the holidays are upon us

Or perhaps that's just my excuse for being unable to keep up with this blog. I have to admit, Christmas is my all time favorite holiday, I genuinely love every corny thing about it. I love the trees, the lights, the Santas, most everything. I don't like that it has turned into a gigantic consumer holiday, though I will readily admit that I do enjoy giving and receiving gifts. Homemade gifts. Those are the best.

Of course, now that Nathaniel is in the picture, I find myself with a small pit in the bottom of my stomach. Granted, he's only 11 months old (today, actually!) and, while well aware of what's going on, this holiday is not much more than an excuse to play with ribbon and paper all day. Yet I realize that starting this year, I am on the beginnings of a long and slippery slope of future Christmases. How many presents does he get? What kind of things go into his stocking? How can I make sure our house is not inundated with plastic crap, full to the brim with toys that he likes for a full 30 seconds and no more? How do I share what kind of toys *I* would like him to have without being too pushy and ruining the fun of gift giving from others? I really don't have an answer for all that. The closest I've come is the wishlist to the right. Even that feels too big. If we were to get every toy on that list I'd be terrified. And even then, it's about giving stuff.

I read another blog, No Impact Man. He recently posted about the idea of giving experiences rather than gifts. See the post here. I love the idea but wonder at it's applicability.

Oh, I don't know. As I said at the beginning of the post, I will be be the first to admit that I love to get and receive gifts. I suppose, much like everything else about parenting, it's learn as you go.

We'll see how it *goes*.