list. A week before Christmas I noticed that the other two kids had more gifts to unwrap than Ciarra so at the last minute I went out and bought more stuff for her so that items would be even. Two days after Christmas I noticed that she had not played with a few items that she had unwrapped, so I gently encouraged her. You know in that mommy voice of "I see that some of your gifts haven't been touched, why don't you try them out today?" She looked at me very matter-of-factly and said, "Those weren't on my list. I guess Santa got my list mixed up with someone else. I don't really want them. I like my list stuff better." Well, Out of the Mouths of Babes!!!
Thinking back on these events, I can clearly see my mistakes. My intentions were pure; I wanted to give my kids my vision and version of the best. Since then I've tried to really see what they want and need and give them their version of the best. I haven't always hit the mark but I keep that picture of Angelina and Ciarra's voice in my head when shopping for my kids.
What past Christmas mistakes have you had to learn through gift-giving?
How does it influence your decision making when buying gifts?
No comments:
Post a Comment