Don't get me wrong, I am REALLY looking forward to the magic of Christmas and the entire holiday season. We have already done so many fun things -- we move the star in the advent calendar each morning, we read Christmas books. We let Camille put the first ornament on the tree. We have wrapped (and unwrapped, whoops) gifts together. We took a wagon ride around the neighborhood last night to see the lights and decorations. We sat on Santa's lap. We color Christmas pictures. This week we are attending a Christmas craft playdate, a Christmas preschool program, and a Christmas cookie exchange.
CHRISTMAS CHRISTMAS CHRISTMAS AND I LOVE IT!
But the presents thing scares me.
We've limited the amount of gifts that the girls are getting, and Charlotte's list is way practical. But Camille, at 2.5, is just at that age where she's starting to understand that she can ask "Hoho" for toys ... and maybe get them. But -- how do you really explain that just because she asks for it, it won't be under the tree? The logic is easy for me ... want versus need. But to a toddler?
Have you been to Walmart and happened to see the gigantic Barbie Cinderella carriage thing that fits two young girls inside? The one that's $398? Well, Camille saw it on a commercial and at Walmart and keeps telling me that she's asking Santa Claus for it. I have explained each and every time that that toy is for bigger girls, for older girls, and that Santa couldn't bring it for her ... but I think she still believes she may end up with it.
She will not end up with it.
Parents of older kids, please tell me that Christmas morning isn't filled with sad faces over presents not under the tree? That maybe the magic of the morning (music, family, cinnamon rolls, hot chocolate) and the pretty presents that they do end up with make them forget about the things not there -- like $400 motorized pink vehicles?
Because I'm truly looking forward to Christmas morning, and I just want it to be joyful.
I had the exact same worry! We have a 2 1/2-year-old little girl, too! I just reminded her that "HoHo decides what she needs and he will bring her exactly what he thinks will be the perfect gift for her"...The commercials are killing me, too!! There's a pink fisher price castle that was spotted on a commercial, my in-laws are gifting it to her ...the day after Christmas ...and it's all she talks about HoHo bringing: cue the worry on my part! My hubby reminded me of the excitement she'll be swept up in that Morning, and not to worry!! I think he's right! Our sweet, gracious girl will be excited no matter the gift... checking out what SanTa Nibbled on and left behind, seeing new things under the tree, checking out her stocking and anticipating family arriving!! Merry Christmas!
ReplyDeleteMy family grew up on a tight budget. My dad and mom never made a lot and all 4 of us kids, yes, 4 of us, understood completely. I truly believe that it's all on how you raise your children. I have seen some kids (even in my family) be so ungrateful with the gifts they received even down to the point to where they have said "this only cost them $20, what's the point of even buying someone a $20 gift." It makes me want to smack them in the side of the head! We're raising our daughter (now 8) to be grateful for every gift she gets, regardless of size, price or quantity. She is into beanie boos at the moment. A cheap, $5 plush toy you can find at walgreens. She would be completely amazed if all she had under the tree were a few beanie boos. I'm sure you're raising your girls the same, to be completely grateful for what they receive :) Jesus is the reason for the season, Santa is just a bonus...at least, that's how we look at it around here. Merry Christmas!
ReplyDeleteI'm with you! Although at least you're getting a little direction from your girl. Our daughter is the same age and keeps saying she's asked Santa for toy cats and doggies. Um... stuffed animals? figurines? real ones? I have no clue what she's asking for, and she says "no" to everything I show her. I think they're still too little to conceptualize that they're not getting their wish-list gift. Any new toy and the fun of Christmas morning will be enough.
ReplyDeletei actually put my foot down on the carriage as well... it just seems INSANE!!!! i might be in the minority, but the whole designer kid car thing makes me really uncomfortable... maybe that's why mine have a VW bug ;) hahahaha
ReplyDeleteOne year we went all out for our son he was maybe 5, we were so excited about the gifts Santa was bringing. On a whim, I grabbed a stuffed reindeer that was small and put it in the top of his stocking. Do you know the first thing he saw was the reindeer and that is all he wanted to play with. He shouted, Mom/Dad Santa brought me my own reindeer. To this day, we laugh about the reindeer. The moral of the story, while they may think they want something, they are really really excited about whatever it is they get including small stuffed reindeer. Your girl will love that Santa came and ate her cookies, drank her milk and will be happy with whatever he brings! Don't forget to put out reindeer food :) Merry Christmas!
ReplyDeleteIf she's anything like my kids - she'll gravitate to the most inexpensive, toy you just threw in at the last minute and think it's the most wonderful thing ever! And the one you thought they would go nuts over will be sitting in it's box while they play with the yo-yo that came in their stocking or whatever it may be. HAHAHA!
ReplyDeleteSuch a great question, our little one is one and a half so we're not there yet, but I'll have to save this for next year as I've already thought about this too. I'm sure no matter what, it will be magical and in the future she'll remember the traditions, not what was actually under the tree!
ReplyDeleteErin, Attention to Darling
www.attentiontodarling.com
I've thought about that a lot this year. Our lil guy turned two on December 3rd, so he doesn't quite understand the concept yet. Next year though? My husband and I have agreed that Santa only brings one gift - so I hope we are able to keep our lil guy's expectations to that. I'm also hoping that we can teach him to be happy with whatever presents he receives, no matter how many or how few they are.
ReplyDeleteThis is where it helps to not watch regular TV (we just have Netflix and a fire stick with apps, but always wait until she's in bed to watch our shows). That's something I definitely do not miss: commercials!!!
ReplyDeleteI am questioning this very thing with my 4 year old. I worry about him being so ungrateful for everything he gets. This is the first year that My son would tel the mall santa what he wanted and it was long. I tried to explain to him that santa can't bring him everything because he has a lot of children all over the world and his sleigh would get too heavy. I hope he gets it. I am sure you will have a great Christmas!
ReplyDeleteI feel like I'm on the opposite spectrum a bit. My 9 year old still believes in the magic of Christmas and twice asked for a gift for his newborn sister. He made a point of telling Santa he was asking for her since she couldn't. And of course it was a $100 item (for a two week old! - I was seriously going to pull something out of a toy bin in the attic and call it a day). To really keep the magic going I purchased it. It's a sweet story and will keep him believing for a little longer which seems like a gift to me. Now my 6 year old who wants a tablet with every game ever made loaded on it will not be getting that. Although in the past he's just been excited that "it doesn't matter - I was rude and still got presents" so I think he will still enjoy what he does get ;)
ReplyDeleteWe have a three and a half year old, so this was us last year. She didn't really ask Santa for anything because she was too scared of the big guy, but we went overboard getting her things (to the point where she didn't even open a couple of gifts...they stayed wrapped and she got them in July for her birthday!). Each gift she opened was her favorite thing, and I honestly think she would've been happy with only opening one or two. :) My point is that I'm guessing the magic and fun of the morning will vastly outweigh any sadness over a gift not received (if she even remembers she asked for it in the midst of opening the gifts).
ReplyDeleteFrom the get go, we've reinforced that a wish list is just that - wishes - and that Santa doesn't bring everything on their wish lists. Gives an 'out' for us parents when we can't find something they've asked for, or, don't feel like spending a small fortune on something.
ReplyDeleteLuckily we haven't had an expensive item show up on the wish list. However, we have stated that Santa can only bring 1 or 2 gifts - so he can make sure there are enough for everyone. I make Tripp really think about that 1 gift he wants Santa to bring so I know what's at the top of his list. I also start in Nov. planting the seed of what I want him to ask for from Santa. This year it was a spiderman bike.
ReplyDeleteWe had a similar incident with Miller, he loves dinosaurs and really wants to see Jurassic World the movie, well he's 3 so that is not happening but he's seen the commercials and ads all over tv and Target. I kept telling him it was for bigger boys but he kept saying but you say I'm a big boy sometimes etc. So finally we said it's for 7 year olds and that he can watch it when he's 7. I totally picked a random number after a day of telling him 100 times no he could not watch it. Some how that worked. I explained to him with is numbers chart that 7 is older than 3 and that he can watch it then. We also explained that he can't ask Santa or grandparents for it because you have to be 7. So now he's settled on that and will say Mom I can watch Jurassic World when I'm 7 right, and I say yes when you're 7 (even though I'll probably make him wait until he's older but I'm hoping he'll forget lol). So maybe tell her the car is for 7 year olds or 5 year olds or something so that she has a concrete idea of what type of bigger girls can watch it! Good luck!
ReplyDeleteEllie is 3 1/2 and she says she wants things on her list all the time but them forgets over half of what she wants. I wouldn't be too worried about it.
ReplyDeleteI have a different view on Santa and his gifts. Growing up santa brought us our big gift and that is fine and all BUT I worked at a few schools where the kids were very underprivileged and some had a hard time understanding why Santa would bring their friend an Xbox and they just got some pajamas. So it changed my view on santa gifts. The Santa we know brings Ellie smaller gifts and her big gifts are from Mama and Dada.
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DeleteIt sounds like most families struggle with this very same thing - our 2.5 year old hasn't even realised that Father Christmas is bringing gifts so she hasn't asked for anything yet! Our 4 year old understands it all but now realises that only Santa gets to choose gifts off your list and all depends on how much time and energy the elves have in the toy factory and so that it is fair for all the children in the world. It is quite a thing to explain and let them understand at a young age x
ReplyDeleteI'm a Mom of two boys who are 19 and 17. Over the years I have come to realize a few things... your kids will almost always ask for one or more items that you or "Santa" can't afford to buy. This tends to happen more often when they are around 10 years old. They will get over any disappointment if they don't receive said gifts very quickly especially if they get some of the things they ask for. If our kids ever asked why they didn't get a particular gift they asked for, we explained that either Santa couldn't buy it this year because he has so many other children to buy presents for. This works especially well with younger kids . Or when they were older, they were told that item was unaffordable. If you set the precedent to buy them anything or everything they ask for, you will regret it later. I have seen some parents totally spoil their kids and do this and it makes it so much harder each year. I remember visiting my cousins years ago. Their parents would buy them everything they wanted. My sisters and I would watch them go from opening one gift to another quickly just to see everything they got and not really appreciating each present. We try to limit giving our boys too many gifts, usually only buying them 3 or 4 items, depending on the cost. Almost any parent will tell you that as they get older, they'll ask for 1-2 more expensive items. I commend you for not getting that ridiculously expensive item for her. I feel it's outrageously priced! Don't worry too much. You are already making one right decision by refusing to give in and buy it.
ReplyDeleteI have a 7 year old and a 3 year old and it's a hard balance. You want them to believe in Santa but you also need to keep wishes in check. I make my kids write Santa a letter with 6 gift wishes on it. Santa brings 3 gifts (like how Jesus got 3 gifts from the wise men) out of the 6 on the wish list. They are still getting things they want but it gives me an out if they put a hard to find or expensive item. Most years I use the other 3 gifts as suggestions for other family members. So far this has worked for us however this year my 7 year old really wants the retro Nintendo system that is sold out everywhere and Santa isn't going to bring it. I overheard him telling his brother it's the only gift he really wants and he knows Santa can get it. Hope his Christmas spirit isn't crushed to much when he doesn't get it this year.
ReplyDeleteI agree! These comments are helpful to read. We just do several toys for each child (they are 6 and 2) as well as a book and some clothes. I know the between grandparents, aunts and uncles they will get plenty of toys...and I will be headed to Goodwill the day after Christmas to donate older items to make room for the new!
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