Yes in just a week’s time those of us with children will be trying to persuade them that the man with the red coat, white beard and red nosed reindeer is on his way and about to drop all their dreams down the chimney. Others will be worrying if the gifts they have saved hard for all year will satisfy their little ones, or partners and we’ll all be trying to find that perfect something for that special someone. No wonder Christmas is so stressful. Don’t get me wrong I do enjoy the silly season and now I have my own children there has been a bit of a momentum shift. As a grown up without kids I could lazily enjoy bucks fizz in bed, a 3-4 pm lunch and lots of booze and a film or something in the evening. These days I count myself lucky if there is a 6 or later in the hour section of the clock and I know that once one of the three is up it won’t be long before the other two follow. Stockings and breakfast follow before they are allowed their presents from under the tree, some from us, some from friends and family and usually somewhere hidden a special present that requires their full attention.
It makes me wonder now how stressed my own parents must have felt with our presents. I must admit that when I was thinking about what to get the children I found it easy to dismiss demands for TV’s and iphones but some of the other, still expensive requests seemed reasonable, but why did they want these particular things, TV advertising, friends or even us putting ideas into their heads? I do feel pressure to get them the right thing, something they want but that also means they won’t get teased when they all go back to school and compare notes, after all that’s one of the things that kids do. This year we’ve done quite well with the requests as we started early enough but it hasn’t been as easy as other years, I don’t think it is for anyone, prices are going up, pay is staying the same and jobs are harder to come by. We are still lucky as I can be at home with the kids and volunteer at their school to get some experience points before job hunting next year, but even so it makes me feel for those who worry there is too little under the tree and it makes me worry about how consumerist we have all become.
It has been interesting that my younger children could think of lots and lots of things they would like while Hpops couldn’t really, there were things she would like and enjoy having but she was finding it difficult to think of things she really wanted, I myself have found it difficult and as a result most of us have settled for token things like luxury chocolates, vouchers for a favourite shop rather than specific, perhaps more expensive requests. When asked what the children would like it has become increasingly difficult as things have got so expensive, so we have stuck to things like Lego, annuals,book tokens. I can remember at their ages being delighted with such gifts as well as stationery of jigsaws but in the modern age these gifts are often seen as quaint or boring, after all if it doesn’t have a touch screen, move, talk or actively entertain them what good is it? I feel that as good as the benefits of modern technology are traditional arts and crafts are losing out a bit, kids expect to be entertained. My pre-ipod daughter is good at entertaining herself, she reads, writes and colours in the littler two require more active entertaining, it isn’t enough to play a game once, Imp is just beginning to be able to play alone but we get frequent complaints that no-one will play with him, as we do from Pixie as well, they expect someone to entertain them and if the ipod is out of charge there is apparently nothing to do! This holiday we are encouraging them to play more board games, do more crafts and, goodness help us, talk to each other. During the first day of their holidays they have helped me wash the car, played Strictly come Dancing, written cards and delivered them to the neighbours and watched a film, the ipods are tucked away, for now!
This isn’t really a moan just a longing, we know that the traditional Christmas pastimes will only get us so far before the boring comments start, they’ll have annuals to read, lego to build and games to play and I hope they have a really wonderful time like I did when I was a kid, waking up full of excitement and pleased to get a whole selection box or toy to play with. I know that on the day they probably won’t spare a thought for those children not lucky enough to be swamped with gifts or wonder who received the shoebox we made up for Operation Christmas Child but I do hope some day they’ll be sharing some lovely memories with their own children and that maybe they’ll be a little less stressed about the gifts and content to have their family around them. For me this Christmas that is what counts, having the kids around us and seeing the rest of the family over the holiday period, not the shiny paper and money spent and so on, especially after the events in Newtown last week, the children slain the same age as my own son, it makes me realise I’m lucky to have kids, to have things to worry about and I’m going to sit back and enjoy the ride!
Merry Christmas, and remember it’s the thought that counts!
