Sucker

So it’s five days after Christmas and the toys I was so excited for my kids to open on Christmas morning have been untouched for at least two days already (and counting) … I got sucked in and frankly, I am so pissed off at myself again that I fell for the “your child MUST have this toy this holiday season! They will play with it for days and years to come!” Did I mention it’s been five days since Christmas??? WHY do I do this YEAR after YEAR??? Why am I so weak??? Big M and Little M are now almost seven and four-and-a-half … that’s more than 11 years of parenting experience and seven Christmases as a parent! Of course, I know that kids DO NOT actually play with toys (or at least mine don’t) … How could I have forgotten this so easily? It’s clear to me NOW that some blog posts (hopefully, unlike this one) should be left unread, especially those telling me what I simply MUST HAVE under the Christmas tree each year! 

I have purchased so many things over the years that I have later sold or donated because my kids did not play with or use them. I am so irritated with myself that I wasted “that kind of money” once again. The two untouched toys cost roughly $150. $150 spent because Little M “needs” one big toy and one Santa toy, right? Big M was easy to shop for (and she HAS played with her big toy every day since Christmas), and because I had something big for Big M, Little M needed something big too, right? Things have to be “fair” right? A toy for a toy … a gift for a gift, especially when they are old enough to understand equal and fair, right? I know this is why I did it, but even as I write it and think about it every time I see those “toys of shame,” I am overwhelmed with GUILT! UGH!!! 

I would be the first to preach to you about the importance of not buying something for the sake of buying something, but that’s what I did … and I am so ASHAMED of myself!

PLEASE let me learn from this mistake and do better next year!!! PLEASE, please, don’t let me fall into this pathetic Christmas TRAP again!