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Christmas and the Red Fire Truck by Nikki Willhite     As I was putting together a Christmas movie for my family this year, I ran across a picture that made me laugh. Then it made me think. As adults, a lot of us have problems with buying items we either don't need or use. Women are notorious for overspending on clothing. As a general rule, we wear 20% of our clothing 80 % of the time. No matter how many items we accumulate, we will always have our  favorites. Whether it is clothing, household items or other personal possessions, this is usually the case. So why should it be any different with children? Why does "more" always seem better when it comes to presents at Christmas and for birthday parties? I have a lot of grandchildren. There are 7 boys, and soon there will be 2 girls. They are all quite young. When Christmas rolls around each year, the first place I check for presents is Costco. With so many little boys, I often buy them the same thing for Christmas. I try and vary the color, but sometimes that isn't possible. The Christmas presents hit our store around the end of November. I also have one grandson with a birthday at the end of November, so I pick up his birthday present then also. A few years ago Costco brought in some shiny red fire trucks. They were big, and both my husband and I knew they would be popular with the grandchildren. So we bought several of them. We decided to give one of them for the November birthday present. So there we were at the birthday party, and my little grandson opened his present from us- the big red fire truck. It was a hit. In fact, he liked it so much that all the other presents were swept aside, or left unopened, as he began playing with his truck. His mother made a valiant attempt to interest him in some of the other opened and unopened presents, but he wasn't having any of it. This is when the trouble started. One of my other grandsons, (his cousin), ventured forward to touch this enticing red truck. This was met with a severe "rebuke" from the recipient,  which both startled and drove his cousin to tears. He got up and ran to one of the bedrooms in the back of the house and closed the door and began crying.  Although I heard the usual  "Leave him be, he'll get over it", I cannot bear to hear a child cry, so I ignored them and went to comfort him. I knelt by his side and told him that it was okay. I told him I was sorry that his cousin was so mean to him.  However, what really did the trick was that I told him a secret. I told him that while I gave that truck to his cousin for his birthday, I had also bought one for him, and it was at my house, and he was going to receive it at Christmas. That stopped the tears, and all was well. Every time he came over, he would visit the room with the Christmas presents. He knew where that truck was, and that it would soon be his. Then came Christmas Eve, when our family gets together to celebrate and open gifts. Finally my grandson was going to receive the one gift he really wanted-  the big, red fire truck. The picture with this article pretty much tells it all. He was happy. However, what it doesn't show is that a couple seconds later, his cousin literally jumped on his back, and began hitting him. It took all of us a few startled seconds to figure it out, but apparently his cousin thought we had gone into his house, removed his fire truck, and were now giving it to his cousin. Once we explained to home that his truck was safe at home,  he calmed down.  (The parents, however, spent the next few months debating whose kid would have won the fight.) I think there are a couple of things to learn from this story. First of all, beware of big, red, shiny fire trucks!   Most importantly, do not feel the need to spend so much money and buy so many presents for your children. I am always shocked at the pictures I see on television of toys that take over dining rooms and other living areas in homes. Kids can live a simple life also. If they are older, ask them what they want for Christmas. Give them what they really want, and let them learn to live with less. When they have toys they no longer need, let them learn how to give things away. (Don't turn them into "hoarders" <shudder>. Have a Merry Christmas, Nikki About the Author: Nikki Willhite, mother of 3 and an interior design graduate, has been writing and publishing articles on the topic of frugal living for over a decade. Visit her at www.frugalhappyfamilies.com - where you will find hundreds of frugal living tips and articles. Frugal Happy Families- more than just money!

 

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