Memoirs of a (not so) Desperate Housewife: Christmas 2005

My first post was supposed to be all about our trip to Jamaica, but I got side-tracked. That will be on my next post.
But it really was a super trip..a much welcomed escape from the dreariness of winter, work and sorry to say ....Christmas.
I voice my gripes every year about the increasing commercialization of Christmas.

A perfect example of this over-emphasis on gifts occurred right in my own home on Xmas morning.
We had made a deal this year that since we were going on vacation, we would tone down on the presents this year. We all have just about everything we need and Brandon has more than enough toys. In fact, I should be donating some to the Salvation Army pretty soon.

Well, my husband opened up my Christmas gift to him and held up the contents....a bag of 6 new black socks. With a look of disbelief and to my disdain... he starts laughing hysterically. I'm sorry if my budget this year can't accommodate the new X-box 360 or a fancy upgrade to your pricey phone that you've been hinting about for the past 4 weeks. B..bb...But what about all them fancy dinner parties I organize every year for his birthday, the expensive pieces of jewellery he's gotten or the latest gadgets I'd bought him in the past. Obviously all forgotten

As the humiliating laughter continued, my attention moved over to my precious 2 year old Brandon who was inquisitively trying to piece together 2 pieces of a puzzle. It was just one of many toys I had gotten for him. A puzzle I must say that was well-made , perfectly suited to his age category and ....bought at the dollar store. I watched him patiently try to fit the pieces onto the board, completely oblivious to how much was paid for it. Somewhere in that 2-year old brain of his, I felt he just knew that Mommy had taken a lot of time this year to carefully choose every toy he had received this year, taking into consideration his interests and abilities and most importantly that she loved him.

As I watched him sliding the pieces over the board, my heart swelled with pride envisioning the honorable young man he would grow up to be. It's a pride that every Mother gets when she senses that her values/teachings are rubbing off on their offspring and eventually adopted. It's really not about the material gift itself but the love.

I kept watching him as he explored his new toy smiling to myself. He then calmly picked up the puzzle and flung it 4 feet away onto the living room wall. and as if that wasn't enough, he also hurled a couple of the puzzle pieces too.
Wordlessly, he moved onto the remote controlled mercedes benz car his father had given him. Sigh.
I haytes Christmas.
Here's a pic of him with the offending puzzle.