Alright, it’s November 29th and I’m already stressing just a little bit about Christmas.

why?

Because I have already purchased almost all of Ariel’s Christmas gifts, which is easy because her list is so very, very long and shopping for girls is like shopping for me.  Which is easy and fun.  Here’s a snippet of the letter Ariel asked me to type out for Santa:

"I want to have a My
Little Pony TeaPot and I want to have Briar Rose and Belle with a magic wand and
they can change colors on their dresses and necklace and crowns. And I would like to have a castle with it and
Jasmine, Ariel as a human and Prince Eric. Can I have My Little Pony things? And a real camera? And I would
like to have a princess kitchen, and I would like to have some more ponies,
please? And I would like to have more
Dora books. And I would like to have
more paintbrushes and paint and papers."

This is a snippet, friends.  Not to mention that Santa has already purchased necessities not on the list, like clothes, pajamas and underwear. (okay, and a High School Musical Microphone.)  In fact, today, Ariel added more to her list.  I explained to her, again, that this is just a list, in no way does it guarantee that she will receive everything, she replied by saying "okay, take the Jasmine off of the list, but I must have a Dora Talking Register."  Obviously, we have a long way to go as far as communication goes.

On the other hand.

Here’s a snippet from Racecar’s letter:

"I want a racecar, a red one.  And a tree."

Oh, did I say snippet?  Because I meant to say THAT IS HIS WHOLE LETTER.  And because he’s three and because he has big chocolate eyes and because he snuggles on my lap for a total of one hour each day, I can’t seem to get frustrated with him.

So, I went ahead and bought him something aside from the red racecar.  I have purchased some snow boots.  And a baseball glove.  Exciting, exciting stuff.

And that is all.

When I walk into the boy’s aisle of toys filled with CARS!  AND TRACTORS! AND RAMPS!  AND SPIRAL RACETRACKS!  I walk right back out because it all seems pretty boring to me.

But the girls stuff, there’s so much of it and it’s much more interesting than things with wheels.

I guess I better find out what kind of tree he wants, because it looks like that’s what he’ll be getting.

I better buy LOTS of wrapping paper.