So Christmas is just around the corner…AGAIN. Either I’m morphing into the Grinch as I get older or I’m just fed up with how quickly the years are flying by. Every time I hear “It’s Christmas time…”, the opening line to Band Aid’s Do They Know It’s Christmas, blasting out of speakers while browsing shops in November, all I can think is:
No it isn’t. Piss off.
It doesn’t feel like that long ago that I was perched on the kitchen counter, compiling my Christmas list with my mum with the help of the Argos catalogue.
Fast forward thirty years and the Argos catalogue is no more. Christmas no longer takes an actual year to arrive but what feels like five minutes instead.
My kids started compiling their Christmas list in October. October!!! The lists are massive. Possibly longer than my arm.
What I feel like saying whenever they show me these lists is:
“What in the name of Santa’s sack is this?! Do you really think Santa can afford all of this? That this massive load of requested presents will be sitting beautifully wrapped under our Christmas tree when I have to ask you fifty times to brush your teeth? Or when I have to ask you a hundred times to get your shoes on? Or when you refuse to eat the dinners that I make…which you ask for? The only thing you two will be getting is fifty beautifully wrapped pieces of coal…that’ll teach you to mess with Mummy!”
What I actually say (through gritted teeth) is:
“We’ll see what Santa can do.”
Despite my children testing my patience, I don’t want them to pick up on the fact that Mummy has been finding The Grinch the most relatable character in the history of fiction lately. I want them to feel as happy and excited about Christmas as I did when I was a kid.
BUT…
Unless I suddenly win the lottery, which won’t happen because 1) I don’t do the lottery and 2) even if I did do it, I wouldn’t win, because my luck is sh*t, there’s no way we can afford all the presents that they are asking for.
So here’s a few ways in which I’m trying to make those ginormous lists manageable:
Splitting the gifts between family members
My children are lucky to have such generous grandparents, who buy them lovely presents every year. This year, they asked us what the children would like. So we’ve given them a couple of items each from the list.
It’s a great way of providing family members with gift ideas. It also helps people to avoid accidentally buying the same presents, something which has happened to us before!
Making some items birthday gifts instead
We’ve also talked with the kids about saving some of their gift ideas for their birthdays instead.
This is ideal if there’s a birthday coming up a few months after Christmas. It gives your bank balance time to recover and the kids still get some of the items from their wishlists.
Win win!
Rewriting their Christmas list with them
I’ve found that helping the kids to re-think their gift ideas has made the lists a bit more manageable.
For example, I somehow successfully convinced my 4-year-old that he does not need THREE different sets of Lego. Just one or two will suffice. Also, he already has quite a few similar sets, so there’s no need to add an extra three boxes of the stuff to his collection.
Helping them to understand that they can’t have EVERYTHING
While I don’t want my kids to think that Mummy has turned into Scrooge this year, it hasn’t done any harm being honest and telling them that they can’t always have EVERYTHING that they ask for.
Splitting with the grandparents has helped us, but we still can’t afford all the other items on their Christmas list.
Explaining to them that some children aren’t always so fortunate to receive lots of presents has helped them to understand that huge lists aren’t always manageable for some parents.
Which brings me to the final one:
Getting the grandparents to talk about apples and oranges
I’ve lost count of how many times my parents have talked about their Christmas experiences and how back in their day, all they got was an apple or an orange.
It definitely puts things into perspective!
And my kids happen to love fruit (hurrah!), so I don’t think they’d be too disappointed to unwrap a bag of oranges on Christmas Day…
And so….
All of these things have helped considerably, but it’s important to remember that Christmas isn’t just about presents…
It’s also about being grateful. The best way to show gratitude is by getting the kids to leave a huge glass of wine and a massive mince pie out on Christmas Eve and then hurrying them up the stairs to bed so that Mummy Santa can enjoy their gift of appreciation.
Share your thoughts!