"You'll shoot your eye out kid" Xmas presents.

Officially done my xmas shopping, with a full day and a half to spare.

I'll never understand people that spend like six or seven hundred dollars on their kids at Christmas. I spent about two hundred bucks between the girls and they are getting a fair haul. The weirdest thing is, is the people I see spending a lot on their kids are usually people who can't afford it. If you don't go overboard on your kids, they won't expect a lot every year. Every year as a kid I got told the same thing... "Money is tight so don't expect a lot this year" and come Christmas morning it always seemed like a ton of stuff. I don't know if my parents planned to keep it small and got carried away, or if their and my ideas of "not a lot" were different. I don't know. But either way, I don't ever remember anyone in my family ever complaining about what they received for xmas. Gifts were accepted graciously, and if there was an issue with a gift, it was addressed in a polite manner to the giver after all the gifts were open.

I also don't get people who freak out about not being able to get THE toy for their kid. Smaller kids don't really know the difference, and older kids, if it's that life-altering that they HAVE to have it, get a paper-route, rake and mow, shovel driveways etc, and earn the money to get it yourself. A little food for thought for all those people fighting like savages for an Xbox 360. As for the kids, they should be happy to get anything at all. 

 Now SMILE when you open those socks. 

and say thank you.