Ahh, The Holidays

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday. I enjoyed the time with family exchanging gifts, shopping and, of course, eating. Christmas was my favorite holiday as a kid. As I got older, the excitement dimmed a bit. (People stopped buying me toys!) Since my daughter was born, I've grown to enjoy it more with my daughter. The last two years, she's "helped" me put up the tree. But this is the first year that she was really excited about the holidays. We watched classic cartoons like "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" and read 'Twas the Night Before Christmas.

After Christmas, I went shopping with my sister and we visited a toy store to look for a toy for her son. I'd bought him all the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles except one. Donatello was missing from every store I checked and he was ridiculously overpriced online. We still didn't find him, but my daughter found a small set with a bunny. It included a small bowl, spoon, cup, tub, and other assorted items. It looked like it should cost about five dollars. It was twenty-two! So, of course, I put it back. And my daughter was upset for the rest of the time we were in the store. I picked up other more reasonable and useful items, but that didn't perk her up any at all. Once we were in line to leave, she was still crying, but not the loud annoying crying that inspires no sympathy. No, she had the sad face, sad eyes and the look of someone trying to hold back tears. It was far more effective than acting out could have ever been. Emotional blackmail at its finest. Sigh. And so, along with the other items, this is how I ended up buying almost a hundred dollars worth of toys days after Christmas and only a few weeks before her fifth birthday.