Ever since I became a parent Christmas has become anxiety-provoking. I know it shouldn't be because it's not about the gifts, I know that in my head really I do. But when I thought about the presents I had for Silas (almost three) this past year, I thought (pre-Christmas), "Well that's not enough."
I remember these huge Christmases at my Gram's. The tree was at one end of the room and the presents came out to the middle of the living room (and that didn't include stocking presents which were in brown paper grocery bags there were so many). Mind you, that was for 9 people. But it's as if I had that image stuck in my head as I was thinking about our Christmas this past year. And I felt badly that I couldn't give Silas that sort of Christmas.
Fast forward to mid-January. Silas had the bulk of the presents under our tree (my parents spoiled him) and after all the anxiety of finding "the best" gifts, he plays the most with two: a set of inflatable dinos (Amazon, $17.99) and a set of cardboard blocks from my parents. The rest of his stuff is either in his toy box ("resting") or broken at this point.
Note to self for next Christmas: don't worry about the gifts. Find him one or two things that he'll enjoy currently and save the rest of the time, energy, and money on something else. Honestly I think he enjoys playing with me and Daddy with the dinos more than anything else. Oh, and deflating them so he and I can use the pump to inflate them again.
