For the first time in years, I've had my Christmas shopping done early. We decided to get Jenna and Abby one bigger type toy and a few small ones. We are really trying to teach Jenna that Christmas is more about Jesus's birthday as opposed to her only focusing on the gifts themselves. It's a hard battle, though.
Today, a few family members and friends gave me money to shop for our girls since we live all the way out here in California. After spending the afternoon in Target and Toys R Us, I am officially dismayed by Christmas materialism and how crazy it makes a person.
I have to admit, going shopping with someone else's money was fun, but I kept thinking to myself that my kids don't need all this stuff and that I was spending too much money. Buying many toys at once makes it seem like a lot, I guess.
Another thing that irritated me today while shopping was the fact that Barbie is really no longer a toy for little girls. When I was little, you could buy a Barbie and find a ton of matching outfits for her--appropriate ones, I might add. I was expecting to walk into the store, pick out a Barbie and find a few cute outfits. I was wrong. You can buy a Barbie, but the outfits are either in a really expensive three or four pack or are inappropriate for little girls to play with. Jenna's only 3! The outfits that went with Barbie made Barbie look like she was 22 going out on the town for the night. I ended up buying a pack with a Barbie and three decent outfits. In the end, I'm sad that Barbie isn't geared towards little girls anymore. Or if she is, I don't want Jenna to think that real girls have to look like that.
We'll keep teaching Jenna about Jesus and that His birthday is the most important part of Christmas, but I've come to learn today that Satan sure is at work during the Christmas season.
3 comments:
I know what you mean. There is a part of me that wants to buy the kids everything that they want or ask for. Then there is the logical part of me that says 1)They need nothing but love 2)They will play with this stuff for a brief period of time and then it will be put aside 3)My attempts to tie the idea of giving gifts to God giving us the gift of his son is lost in all the materialism.
All I know is to keep singing songs about Jesus, keep reading books about Jesus, keep praying to Jesus, and keep talking about Jesus. Then we can make cookies for Santa.
I know what you mean. There is a part of me that wants to buy the kids everything that they want or ask for. Then there is the logical part of me that says 1)They need nothing but love 2)They will play with this stuff for a brief period of time and then it will be put aside 3)My attempts to tie the idea of giving gifts to God giving us the gift of his son is lost in all the materialism.
All I know is to keep singing songs about Jesus, keep reading books about Jesus, keep praying to Jesus, and keep talking about Jesus. Then we can make cookies for Santa.
I know what you mean. There is a part of me that wants to buy the kids everything that they want or ask for. Then there is the logical part of me that says 1)They need nothing but love 2)They will play with this stuff for a brief period of time and then it will be put aside 3)My attempts to tie the idea of giving gifts to God giving us the gift of his son is lost in all the materialism.
All I know is to keep singing songs about Jesus, keep reading books about Jesus, keep praying to Jesus, and keep talking about Jesus. Then we can make cookies for Santa.
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