My husband grew up going overboard for the holidays. His parents would go broke and into debt for Christmas, and my guy is no different. I LOVE Christmas. Since I’m Jewish, I didn’t grow up with it, so I tend to overcompensate now. My 12 foot tree, and a house filled with decorations are one part, be we also tend to go crazy with gifts. I say we, but it’s not really we. It’s HIM. 12 foot tree not withstanding, I tend to be the more practical one. It’s how I was raised. My husband is so careful with money, but at Christmas, all bets are off.
As the kids get older, they want more expensive items. But because we want them to have lots of surprises to open, we tend to get a little too much crap to add to the piles. Over the years, my husband has worked so hard to make Santa real, that if the toy request didn’t exist, my husband would turn into the ultimate elf.
A garage with doors that open like a real garage for his big model cars? My husband made it. A big parking garage? My husband made it (3 feet tall 4 feet wide with lights.) A burned out building for his GI Joes? Yup, you guessed it…over four feet tall, my guy made it. A zipline with a treehouse tower? Check. If we couldn’t buy it, he made it.
?
This was the first year my boys are big enough to ask for real things. Unfortunately, both wanted $800 guitars. They got them, but can they only open 1 gift? Of course not. Thank you Amazon Prime.
This is the first year I’ve kept my aggravation with overspending in check. We are getting old. This is probably the last year my youngest believes in Santa, the doubts are already there. Life is short. If this brings my husband such pleasure, fuck it. We don’t take luxury vacations. We don’t live lavishly, but Christmas is the one time we spoil ourselves and our kids. Encouraging them to enjoy music by getting them more guitars is always fine with me (both of my kids are musicians, the older one went on a national tour at 15). Clothes and books are always great. The youngest got a few toys, in addition to a gibson bass and amp, items it was time to upgrade to anyway.
My favorite? My husband got me the treadmill I wanted. That’s ALL I wanted, but how can I complain that he bought me a bunch of awesome jewelry from Brighton too? He loves to spoil his family, and I love him for it. We may be paying it off for the rest of out lives, but this is one of the few things that really brings joy to his life. Who am I to stop it?
Life is too short.
I also went overboard in the eating department…I’ll save that one for my New Year’s Resolution Post.
Selena Cooper says
I went overboard baking, eating, and spending. My twins (boy and girl) are seniors in high school this year, and the “last year” syndrome had me going nuts. I’ll be watching every penny for the next few months, but my son made it all worth it when he said, “This was the best Christmas we’ve ever had.” 🙂
Ana says
That’s TOTALLY worth it.