70 Days Until Christmas

Christmas is coming. Only 70 days to go. I am usually really good about the holidays. I do not stress. I shop early. I do most of my shopping online. We stick with our something you want, something you need, something to play with, and something to read rule. But I do not know what to do this year. Of course they will get their books and their thing that they need will probably be some clothes or shoes. But the something they want and the something to play with, I am completely stumped. I mean, last year we gave them a trip to Disney World so no matter what we get them this year will be lame compared to that.

So this weekend, I asked them what they wanted for Christmas. "A hampster." "No, hampsters." "What about a doggie?" "No live animals." What are they thinking? Like I want to give myself another thing to take care of as a gift to them for Christmas. No way. My 9 year old was like, "I want an ipod or an iphone." "That's too expensive." That's when she said, "Well, you don't have to pay for it - Santa will bring it." Of course.

As long as my kids believe in Santa, I will put up the charade. I know that Santa is controversial now-a-days and some people think that it's lying to your kids and it makes them lose trust and they will always feel betrayed by you when they find out. Blah, blah, blah. I think it's fun and magical. Kids need some fun and magic before they grow up and get beaten down by life. I don't care what they believe in - Santa is not bringing iphones and ipads. I am not spending $1,000 on Christmas. Santa is on a budget.

So I said, "Try again." They thought. My 7 year old said, "I don't know." My 9 year old said, "Maybe a diary." She has 10,000 diaries already. So I don't know what I'm going to do. My kids literally have everything they could possibly need. They are so hard to buy for. They don't really play with barbies or dolls. They mostly like to entertain themselves with things that belong to me. My sewing kit, makeup, dressing up in my clothes. They do art, they play outside. They'll get something small maybe. Loom bands probably. I don't know. I need to figure it out soon. I only have 70 days left but it's really only 60 days because I only shop online and need to account for shipping time. I don't know where these year went. I think I say that every year....