Christmas

Hi everyone!
Christmas is scaring me a little this year. Not because I can't afford fancy gifts - my loved ones know that my time is being spent educating my daughter instead of earning outside the home - but because I feel a tidal wave of gifts coming our way. This year, instead of the basic nuclear family with a few cousins thrown in, I have my future in-laws as well. I have tried my best to get everyone a small token, or at least make them something to show I care.
However. The in-laws-to-be have taken on my two kids as their own grandchildren, which is something I've prayed for from the moment I knew I'd eventually find someone new. It's wonderful.... except now I fear the present wars will begin. Jake, wonderful man, took me Christmas shopping before Black Friday, where we bought enough gifts to make a jolly Christmas on our own. Then I saw the stack that my mom had started to accumulate, smiled and shook my head. The kids would be awfully busy on Christmas morning, I guessed. Then I found out a similar gift pile had been stacked at Jake's moms house. Whoa. These kids are going to be very well gifted - and will probably have the gimmies for months afterward. Because if you give a mouse a cookie, he'll ask for milk, but what happens when you give a 7 year old 5 Barbies? They'll want a dollhouse and an RV and a swimming pool to go with them.
I don't want to sound ungrateful, because I know that I'm blessed to have so many people who love my children and want to see them happy. And I know that in those gifts are things that my children need like sneakers, as well as toys. And what's more, I know that in each gift are the best loving intentions from everyone who loves my children.
Knowing my kids as I do, I know that they will need at least a few breaks from present opening to avoid feeling overwhelmed. We'll be going to church on Christmas eve, and hopefully that will keep us (me) grounded. And I will pray for gratitude, for patience, and for peace, not just for my family, but for all families. Because I know that many people wish they had my problem. And I know that other people are going through the same challenges.
So I will pray for us all - Peace upon us, and thanks be for the Gift that we should really celebrate.