Wish listed

A big shout out to Sears Canada for sponsoring another #SearsMom post.

We found ourselves at the mall a little over a week ago and Santa was there with a big, old easy chair, some dude in an elf get up and a camera crew. I saw my kids’ eyes light up, so I went over to the woman selling photo packages and asked if we needed to buy pics in order to visit with Santa. She said we didn’t so we lined our three, ketchup-streaked kids with messed up hair and rumpled school uniforms up behind two girls in formal holiday dresses. There was one kid on Santa’s lap and another kid screaming out of sheer and unmistakable terror while his parents kept laughing nervously and trying to coax him over toward Santa. They did this for a solid five minutes which feels like a long time when you’re standing around with three kids trying to keep the magic alive. I guess they were really invested in that holiday shot. I dunno.

Anyway, we finally got our kids up to the big man with the beard. They kind of gathered around his chair and Santa asked what they want for Christmas. Mary was quite sure she wanted a present, Irene came up with some line about a doll you design yourself and Colum could not for the life of him come up with anything to ask for. You know, I try to manage material expectations around here, so it looks like I’m doing an all right job. It’s not that they don’t want anything so much as that they don’t sit around dreaming about stuff. They took their candy canes and we shuffled off quickly so some paying customers could get a turn.

And then, just yesterday, I stopped at Home Depot with the girls to pick up a wireless light switch (which, OMG, is the most brilliant thing ever, don’t even get me started, but that’s another blog post). A woman at the front entrance told us that Santa was at the garden centre and again with the lit up eyes, so off we went. There was no line up here and my girls quickly scrambled up on the man’s lap. A present and a doll you design yourself, they said. Well, then. I see all those days of pouring over the Sears Toy Shop catalogue have paid off.

As much as I encourage a sort of anti-consumerism, I do like for the kids to have some dreams around Christmas. It’s nice for me to have an idea of what kinds of toys they actually want, for one. And it’s nice for them to see what’s out there and have some big dreams so that they will be amazed and impressed by what Santa brings. I mean, it’s kind of hard to wow the kids on Christmas morning when they’re happy with any old present.

Last year I planted a Maplea catalogue for Irene to find and reminded Colum of how much he wanted his own camera by showing him how mine worked but not letting him touch it. Yes, I am an evil genius, thank you. So when the Sears Toy Shop catalogue arrived it was the perfect foil. I asked each of the two older kids to flip through and come up with a list of their top five toys.

So Irene circled everything that she thought was for girls in the entire catalogue. I narrowed it down to a few things I think she really wants and while I noticed she is full on into Barbies and “fashion” toys, I was happy to see she still circled a lot of toddler and preschool toys that she’s probably too old for.

Lalaloopsy dolls are one of her favourites. The Hello Kitty art kit hits just the right shade of sickly pink while satisfying her endless appetite for art. The Cupcake Maker will keep her out of my kitchen and keep cupcakes out of my mouth (hopefully). She circled Lego Friends and while I know they are all controversial you will notice that she was only interested in even considering girls toys. (And besides, her brother is mostly into the Lego for the mini figures anyway. This way they can play together.) Then, finally, My Little Pony and Barbie, duh.

Colum had a neat list of six items and I was so incredibly impressed with his ability to be so definitive. That was before I noticed that all of his picks are from the first three pages of the catalogue. So this might not be a comprehensive selection after all.

So, let’s see here. $200 replica of R2-D2, that’s not going to happen. Darth Vader voice-changing helmet. Uh, no. Talking Plush Yoda? Maybe! Do you think he’s still into Star Wars? The plastic Stanley Cup with the Maple Leaf on the front is probably the closest the Leafs will ever get to the Cup, so good call. Who’s going to argue with an Etcha-Sketch and the Jake and the Neverland Pirates remote control is a definite maybe.

Not bad, kids. As for Mary, I’m going to let her keep wishing for “a present” for one more year. No toy catalogues for her!

But all of this wish list talk brings me to the very important CONTEST ALERT I need to tell you about. Sears Canada is giving away up to $10,000 in prizes in their Wishes of Joy contest. Share your own holiday wishes and you can be entered to win. But go and do it now because it’s only open until Decmeber 15th.

Disclosure: I am part of the Sears Mom Ambassador program with Mom Central Canada and I receive special perks as part of my affiliation with this group. The opinions on this blog are my own.