The past couple of weeks, packages have been arriving fast and furious to our household. Almost all of the packages are Christmas gifts for the kids. My parents joined the 21st century and purchased the kids’ gifts online this year and had them shipped straight to us. My sister has been clicking away, playing the auntie who spoils her niece and nephew.
Let’s not forget about us, mom and dad. Santa visits our home so we’re debating on what’s the best gifts for the kids, both from us and from Santa. Sophia asked for the LeapPad for Christmas. Sadly it’s very hard to get this season since it’s one of the hot toys. I gave up stalking various sites, waiting for it to be in stock again. I explained to her that should probably wouldn’t get one this Christmas. I was so impressed with her. She didn’t even cry about it. She just accepted it and continued playing with whatever toy she was playing with at the time.
In our small apartment, there’s not a lot of storage space. Especially a place where the kids won’t get into. So as each goodie arrives, we chuck it in our bedroom walk-in-closet. Our bedroom closet was pretty crammed already with the kids summer clothing, shoes and various other boxes. We could still walk in to hang up our clothes. That was a month ago.
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| Yes, that’s our actual closet. Please ignore, oh heck, it’s too crazy to ignore anything here! |
Now we can’t even walk into our bedroom closet.
It’s getting ridiculous. Last week, my parents sent another batch of presents for the kids. At least these are already wrapped. I’m still expecting a couple of more things for the kids. The last two weren’t supposed to arrive until January. I didn’t plan on making them Christmas presents, but I guess I will now.
I haven’t even begun to count how many gifts the kids are getting this Christmas. All I know it’s too many. Sophia doesn’t ask for a lot of gifts around Christmastime. Am I spoiling her still by giving her too many gifts? Or letting everyone give the kids so many gifts.
I’ve already informed Sophia that before Christmas we’re going to purge her toys to make room for whatever new toys Santa may bring. Last year she cried and fought over every toy. I think this year will be a little less painful.
Finding balance is hard. Especially when our kids are the only grandchildren for both sets of grandparents.
How do you decide how many gifts each of your children receive?