Choose a New Ornament for the Tree
Well, actually, we go shopping for a new ornament.
When the children grow up and go forth to seek their fortunes in the big wide world they will, if nothing else, have enough Christmas Decorations to adorn their own tree. Hopefully they might have a few social skills and a decent work ethic to boot, but those aren't quite as sparkly.
There is a part of me that actually cringes at the thought of buying decorations. I love how they look etc, but I was brought up in a family with a bit of an environmental conscience along with a disposition towards financial prudence. Christmas decorations, particularly commercially produced ones, really do seem to be an antithesis to such principles. So, I have to tuck my nagging scruples away and indulge in this crazy frivolity, justifying it all by telling myself we will make some frugal, eco-friendly decorations later on.
Today we went looking in 3 different shops for decorations, but DD had already decided where she wanted to buy her decoration from so the first 2 were visited very briefly. By the 3rd shop, DS was more interested in looking at toys so really wasn't very amused with being dragged over to the Christmas display. Perhaps I should have just let him buy a toy seeing as he really gets more enjoyment from flipping the card over than doing the activities anyway.
The bonus of shopping for these decorations after November 30th is that the stores start reducing prices to shift excess stock. I would lay claim to a bit of frugality by doing it this way, but the kids decorations were joined by a few other bits and bobs seeing they were going cheap. Consequently I blew my budget. Oops!
So, we now have a Santa bauble for DD and a Slinky Dog (that does look suspiciously like a toy) festooning our tree. And while David Bowie & Bing Crosby sing of peace on earth, I hope that perhaps we might just have peace for 5 minutes while we enjoy the tree.
When the children grow up and go forth to seek their fortunes in the big wide world they will, if nothing else, have enough Christmas Decorations to adorn their own tree. Hopefully they might have a few social skills and a decent work ethic to boot, but those aren't quite as sparkly.
There is a part of me that actually cringes at the thought of buying decorations. I love how they look etc, but I was brought up in a family with a bit of an environmental conscience along with a disposition towards financial prudence. Christmas decorations, particularly commercially produced ones, really do seem to be an antithesis to such principles. So, I have to tuck my nagging scruples away and indulge in this crazy frivolity, justifying it all by telling myself we will make some frugal, eco-friendly decorations later on.
Today we went looking in 3 different shops for decorations, but DD had already decided where she wanted to buy her decoration from so the first 2 were visited very briefly. By the 3rd shop, DS was more interested in looking at toys so really wasn't very amused with being dragged over to the Christmas display. Perhaps I should have just let him buy a toy seeing as he really gets more enjoyment from flipping the card over than doing the activities anyway.
The bonus of shopping for these decorations after November 30th is that the stores start reducing prices to shift excess stock. I would lay claim to a bit of frugality by doing it this way, but the kids decorations were joined by a few other bits and bobs seeing they were going cheap. Consequently I blew my budget. Oops!
So, we now have a Santa bauble for DD and a Slinky Dog (that does look suspiciously like a toy) festooning our tree. And while David Bowie & Bing Crosby sing of peace on earth, I hope that perhaps we might just have peace for 5 minutes while we enjoy the tree.
