Jenyfer Matthews

I really dislike Christmas shopping. The time it takes, the pressure, the crowds, the expense, coming up with the ideas. And it’s even trickier in Egypt because even if I come up with some decent ideas, more often than not it’s for items I cannot obtain (easily) here. For all the reasons stated above, I’m happy to say that most of my shopping is already done.

(Don’t hate me - I have a fairly small family!)

Because we are spending Christmas in the US, the availability of items wasn’t such an issue this year. But since I’ll be staying in the north woods of Minnesota and wanted more at my disposal than the local gift shops and the Ben Franklin, I did most of my shopping online (no crowds! free shipping! yeah!) All of my items will be delivered and waiting for me to wrap them when I arrive. The only obstacle left was coming up with the ideas.

My children are full of suggestions of course. My daughter alone gave me a list a mile long that included a new laptop (we may end up getting one, but not for her!!) My problem is picking out the things that I think are actually worth buying. And in my opinion, that doesn’t leave much.

I don’t tend to go overboard at Christmas with the children. Seems to me that the more gifts appear, the worse their attitude gets! Santa fills their stockings and leaves one “wow” present, mommy and daddy give perhaps six more, and the rest are from relatives. All in all they end up with 12-15 presents each which is plenty. Since I’m fairly strict about limiting presents to birthdays and Christmas with few if any gratuitous purchases in between, what might seem like a paltry Christmas to some is an extravaganza to my two.

Much of my daughter’s list included requests for toys and this is where my main conflict (and Grinchiness) appears. I really dislike toy shopping. So few toys are interesting or well made. Most look as if they would hold their interest for all of ten minutes, tops. And having just been through two birthday parties in the last six months at which they received massive numbers of toys from friends, I can pretty much state that it’s true. The toys have not been the items that have had the most staying power. Which is why I find it hard to bring myself to buy them.

Still, it is Christmas and they will expect some “fun” presents. So I tried to buy toys, I really did. I looked at games, at Ben 10 merchandise, at the “hot must-have toy” list at Amazon. My reaction to most of what I saw was “meh” at best. I might have bought a few things anyway, if they hadn’t also cost so much. I’m not going to pay $20 for something I *know* won’t hold their interest long term. So I ended up navigating away from the toy section to the sports section and found what I think will be the hit present of the season - something they will use time and time again but would never have thought to request : pop-up mesh travel soccer goals. Both children are soccer crazy and are always outside using trees or lawn chairs as goal posts. How cool are they going to think these goal nets are? I even found groovy new balls for each of them. That’s Santa sorted. He’s a great guy.

Mommy bought them good stuff too. I got my daughter a new Razor scooter, a board game about the US states (perfect for the ignorant expat kid!), a pile of new Junie B. Jones books plus many others, and a couple of new Gameboy games. Little Man is getting the board game Operation!, a pile of new books, the first two seasons of the original Scooby Doo on DVD, and two new Gameboy games. I am happy with the selection and I think they will be too. (And everything there will be easy to pack and bring home again - bonus points!!!)

I’m sure I can confidently leave the toy buying in the hands of the grandparents. I already know there is at least one remote control car in the mix…