Hello everybody!  I hope you guys are well.  Christmas has come and gone and now we’re dealing with a massive toy hangover.  My daughters got so many presents toys that they’re walking around the house now dazed and confused.  It’s so overwhelming, even for me.  They’re jumping from one toy to the other while I’m running after them to clean up after each toy they dumped on the carpet before they move on to the next.  It’s crazy over here and I’m not even innocent to the crime of toy overload.  I’m guilty as heck.  I wanted to firmly stay at a two present limit per child, but I went completely over that limit.  I went totally mad, with happiness of course, when I saw this at www.walmart.com:

Set of 5 plush dolls of Mario and company

My oldest daughter just got introduced to Mario, so when I saw this I knew she would love these little plush guys and boy did she ever.  I almost bought them individually until I spotted the set, which saved me a lot of money.  I simply couldn’t resist myself and when I told my husband, he certainly didn’t put a stop to my craziness.  In fact, he said, “I’m not going to deny them anything,” so we’re both guilty.

I’m seeking a new plan and some major will power for next year.  Also, I need to include books in their wish list, which I did this year, but nobody gifted.  I’m going to have to emphasize this to family members that books are great gifts as well.  Yes, most kids don’t want to unwrap clothes and other stuff that’s not toys, but we have to try to change that.  I’m trying to teach my girls to appreciate any gift that’s given and not to compare how many each one gets or if one is better than the other.  It really bothers me when I see kids not being appreciative or whining that they want more gifts.  I also understand that I do create this sort of attitude by supplying all of these gifts so I’m definitely going to scale back for next year.

So no more crazy, toy madness.  I’m going to take some inventory and try to place my children in an environment that’s not over stimulating, even though I created it.  Ouch, that reality does hurt me.  My solution for now is going to be to put away some old toys while they’re playing with the new ones, give away toys they’ve out grown, for example the baby puzzles with the pegs on them (I have a stack of those that need to be given to new babies) and read, read, read a lot of books.

Take good care all.

Until next time…