The holidays are over and we’re back to school. Our winter-break, surprisingly, felt longer than it was. We had spent the first four days of our break with my family in NorCal (driving back on Christmas night)….four gloriously fun, relaxing, and gluttonous days that went by much too quickly. Had we stayed longer, I’m sure the remainder of our winter-break would have flown by.
The last two weeks have been filled with time with my family, my in-laws, relatives, friends, lots of food, and tons of gifts!!! Needless to say, my kiddies were spoiled with an over-abundance of clothing and toys this Christmas. Ashlyn must have told everyone in the world that she wanted a guitar, because she got 4! hahaha Summer, who rarely asks for anything, got so much stuff that she’ll never have to ask for anything ever again.
I wonder if I’m the only one who does this, but I only let my kids open up and play with some of the toys they got. The rest, I’ll store away to open up at a later date. They lack excitement, desire, and appreciation when they get to open up everything. I remember after Ashlyn opened up ALL her gifts at her 2nd birthday, she had that look of: “that’s it?…what else can I open?” 
So now after they unwrap all their gifts, I let them select some and put the rest away. With the amount they both get at Christmases and birthdays, my storage space is turning into one huge toy store and I’m quickly running out of room. I’m not even kidding.
I’m trying my hardest not to raise spoiled children, but the truth is…they are spoiled. Aric and I give them what we never had as children, and our parents give them what they couldn’t give us as children. *sigh*
Anyhow, Ashlyn is lovin’ her guitars, Hannah Montana Concert Stage, her MP3 player, and Jonas Brothers CD. Summer’s having a blast with her Fisher Price digital camera, Gymnastics Divas Barbies, Disney Princess Dollhouse, and Crayola Color Explosion Board. Spoiled, I tell ya!
Click here for more holiday pictures.
As much as I love the holidays, I’m relieved it’s over. We rang in the New Year with our usual group at James and Grace’s. My poor hubby was sick (possible food poisoning from Taco Hell from lunch) that night and spent the whole evening sleeping it off on the couch. New Years Day was spent taking down our tree and decorations, cleaning up, and hanging out with my niece and her bf.
Aric and I have been watching movies lately - “I am Legend” and “No country for old men”, and “The Water Horse” with the kiddies. I love it!
The kiddies are getting back into the swing of things at school…as am I. 
Tags: Aric, Ashlyn, family, friends, NorCal, pictures, Summer
January 11th, 2008 at 6:10 pm
We do the same with Naomi (put away some toys for later). She’s used to it, and actually likes me to put some of the things away. She really has too much stuff. Since they’re gifts, I can’t get rid of them, but I sure wish she had some toy room where I could just keep them separate from the rest of the house!
January 11th, 2008 at 6:22 pm
P.S. Even if some kids have a lot, they’re not spoiled if they truly appreciate what they have. It’s all attitude. Maybe it’s the saying, spoiled but not rotten. I don’t hold it against Naomi that she’ll never have to suffer the discomforts and lack of basic necessities I did. Honestly, I take a lot of things for granted anyway!
January 13th, 2008 at 9:31 am
Jst looked at all your pictures from the holidays. what a beautiful group of family and friends. the love shows through in each of the photos. happy new year!!! (I did put a lot of MG’s new toys in the closet, mostly b/c there’s not enogh room in her bedroom, which is so small. and, since she’s been so picky about clothes, she only got 2 shirts & 1 pair of pants for xmas.
February 25th, 2008 at 11:30 pm
Haha! my mom use to take our gifts too!! But she was way worse. She would take our toys and give them away!!!!! There was 3 of us boys so there were way too many toys as it is. She would put them in a TOY CLOSET and it was almost like the toy section at Macy’s. Slowly she would just give them away as the year went on and it would reload at Xmas. It pains me still but you’re absolutely right. Our generation was already starting to get spoiled but our kids DEFINITELY are.