when i was a kid, the sears or jc penney holiday “wish books” took up half the mailbox. they were hefty catalogs that made a satisfying thud when they landed on the table where i carefully thumbed through them looking for the best toys for my christmas list. probably because of the internet, catalogs have shrank to a small percentage of their former bulky selves and don’t hold near the number of gift ideas. the anemic toy catalogs don’t stop my kids from attacking them while shrieking, “i want this!” on every page. my friend anna long ago introduced me to the right way to wish for things in a catalog. she looks at each page and decides which one thing she would get on each page if she could. in this theoretical shopping spree, you can have something from every page so even if it is something you would’t always want, you don’t have a choice if it is the best thing on that page. it would be like a free shopping spree at a mall where you get to choose one item at each store. can you imagine? it is even more exciting than the prospect of going on the old supermarket sweep game show and winning an entire cart of the most expensive groceries in the store (go for the hams!). if there was any store where i could run free for ten minutes and win everything in my cart, i suppose i would go to best buy. if i could get whatever i wanted in an hour on a flatbed truck, i would go to a big box hardware store and upgrade as much as possible in the house. target would be also be a lot of fun.

i may fantasize about binging on material items but i also hate having crap in every nook and cranny in the house (maybe i need a shopping spree at organized living or ikea). the kids beg for new christmas toys while i sneak their old toys into the goodwill bags and try to make room in the closets. i used to fault my parents for getting rid of our old toys (collectibles!) but now i get it. the tons of brightly colored, plastic crap and the broken pieces strewn in the toy room make me cringe. the kids play with new toys for a few days then discard them to play with my cell phone, golf balls and whatever item their siblings want at the time.

we’ll still encourage them to make their lists, threaten them into good behavior by holding santa over their little heads and yes, buy more stuff. the oldest told me adults should make their own lists for santa because it can’t hurt. it isn’t as easy to get excited about wish lists when you know the cost of the presents and where the money comes from. if there was a magical way for me to get whatever i wanted for christmas (with the caveat that i couldn’t wish for things like world peace or kids that never whined- only material items), i would ask for:

-a desk area with a permanent computer station complete with printers that worked and an emptyish filing cabinet plus a new desktop computer to use in conjunction with my laptop

- new curtains for the living room since the triplets have ripped the existing ones from their tabs and they are held up with safety pins

- new ceiling fans in the foyer and upstairs kids’ rooms

- a better mp3 player

- new tennis shoes

- a new dining room table and chairs

- screw it, if i am dreaming? a new house

- starbucks gift certificates

- voucher for an all expense paid tropical vacation for just me and my husband to be taken in the beginning of february when it is bite ass cold

guess that would be enough. what would you wish for?

This entry was posted on Sunday, November 15th, 2009 at 10:02 pm and is filed under NaBloPoMo. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.