Christmas poses something of an obstacle when you're living La Vida Not New. And by "obstacle", I mean months of stress-induced gastro-intestinal discomfort. So I'm pretty excited that I may have conned my parents into ditching the Happy Holidays for (spoken with intonation of Price i$ Right announcer) A RELAXING WEEKEND SOMEWHERE IN MEXICO!
Getting my mom to agree to a shared vacation in lieu of gifts is a huge coup. Aside from the Not Buying on our end, her yen for playing Santa often leaves all 650 sq ft of Ugly Betty littered with tchotchkes of Cost Plus provenance - this way we get to avoid consumerism all around. Of course, that same yen could make her change her mind, so I'm not counting los pollos before they're hatched.
The next hurdle is the in-laws, including all 3 million of HCB's nieces and nephews. Last year we gave them experiences rather than actual presents, which we decided to do after watching them open actual presents. When kid after kid's eyes glaze over during what is supposed the most exciting moment of their miniature life, you know they have too much f-ing stuff. It took almost three months to find mom&baby salsa lessons, museum memberships, cave tours, botanical garden sleepovers and private art lessons in three countries. Before we do it again, we're waiting to hear if we created a huge pain in the ass for all the parents. And we're hoping for suggestions.
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1 comment:
hmmmm.
This reminds me of my wedding. We set up a registry where people could buy us experiences while on our trip to Tahiti- you know- snorkeling, bungalow upgrades, dolphin waxing and the like.
BUT, numerous folks would not accept that we already had forks and plates and did not want any of that CrateNBarrel stuff at all. We STILL received a huge set of silverware and a few other items.
My guess is that mom smuggles a bunch of costplus stuff (that actually says "made in mexico" on it) back across the border, into mexico.
The nieces and nephews is a whole other deal.
Really a tough one. And I'm sure that you're right- they already have too much stuff.
zoo memberships (zoo in canada? don't know)
aquarium?
How bout a kick in the pants? My dad still gives me that gift every year.
Don't really have a good answer for the kiddies, but you can bet your next goodwill find that you will see that glazed over look- again and again...
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