Your thoughts around this resonate so much with me. I vividly remember my sister and I sitting down for entire afternoons with the Sears catalog (the "Wish Book" I believe it was called), making our lists and daydreaming, but even then having an understanding of which toys were too expensive or too fancy or somehow otherwise out of our league. As a counterbalance, one of my other most vivid and happy Christmas memories is shopping at the "Santa's Secret Shop" that our elementary school's PTA always put on, in which kids got to go shopping and select our own gifts for our parents, siblings and other family members. Those "shops" were populated entirely with stuff from the dollar store and from what I can recall, our gifts choices were always pretty weird and/or generic, BUT I truly remember the joy of picking things out for people and the excitement of having something to give. I love the approach you're taking with Alice. So that she knows gifts are not an obligation or a measure of her worth, but an act of love and service to celebrate the people we care about. I know her Christmas memories will be truly magical, wishing your family a beautiful season.
I look forward to Alice proudly spreading Santa-truths in a few years... I'm sure she'll use her power wisely...
Your thoughts around this resonate so much with me. I vividly remember my sister and I sitting down for entire afternoons with the Sears catalog (the "Wish Book" I believe it was called), making our lists and daydreaming, but even then having an understanding of which toys were too expensive or too fancy or somehow otherwise out of our league. As a counterbalance, one of my other most vivid and happy Christmas memories is shopping at the "Santa's Secret Shop" that our elementary school's PTA always put on, in which kids got to go shopping and select our own gifts for our parents, siblings and other family members. Those "shops" were populated entirely with stuff from the dollar store and from what I can recall, our gifts choices were always pretty weird and/or generic, BUT I truly remember the joy of picking things out for people and the excitement of having something to give. I love the approach you're taking with Alice. So that she knows gifts are not an obligation or a measure of her worth, but an act of love and service to celebrate the people we care about. I know her Christmas memories will be truly magical, wishing your family a beautiful season.