Cue the scary music . . .

Christmas shopping has begun.

There's a lot to think about this time around. Like what presents have lasting power vs the ones that have a lot of excitement on the 25th and then are set aside by the New Year.

The problem is, I don't always have a good track record with that. Like last year I got the kids the Super Fort from Cranium. It seemed like such an awesome idea. An open ended building toy, you can make different structures every time, simple enough for kids to use and look at all those 5 star reviews! I can count on one hand the number of times they played with it this past year (my son far prefers the tipi his aunt bought him a few years ago - my daughter prefers making her own forts out of chairs and blankets). Yesterday I asked if it could go to the consignment store and both said yes.

Yet then there's the Pixel Chix. It seemed like a toy that wouldn't hold her interest very long so when my daughter asked for one last year I talked her out of it. A year later she was still asking so my mom got her one for her birthday. She. Loves. It. I don't see the appeal but it's been two months and she still plays with it a lot.

So this year I'm accepting that I don't have the super power of always picking the perfect present.

But also, this year I've decided that it isn't the end of the world if we have presents that end up as clutter. Part of childhood is figuring out what you're interested in and what appeals to you. It's ok if my kids ask for toys that turn out to be clunkers. My nine year old is beginning to have an idea of what a "junky" toy is, and what is or is not worth wasting her allowance on. The same with Christmas presents. And I think she's learning this not so much from my lectures on the subject (wawawawa - my Charlie Brown adult imitation) but because of the many toys she's gotten over the years that she begged for and said she'd love, but turned out to be not so great. They're learning experiences, right?

Ok, so that last doesn't fit exactly into the simple living ideal, but then, I never said I was into simple living. I just want less clutter.