christmas shopping

As much as I despise Christmas shopping, I tried to put on my best face and lunge myself into the chaos of the traffic and stores.

 

These trips to town had their ups and downs.  One of the high points was shopping for Patrick this year - it was so fun.  Even though all he understands about Christmas is he gets to dance to "Away in a Manger" or say "Ho Ho Ho" when he sees Santa, the toys are becoming more fun to shop for.  Last year it was all about books, stuffed animals that never got played with, and drool.  This year it's all about real toys.  Here's what Santa picked up for my boy in the girl aisle this year:

fisher price shopping cart.

Yep, this was in the girl aisle.  I'm thinking Patrick will dig it; he's sick of his other push toys.  The great part is it comes with the groceries so he'll have even more shit to toss on the floor which he LOVES.

 

 

 

meowsic keyboard.

 This isn't your average xylophone.  This is the amped up version. 

 

 

 

 

leap frog chat & count.

 I'm most excited about this present!  Patrick is obsessed with cell phones, and since I don't let him play with mine, I was looking for something realistic that made noise.  There are a ton of play cell phones on the market, but most are "baby-ish."  This one is perrrfect.

melissa and doug gear toy - train.

 

My child loves twisting anything - caps, tires, lids.  This should occupy him for at least five minutes.

circo easy wipe bibs.

nuby super straw easy grip cups.

 Anything involved with eating is a must for a stocking stuffer.  I am finally going to throw out all of Patrick's bibs and retire to the huge and obnoxious ones, although the Circo ones I bought aren't too bad.

 

We're also moving on to straw sippy cups, which I put off as long as possible simply because it's weird seeing a one-year-old sucking out of a straw.

 

 

 

Jeff got the usual.  Every year since we've been dating I have either bought or made him a calendar.  This year I made it on Shutterfly and it consists of solely pictures of him and Patrick.  It's one of those desk calendars, not a full size.  This way he can keep it on his desk.  It actually came in the mail on time and turned out so adorable!  He also got underwear, DVD's, and a new coffee thermos.

 

Amazon and Etsy were my go-to online shopping destinations this year.  I feel like Amazon is a little pricey but it's like Walmart without the snail-slow clerks and wife beater tanks in the dead of winter.  You can get anything! 

 

b. woofer guitar.

 

I got this awesome guitar for my nephew.  Before I wrapped it I let Patrick strum a few chords.  He then proceeded to scream bloody murder which satisfied me because I then knew it was age-appropriate (my nephew is five).

 

 

Shopping did have its low points too.  Like when I ordered prints of pictures online and went to pick them up at the Meijer and they "must not have gotten the order on their end."  Well then, FIND THE ORDER ON YOUR END.  I was livid, but remained calm and politely told the photo dude that I would never, ever order through Snapfish again. 

One of the lowest points was seeing how pissed off the majority of shoppers were in Meijer.  I almost ran into like 17 people with my cart and screaming child.  We also left a trail of Goldfish and fruit snacks wherever we stopped.  As each of these encounters would happen, I would immediately say "Oh, excuse me!" or "I am so sorry!"  Most of them growled glared at me and pushed on.  Are you kidding me?  Come on people, I know it's Christmas and all, but manners are still obligatory in my eyes.  I don't care that you have to rush to the gift card counter for your aunt's best friend's grandma.

So Christmas shopping pretty much sucks, but it's kind of fun too.  Like when we come home and start wrapping and snuggling as a family.