 Surviving The Holidays
By Lorilyn Geiger-Hookway
Raising kids today is hard enough. But then…. just as we've survived Halloween, here come the parental challenges of "The Holidays." Seriously, Halloween can leave us on significantly shaky parenting ground as we approach the big gift-giving holidays. It can be sneakingly challenging.
The costume gig was a nightmare for me. I always wanted to make those awesome kid costumes that looked so cool on the glossy cover of the October issue of Martha Stewart Living. Yet, even though I thought it was incredibly clever to glue crescent shaped foam pieces spray painted in orange onto orange long-underwear, my kids never thought it was a very cool idea to dress up like "Macaroni & Cheese" for Halloween.
Inevitably, I'd give in and buy my daughter the overpriced costume she convinced herself she really, really wanted, until Halloween Eve… when she'd totally change her mind and it became a mad scramble to find something else or suitably alter the costume we already had.
So, without much of a reprieve, we weary parents are then faced with the arrival of all the Christmas Toy catalogs in the mail. And the latest toy commercials are playing double time on Nick Jr. Here we go again…
"Mom, I want that….!!! Can I get this….??? Ooooooh, that is so cool-canSanta bring me that…cause I've been really, really good???"
The problem with younger kids is they don't realize that The North Pole is suffering from a recession. After all, they believe Santa's elves will make all their toys. They don't realize that the twenty toys they just listed on their "List" cost about $49.95 each and it's even hard to find a suitable Stocking Stuffer for under $10. So, in order to combat the multithousand dollar cost of Christmas I became known as a bit of a Scrooge in our house.
When my kids were little I gave those questionable stocking stuffers – like the new underwear, replacement toothbrushes and the plastic candy-cane filled with inedible "generic" no-name M&M's, because I simply could not justify $2.99 per kid for the authentic ones. My gifts were pretty lame too; new pajama's…slippers…a robe, and one year, I actually tried to pass off educational placemats as an acceptable Christmas gift.
Truthfully, through the years, I found buying the most basic of toys was always a sound economical investment and simply a good idea for everyone. Some of my kids' favorite Christmas gifts were wooden blocks, Lincoln Logs and quality stuffedanimals. They might not have been the newest, most shinny plastic toy with all the bells and whistles, but they provided hours and hours of entertaining play, and over twenty years later, we still have them.
Even now that my kids are older, I continue to climb my way out of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol. Every year, I am tempted to consider most of the big-ticket items I buy my kids from September on as their Christmas gifts. The new ski jacket, the season passes to Bristol and the fee to join their school's Ski Club, all seem to suitably fit into the "Christmas Gift" category for me. What about the over priced, highly desired high school ring? Yup, Christmas gift! I am even tempted to wrap up suntan lotion and their Jet Blue airline tickets for our April-break vacation to Mexico*.
Even though the Holidays can take their toll on our parenting creativity, energy and monetary reservoirs, we all seem to bounce back pretty easily. No matter what our children's ages, there is still nothing more precious than witnessing The Holidays through the eyes of a child. And it is funny how my kids have grown accustomed to my ways. One year I forgot the generic M&M-filled candy canes for their stockings and they were sorely disappointed. This year I'll make sure they find them in their stockings on Christmas morning.
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*actual location withheld, in an attempt to keep some surprises wrapped-up 'til Christmas morning…
Lorilyn Geiger-Hookway lives in Pittsford, is a freelance writer and frequent contributor to Genesee Valley and Rochester Area Parent. She has three children, 22, 16 & 12 and her husband Ty has three daughters, 15, 13 & 11.
Genesee Valley Parent Magazine Copyright.
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