I'll Be Honest...

[AmyBoz]

I'm home sick, today, and took the time to wrap the kids gifts. I've been completely good with our frugal Christmas, until I saw the small pile of gifts, after they had been wrapped.

I don't want to second guess myself, and I know the kids will like what they've gotten. However, I know some will be happier than others, because they are getting exactly what they asked for, and the others didn't really ask for much and so I had to get things I thought they'd like.

My guess is that they will be perfectly fine with everything, and I'm just overreacting, but I'm wondering if anyone else has ever had that frugal holiday guilt?

Oh, and no worries...I'm not going out to buy anything else.

[Lady_V]

Yup... every other year! The ex and I switch off, he gets her the eve/morning on odds, I have evens...

This is an odd -- The ex basically buys out Toys-R-Us, Best Buy AND the entire left wing of the mall.

There isn't a lot beneath the tree (the wii and games are literally UNDER the tree). She is NOT the type to look down on the gifts I give her, but it does gnaw at me the years she opens the gifts there first, and them comes home for mine.

[OOwl]

Yep, my pile this year looks paltry compared to years past when I had more time to shop and money to spend. Although I think back to those AFTER Christmas Day blues, when everything was opened and the excitement had started to wane and the guilt I felt at spending so much for something so soon forgotten. I won't have that feeling this year, and my checkbook will be all the healthier for it. Like you, I'm not going out and supplementing what I think in my mind's eye MIGHT be a "too light" Christmas. I already have what I want most in all the world for my gift, and teaching my family to look beyond the gifts to the intangibles of Christmas is my goal this year.

[zakity]

My guys have never gotten a ton of gifts. They haven't sprouted an extra head or turned to the dark side or anything. They have actually said something to me about kids with lots of toys don't seem as happy.




Side note: Most of the kids that we know who have lots of toys are not the best parents and really are trying to buy their children's love or keep the kids entertained so that their kids will leave them alone.

[Momto5RN]

i always do that too .
i know they will like what they got i almost always find a way to get what they asked for and stay within budget . but i still worry for a few seconds lol

[McD]

They haven't sprouted an extra head or turned to the dark side or anything.

not yet anyway.....


I am completely joking. I go through this every single year. I made an effort every single day this year to focus on an activity or a special event with the kids. Hopefully that helps.

[zakity]

Oh man! That was good! Thanks for the chuckle.

[mauimagic]

Hang in there - we probably all know what you mean - and the feeling will pass. Everytime I look at the pictures of you and your family, I think that you and yours are among the most blessed family.

[Labontet]

I ALWAYS HAVE THAT CHRISTMAS GIFT GUILT!!

Except this year. I am very content with what little I have gotten.

[leighcat]

The kids will be fine with what they got. Kids love opening presents sometimes more than the presents themselves lol!

I feel guilty for over-spending money I don't really have. I fought with myself about returning some things. I decided to keep them though because they will be impossible to find when I do have more money plus the sales will be over.

[Mom23boys]

I always have the holiday gift guilt as well. I worry that I didn't give enough and right near the last day, I think I need to rush out and buy something else. I am doing what I can to resist temptaion, especially with DH losing his job in July and our income being reduced. I don't really know why I sit and worry about because in the end everyone is always happy with what they did receive.

[Debbie-cat]

I do the same Amy. I know everyone will like what they are getting but that urge is sometimes overwhelming. It passes quickly though once the gifts are opened and we just sit around and enjoy each other's company!

[McD]

not yet anyway.....


I am completely joking. I go through this every single year. I made an effort every single day this year to focus on an activity or a special event with the kids. Hopefully that helps.

Oh goodness, did I mistype. Every Day this MONTH Not year.

[zakity]

I figured that you had meant this month. And, it is the memories that tend to stick around, not what they got. My guys will talk about what happened this year or what happened that year. If you ask them what they got, they don't remember.

[sunshine]

We have had lean years -- one year in particular was VERY lean (and my kids only get gifts from us, no grandparents, aunts, uncles to spoil them). . .

The extra lean year I bought a $1 pack of balloons, and blew them up and put them under the tree. Each kid had a different color (oldest had blue, middle had green, youngest had pink) Inside each balloon was clues to find their hidden gift - and then that gift gave them more clues to find the next. They each only had 3 small gifts, but they spent most of the morning helping each other with clues, finding their gifts, etc.

They still talk about that being one of their best Christmas memories.