This is Noella with her "Dora Sofa Bed" and a stuffed collie toy she picked out herself but didn't know we had bought for her. I don't know, but when I was a kid I never made a killing on gifts the way Noella and her cousins do, and for that reason I have to say they are very blessed. Not only are the toys and games more sofisticated, but there is a whole industry geared toward inventing gifts for children with bells and whistles!!!
I'm not being down on Christmas. On the contrary I love this time of year, and the fact that children in our family are getting a wealth of gifts shows just how well some of us in my generation are doing. In our little household, for instance, we can afford to blow $100 or $125 on Noella's gifts without even thinking about it. When Christine & I were kids, it was a much different story. Oh, as I got older I got some cools gifts like an "Atari 2600" (yes, that was $140 of paradise back then!!), but in general Christimas splurging was not an option. Thirty some odd years and a couple of academic degrees later, Christine & I are fulfilling the next step in our parents' American Dream.
I wonder if we are not spoiling our generation too much? How do you give your kids what you never had yet still teach them the meaning of hard work and sacrifice? That is a balance, I know, we have yet to find...this whole parenthood thing did not come with workshops and manuals.....
Well, it was a nice Christmas this year, and with that holiday behind us I look ahead to the New Year and what lies ahead. I don't like "resolutions", but I do like checking in with myself from time to time. What will 2006 bring us? I'm not sure, but my sense is that it will be the year we all have to "kick it up a notch"...
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