When my sister and I were little my Mom was very careful to be sure that we got equal number of presents. I know from later on that she always spent the same amount of money on both of us, sometimes keeping separate envelopes of cash and making purchases from both until all the money in each was gone.
At some point it became more of a challenge to spend the same amount of money on both of us AND give the same number of presents. What do you do when you purchase a futon bed for one child and the other one has to transport all his gifts back to Oklahoma by plane?
Some years Mom would hit Bookman’s and the last 4 or 5 presents were paperback books. There was the year she gave me empty cases with post it notes that said Tuna Turner or Amy Grant. Tuna Turner? What the What? Too much 2am eggnog I think. If I remember correctly, the point was that she had the tapes she purchased but could not find them for me on Christmas Eve. The most memorable year however I opened 6 different packages each with 2 new white socks in them.
Now that I am a parent I have more appreciation for this. I get the last minute wrapping, and the “where did I hide all the gifts panic”. I used to wrap pretty packages, but I spend less time on that now, because they are only going to rip the paper off, and there is very little appreciation of the package in advance. Plus if I put wrapped presents out too soon My Matthew with his one or three day rule cannot stand knowing that there are presents for him RIGHT THERE, and that he has to wait. I have not resorted to the socks trick yet, but I admit to packaging 2 books for Paul together and wrapping them and calling it one gift, so that the numbers work out even.
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i think my mom did the same sort of math. but had 3 bdays b4 big holidays. brothers bdays were 10-31 and 11-1, and mine on 11-26. sometimes bday present was wrapped with christmas paper. i remember thinking i was jipped but lordy what they must have spent for the meals. as a boy and young man i used to hate that all of my stepdads family came to our house. a few of them might bring one item for the holiday meal and mom would cook 24/7 for a week and only nap on the couch. hated that she was working so hard for ingrates, and wished we could visit more. this thanksgiving several cousins called, and a few came over. they'd had their meals elswhere, but just wanted to come home for the holidays. am glad now she gave that to others.
ReplyDeleteI try to do even numbers of presents too, but that's quickly going to become impossible...especially when Jaxen wants a PS3, and Jalyn asks for a pillow. lol:)
ReplyDeletea pillow? That is my kind of kid to shop for!
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