Christmas time is quickly approaching, and I couldn't be happier. The boys and I have already spent hours perusing the goods at Hobby Lobby, and Ian is just as pumped up for Christmas as I am. I know that I will have four Christmas trees this year for sure, but I would really like to have two more. Call me crazy, but I don't think that Cole is going to be on board for trees number 5 and 6. For our next "Date Night In" I might have to buy him a bottle of wine and discuss it at the end of the evening. ;)
Anyway, I think that a portion of Ian's excitement stems from the fact that we are now visiting toy aisles in stores and looking at Fisher Price catalogs. Cole and I do NOT just buy toys for our kids. That sounds really strange, I know, but we buy them gifts for Christmas (~$75.00 budget/kid), birthdays (~$25-30 budget), Valentine's Day (~$15 budget/kid), and Easter (~$15-20 budget/kid). They get SO much stuff from both sides of our family, that they have plenty of toys and don't need anything else. I feel like our house overfloweth with toys, but compared to the majority of middle class households, we have a slight fraction of the amount of toys they have. The boys never complain about not having anything to play with, and on gift receiving occasions, they are overwhelmed with glee. We also do a gigantic toy purge before birthdays and Christmas to make room for the new toys. This is the way we Andersons roll, and we are very, very happy with this.
I love to see Ian and Eli so excited about Christmas because in my humble opinion, it is the most wonderful time of the year. I adore and savor every minute of it, even when Cole and I are rushing around, with two kids in tow, trying to celebrate six Christmases in a day and a half. The one thing that has really bothered me about the anticipation this year has been listening to the boys say, "I need that!" This probably sounds very minor and totally nit picky, but I really, really, really want the boys to understand the difference between needs and wants, and I feel like they should learn the difference from the very beginning. So, I have been gently correcting the terminology every time I hear it, and Ian has caught on very well. I am very proud of him. I find it much more pleasant to look through the toys and hear, "I want that!" rather than "I need that." I am very, very, very thankful that we have never had to struggle to cover our boys' needs, and their wants have always been fulfilled as well.
So, back to the Fisher Price catalog. Ian has seen several Batman toys that he really wants. They are all age appropriate, and I would have no problem fulfilling these wishes except the toys are pretty pricy and would eat up most of the Christmas budget. Then, today at Mom's Group, I had an epiphany. After spending the first hour of the two hour meeting in the play room consoling Eli, I came out to hear Kristi, crafter extraordinaire, showing off some wooden people pegs. Kristi explained that she uses these people, which look exactly like old school Little People, whenever her kids want something like "a Sonic the Hedgehog" toy. She won't buy those toys for her kids, so she will pull out the peg people and art supplies and her boys will make their own. BRILLIANT!!!! I love, love, love that idea! The boys appreciate the toy more because they put the effort into creating it, and they get exactly what they want in the end. I mean, seriously, how awesome is that idea?!?! After Kristi gave her presentation on all of the different things she makes with her kids, we all had a chance to make them ourselves. Unfortunately, my "pregnancy-nursing-nursing while pregnant-pregnancy-nursing" induced arthritis was wreaking havoc on my ability to hold things this morning, and I didn't get to try making any peg people. :( I did make a felt mouse, but it looked horrific as I was not able to use my scissors very easily and couldn't hold onto the small pieces. Oh, well. It was early, and I don't try to be dexterous until afternoon anyway. That's what "elevated hormone levels" for three solid years will do to you. Thank goodness my kiddos were worth it.
After I got back home, I was so pumped to check out the website for the wooden peg people. They were all less than a dollar a piece with most costing in the 20 cent range. Plus, if you order in lots of 25 or more, you start benefiting from quantity discounts. I checked out the peg people and decided they were a must have. I ordered, geez I hope Cole doesn't read this, 136 peg people for $30! To me this is an absolute steal. I got peg men, peg boys, peg construction workers, and even some peg females. I think this will be a perfect way to satisfy Ian's "wants" for new toys and different characters. I know that Ian will need a little more help in creating his people than Kristi's oldest son, but I think he will get a real kick out of it. He loves "doing a craft." We will be able to make his Batman wishes come true, but he will also be able to have Joker, Penguin, Robin, and whoever else Batman associates with (even though I don't know who else that may be). Plus, we can have a Bob the Builder, Sir Topham Hatt, maybe the Super Why Super Readers, who knows. The point is, I'm excited for this fabulous idea, and I can't wait for the bag o' wood to arrive.
The OTHER thing I saw on the website was wooden Christmas bulbs. How adorable would these be all painted up with green and red glitter paint and strung as garland? Uh, try super duper adorable!!! I didn't order the wooden bulbs yet because I don't have a tree with coordinating decorations, but hopefully after next Wednesday's "Date Night In" I'll have one in the works. :)
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