Tis the Season...

Well, the Christmas season is here and along with all the joy and goodwill toward men, comes the spending of money at a frantic pace. Isaac's list is constantly evolving and being added to on a daily basis. He has been told he gets three gifts from mom and dad (like Jesus did) but that does not seem to matter to him. The concept of "three gifts" in a preschooler's mind is more like 20 or 30 apparently. I have done my best to keep his little eyes off of the toy mailers that get sent to us on a practically daily basis, but to no avail. He just seems to intuitively know what he wants (and wants...and wants...and wants). There's presents for grandmas and grandpas and sisters and brothers and nieces and nephews...and, as I am doing all of this wonderful Christmas shopping my eyes are ALWAYS drawn to those wonderful things I would LOVE to have for myself. The retailers seem to know this in advance, and they bring out the big guns during this shopping season. It never fails. I will be searching endlessly for a particular item in July, but of course I am NEVER able to find anything remotely close to what I want. Fast forward to November, when funds are tight and there is not a single cent extra to spend on myself, I will always find about 150 things I totally love.
Just in time for all of this unabashed spending, every major appliance/electronic item in our household has chosen this particular week to breathe its last breath. My hairdryer. Our vacuum. Our portable DVD player. If someone could explain this phenomenon to me, I would appreciate it greatly. I guess no time is a "good" time to have rather expensive items cease to work. All this being said, I hope everyone, including myself, takes some time during this busy season to reflect on what Christmas is really about, and it's certainly not that pink MP3 player I would love to have (Hint Hint Dave...).