Dear So and So

[limewave]

Well, there's people who buy that stuff months ahead, I guess.
I was surprised a few years ago, when my students started reporting that were getting gifts for Easter! I may not be Christian, but I thought I knew the traditions surrounding this holiday, and this didn't seem right. But, it seems like parents feel the need to overindulge their kids a little more. I've had several families I am working with now tell me they wish they never started the tradition of "spoiling their kids" with an overabundance of gifts at X Mas when they were little, because now they can't afford it, but the kids expect it. One of the women I work with described how she stood in a line for 3 hours on Monday, in the cold, to get some toys from Toys for Tots. There were several fights, the police had to be called, and some people had already been there. There were no Marines in sight .
I just don't get any of this.

Yikes. I am amazed at how much people spend on their kids at Christmas time. I was talking to a parent at daycare who bought each of their kids their own tablet (for about $200/ea). I mentioned I bought DD an iPod Touch . . . come to find out the next day that he went out and bought each of his kids an iPod Touch as well! I guess he couldn't be outdone. I feel a bit bad for DD as the Touch is the only gift she's getting other than some necessities (like snow pants and gloves). And then I think about the kids that aren't getting anything. And the parents that don't even care enough to go to Toys for Tots and completely neglect their kids . . .

We do Easter presents at our house too. But the gift is a new Easter Dress for church and some candy in the colored eggs for the egg hunt

Dear Limewave,
Stop obsessing over single speeds. There is no money in the pot right now for one and you JUST got a new mountain bike! I have no doubt you'll get your own single speed in due time. But drooling over pictures and trolling the internet has turned from innocent browsing into a form of self-torture.
~Me