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We brought the kids home on December 1st and that first Christmas was crazy. I was a maniac. I bought everything I saw - they didn't have this toy or that sweater or that other toy. Whatever. WAY too much. I had done that a bit with my oldest when he was little...
The funny thing is that we seem to do it when they really don't care - you know? Why buy a 1 year old thirty presents? They'll like the box from one of them the best. Whereas my 12 year old would LOVE to get that much. That said, he won't. Since 2005 we have revamped Christmas. Each child gets one big gift and a stocking full of the little stuff. I do buy board games since that is one of the things the kids and I do ALOT. The kids memories of their first Christmas are negative - the felt a lot of pressure to do things "right". We are blessed and aren't really "feeling the pinch" like others and our hearts go out. But, our Christmas will still be small. Hopefully my kids are getting the message that it's not about gifts. (maybe not since they were disappointed at the number of gifts under the tree)
It's funny - we do very little for birthdays now. VERY little. Every other year they get to have a "party" or sleepover...but it's low key and not a lot of kids. Then the off year, they get to pick where we eat out - NO gifts from us in either scenario! We eat out every Friday night - it's a tradition and we simply let them pick the restaurant. Funny thing is they LOVE it. They look forward to it all year. I will admit that we do NOT let them pick on other nights...
Anyway - long winded way to say - it's not the economy so much as our deep desire to not have kids that are spoiled and entitled!
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