The nice thing about Cole is he's the stereotypical little boy who requires very little to make him happy in the gift/Christmas department. It's the "Three T's." Trains, tractors, and trucks. It also helps that anything he's seen or come in contact with for the last 5 months has gone on his Christmas list. A list which includes nearly the entire Target toy catalog and anything he's seen in a YouTube video being played with by another child. So if your data set is "infinity" it's pretty easy to select something off that list.
Leda is more difficult. She wants a set of Marvel foot-tall superhero dolls. No clue why. She's never seen any of them outside of that box and so far it's the only thing she's explicitly asked for. Although if you pin her down with questions like, "should Santa bring you a doll?" she'll answer "uh huh" in the cutest way possible. Like she's been an ever-so-good girl. Which is totally not the case. If we were more heartless, ruthless, cruel parents, both our children should get coal.
As a parent of pre-schoolers, I'm digging this Santa thing. It's a convenient way to threaten the children. Instant behavior modification tool. At least in our house, chocolate is just as effective a tool. But I maintain that being a parent requires a certain level of resorting to the sinister because you have to really, actually be willing to turn off the light and leave the bedroom without a story. You have to sell it. Your kids can tell if you have no intention of getting into the battle. Kids can smell weakness. And, like predators who pick off the sick prey, will seek out that parent to attack with tears and tantrums.
I've gotten way off track here though. Leda's actually getting a Jessie doll from Toy Story and a dvd of her favorite British stop-action animation sheep so she'll quit pestering us to watch it on our computer and iPad. Not sure what else.
Same with Cole. We're debating between a die-cast combine harvester or level crossing for his wooden railway set. Either will have him screaming with delight Christmas morning, I think. Not you, probably, if you woke up Christmas morning to a realistic piece of farming equipment complete with auger and two heads--one for grain and one for corn. Not excited? You're not 3 and a little boy. And he'll call it by its proper name, ask me where the grain truck is to complete the set, and probably spend the morning wanting to watch the videos on YouTube so he can "harvest" along with the real farmers.
Keep in mind, I live in a metro area with approx 9.8 million people and no tillable land within about 70 miles.
Leda is more difficult. She wants a set of Marvel foot-tall superhero dolls. No clue why. She's never seen any of them outside of that box and so far it's the only thing she's explicitly asked for. Although if you pin her down with questions like, "should Santa bring you a doll?" she'll answer "uh huh" in the cutest way possible. Like she's been an ever-so-good girl. Which is totally not the case. If we were more heartless, ruthless, cruel parents, both our children should get coal.
As a parent of pre-schoolers, I'm digging this Santa thing. It's a convenient way to threaten the children. Instant behavior modification tool. At least in our house, chocolate is just as effective a tool. But I maintain that being a parent requires a certain level of resorting to the sinister because you have to really, actually be willing to turn off the light and leave the bedroom without a story. You have to sell it. Your kids can tell if you have no intention of getting into the battle. Kids can smell weakness. And, like predators who pick off the sick prey, will seek out that parent to attack with tears and tantrums.
I've gotten way off track here though. Leda's actually getting a Jessie doll from Toy Story and a dvd of her favorite British stop-action animation sheep so she'll quit pestering us to watch it on our computer and iPad. Not sure what else.
Same with Cole. We're debating between a die-cast combine harvester or level crossing for his wooden railway set. Either will have him screaming with delight Christmas morning, I think. Not you, probably, if you woke up Christmas morning to a realistic piece of farming equipment complete with auger and two heads--one for grain and one for corn. Not excited? You're not 3 and a little boy. And he'll call it by its proper name, ask me where the grain truck is to complete the set, and probably spend the morning wanting to watch the videos on YouTube so he can "harvest" along with the real farmers.
Keep in mind, I live in a metro area with approx 9.8 million people and no tillable land within about 70 miles.