It seemed a little low-key this year, even tho the Girl still gets excited. I've told her about Santa, but she continues to keep the dream alive. She's really fun. She helps me decorate (i.e. does it all!), encourages me to make cookies, makes eggnog french toast (Yum!), and hangs the stockings.
I kept telling the Boy that he may not get everything he wanted for Christmas, so he'd better do extra jobs, save money, etc. He kept saying, "But I only want 2 things!" Well, those 2 things just happened to add up to $###!!! But that's ok, I figured when he came up short, he'd work to make the extra money. It would be a learning experience.
I should point out that his Birthday is 2 days before Christmas, so he expects a lot from those few days.
Well, the Boy ended up netting even MORE than $###!!! I couldn't believe it until I sat down and added it all up again with him. It's amazing! So how am I to teach this boy the value of money?
I tried doing what my father did with me - he made me save half of what I made. It worked great for me because I wasn't used to having $100, so saving $50 and still having $50 to spend was fine with me. I still use this method today. But when I tried this with the Boy, he was offended and vowed never to work again! And he hasn't!
Why should he, when life bails him out like this? When you think about it, it's 2 sides of the family, each with 2-3 aunts, and 2 celebrations. Still, not only was I frustrated at my attempts to teach him about money, it seemed incredible to me that we are scrounging to locate the money to fix our van, and the Boy just got nearly half that amount for birthday/christmas!
After a night of feeling sorry for myself (ingrate that I am, for I am truely lucky in SO many ways), I talked it over w/K and we decided to let the Boy keep all that money. But he has to make it last until the end of the semester. He'll get allowance, but nothing extra for bowling, dinners out, etc. He has to learn to manage the money he has. Hopefully he will, although I know all too well how fast it can disappear.
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We had a big arguement over the holidays, when the Boy was home more and asking for more and more, yet giving less and less. Anyway, he told me to make my arguements more intelligent, and K lost his temper completely. Later, I tried to talk with the Boy and tell him that he just can't talk to us that way.
He'd also said something during a fight about my preferring his sister. I told him that I'm protective of her, but I was protective of him too. He just doesn't remember. He is my first born, and I will always love him in a special way just for that.
Besides, I pointed out that it's not my fault that we don't do anything together anymore. We used to watch movies together, but a few years ago he stopped doing that too. This is perfectly normal, I think, but it's not my fault and it definitely doesn't mean that I don't love him.
He's seemed a little nicer after that.
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The girl got enough money for Christmas to buy a certain toy that she really wanted. But guess what? Everyone is out of stock! We went to Target, we went to Best Buy - no toy!!
She's been checking online, which is really cute because she's only 9, and she's checking availability. She also bought an animal called a "Webkins", that comes complete with a code for a website that's been keeping her busy with games and activities that supposedly take care of the pet.
But she's dissapointed that she can't find the other toy she wanted. Tonight she said, "Don't they even care about MY needs?"
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