Present anxiety

[jmartin2]

I've spent the better part of the late afternoon wrapping presents for K..  And now I find myself in distress, with worries about how she'll react on Christmas morning:  Are there enough toys?  Will she mind getting mostly handmade gifts?  Will the clothes fit her?  Will she like them?  Will there be enough presents for her to open?  Will her

Comments

[naomikritzer]

I have a similar set of anxieties every year. I worry that I bought too much (my grandmother, who spends Christmas with us, is always somewhat shocked by how much my kids get, though it's an entirely moderate set of presents by current standards), and I worry about perceived inequities. Most of my angst this year has focused on whether we should be buying additional presents for my siblings, who mostly give gifts to each person in my four-member household but generally receive a single gift from us (a photo calendar) and yet they are adults and I don't want to spend a lot on them, and frankly it would be fine if they wanted to buy just for the girls, or give a modest family gift, or whatever.

It'll all be fine. :-)

number of presents

[anonymous]

We go with the idea the Jesus got three presents. We group like items, or spread out a large gift, to make each child get three. And gifts from outside the family don't count. (This year we are pretending that grammy got each child one extra, since we had four for each and no easy way to combine them.) It's harder this year (Katherine's list for santa was three whole pages, invented-spelling and all), but they haven't complained much. And when they do, we pull out The Berenstain Bears Get the Gimmies. I don't generally like "the bears," but some of those books have been so dang useful. :^)

[servant_of_clio]

I loved handmade gifts as a child. The clothing I remember best, in many cases, are the dresses my mother occasionally made for me. I'm sure K. will have a wonderful Christmas.

the three-ring circus

[voelz444]

I'm sure it will be fine. I am becoming increasingly concerned (read: crotchety) with the ridiculous amount of stuff that many children receive on Christmas...it becomes overwhelming for the kids, and months/years later it becomes an ordeal when it's time to cull the excess goods from the house. I remember that, on Christmas morning, all of our presents fit under the tree (this, evidently, is unusual) and I still felt like I was the luckiest kid in the world. I also remember the church services and the special family meals and treats. It all seems magical to me in retrospect, and I suspect it still would have been even with fewer presents.

In any event - focus on the positive - you've only got two more days to get through!