The Christmas Wrap Part 1

Hard to believe that already Christmas is nothing but a distant memory.  All the talk of Christmas seems to start so early - I did some of my shopping in the July sales. Then December arrives and it hits a fever pitch then in a flash it's all over.  Almost every year I feel a real sense of being ripped off - I feel like I work hard baking, making cards and craft, shopping, wrapping and planning for this one ultimately disappointing day.  I find the main event such a let down.  All my carefully thought out gifts are lost in a blaze of torn wrapping paper and stuff - lots of stuff. It's hard enough for the adults to take time to appreciate things let alone the kids who are so overwhelmed that they can barely remember what they received never mind who gave it to them.  Noah still has a few presents unopened such is the bounty that came his way.

It seems like I'm a bit of a Christmas Grinch but not at all - I truly love Christmas (my next post will be all about our fun month of Christmas).  I'm sure I wrote about it last year but I just don't like the commercial side of it all.  I can't really get up on my high horse too much though because I got caught up in the hype and bought Noah way too much stuff - Christmas Eve I found myself packing half of it away in our present cupboard for birthdays throughout the year.  We are simple people - we love the beach, camping, playing in the backyard and reading books - none of which require a lot of stuff.  We also love nice things - coffee machines, flat screen TVs, iPhones, iPods and iPads - you name it we've got it all.  It can be hard to resist, hard to find a balance.

2011 we will try harder to stick to our guns - birthdays and Christmas will be much less about stuff and more about fun and family. I won't compromise on my parties though I just love them too much!!