An unexpected Christmas gift – should we accept?
I was talking to my mom the other day, and she had mentioned how she had no idea what to get my brother for Christmas. My brother has Down’s Syndrome, and spends a lot of his free time playing music and video games. He also loves wrestling.
I was asking if there were any new video games that he might like, and she couldn’t think of any, but mentioned that she was thinking of picking up a Wii for him, since she was at her local Walmart the day before and they looked “kind of cool.”
I had never thought of a Wii for my brother for Christmas, only because I didn’t expect there to be any available. I expressed to my mom how that would be a great gift, since he would have to get up and move around to play the games (he participates in Special Olympics, but has a fairly sedentary job and doesn’t do much when there aren’t Special Olympic practices taking place).
I added that there was a pretty good chance that there weren’t any more available, since she had seen them at the store the day before. I promised that I would try to hunt one down for her if she wanted me to, and that was the end of the conversation.
Yesterday, she told me that she was able to pick up a Wii for my brother! I was really excited for him, since I think that he will like it a lot. Then she said, “I got one for you guys for Christmas too, if you want it.” She went on to say that she could return it to the store, but that she wanted to get us something fun this year, since “you guys always want practical things and that’s so boring!”
I am not sure what I was more shocked by – the fact that my mom dropped some major cash on a Wii for us, or that she had just called us boring.
So here’s the question: Should we accept? I’ve wanted a Wii for awhile, but never really considered getting one until they went down in price. I would really love to get a Wii fit to try to learn some yoga. I think that we would have fun as a family playing together, and if I had to choose a video game system for my son when he gets older, this would be the one.
On the other hand, it’s not practical at all! I had mentioned that a gift card to Lowe’s would be a nice gift, since we need to replace the fixtures in our bathroom. I’m guessing that this falls into the category of boring to my mom…
So if you were me, what would you do?
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Some thoughts prior to Election Day
This is not a political blog, so the purpose here is not to reveal who my preferred candidate is, and why the other candidate sucks, etc. I just wanted to give you this heads up, so that you may be more inclined to read on.
This weekend, we went to visit some friends, and took some time to walk around Washington DC since the weather was so nice. As the kid was attempting to scale the Washington Monument, I was looking around and saw the White House from a distance. As I turned back around to check on the kid, he was laughing happily with a couple other kids from a different country as they all tried to scale the wall.
It just kind of struck me that regardless of who we all go in and vote for on Tuesday, people aren’t really all that different. Perhaps it is because this is the first election where I have a child myself (and therefore am more aware of the daily political news), but I feel that this is an election where so much hatred, ugliness, and division has bubbled to the surface. Sometimes it is easy to forget how lucky we are to have the right to walk around our nation’s capital freely, and talk about how much we love (or despise) a candidate, and be able to vote.
I guess that I found myself to be a bit surprised to become humbled when visiting our nation’s capital, instead of being more fired up for Tuesday. I also can’t wait to take my son back to Washington DC when he is old enough to start learning the significance of the monument he was trying to scale…
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Keeping our heads up in today’s economy
Everything seems to be in the crapper. With election politics heating up (and not necessarily in a good way), an economic bailout that I am pretty sure no one has a real clue about, and the American dream becoming less achievable for many, things seem to be “not so great”.
Or is it? I think that perhaps we’re really at a turning point — a sort of reality check where those that have not been realistic about what they cannot afford need to come to terms with the consequences. While this is happening at a personal level, I am not really sure that it is happening on Wall Street and in the government.
I know that for us, things are a lot more tight financially because we are trying to rebuild our emergency fund quickly after some major truck repairs. But we’re really coming together as a family, mostly because I am working evenings to generate additional income to rebuild our fund. This is an added responsibility for my husband, since he has to come home from work and take over childcare duties.
Although initially it took some getting used to, I think that this is also a great opportunity for us to really evaluate what is important in life. I think it has helped us develop a better appreciation for what the other person is doing, since now we are both working, and both taking care of the kid alone.
We’re also very thankful that we are frugal, and can currently handle our financial situation. I don’t need to run out and make the big $$$, but can stay at home with the kid during the day. At the same time, it has strengthened our resolve to get out of debt, and I am working harder to generate additional income streams.
How about you? Are you keeping your head up in today’s economy? Why or why not?
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