Christmas

I posted this picture on facebook, but wanted to add it here as well. If you scroll down to the previous post, you will note that I am going to add videos of a bunch of Claire's "firsts" over the next few days. Her first car ride, first bath, first Thanksgiving, first Christmas, and first cereal are all coming soon. I am also hard at work on a slideshow of 2009 in recap (from Claire's birth forward, though I may think of starting with the preggie pics as well).

But I figured folks did want to verify that the Peel family did have a good first Christmas for Claire, and we certainly did. We were also careful to keep with the spirit of Christmas and not get swept away in the overspending, something we are committed to continuing in our family for the long haul. Knowing that in all likelihood, Claire will be an only child, we will have to work hard to keep her from being too spoiled - especially when she has such generous grandparents and aunts and uncles. However, we you see the haul she received for Christmas, you probably won't realize that the bulk of what she received was purchased second-hand or in some cases, re-gifted so that very little was spent.

I have become a big fan of Amy Dacyzyn's Tightwad Gazette. In the midst of the tips and tricks for saving oodles of money, she also has some great articles. One on Creative Deprivation in her second compilation really captures one way of thinking that Geoff and I are committed to as parents. The author says that when her children seem disatisfied with a treat such as a small ice cream cone, it doesn't make her think that they should be given a larger banana split, it makes her think that they have been having ice cream cones too often to appreciate them. I think gratitude is an important trait for Claire to learn and hope to teach it to her in the Christmas season just as during any other time.

Okay, enough of a soap box for one night. More posts to come soon...