My daughter has always been fairly concise and specific when it comes to making her Christmas lists.
A couple of years ago she decided she wanted princess shoes after she spotted a five-pack of shoes at our grocery store and fell in love. When I told her to ask Santa, she took it to heart. Every time she saw Santa at the mall or wrote a letter, it was always a request for princess shoes. Nothing more, nothing less. It was all she wanted.
Last year, she wanted a play kitchen and a sailboat. No idea where the sailboat idea came from, but I was happy to oblige with a little wooden one. She was the happiest little girl on Christmas day, especially when she realized she had received so much more than she had asked for.
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I was so excited to start shopping for her gifts this year because she always seems to know what she wants and never goes crazy with a super long list asking for things we can’t afford. Now she’s 4 and her lists only get even more entertaining and even more specific.
After visiting her aunt, who is only five years older than her, she fell in love with a stuffed animal lamb she had in her room. She cried when we left my mom’s house, wanting a lamb just like that. I told her she could ask Santa for it, and that sparked her Christmas list-making mood for this year.
I told her the elves were busy getting ready to send out the stuff from her first list.
When we got home she asked me to help her write a letter to Santa. It went something like this:
Dear Santa,
Thank you for always bringing me presents. This year, I would please like:
A medium lamb
A roller coaster
A giant Easter egg
Thank you!
Love,
Little J
She decorated the card and made plans to send it to the North Pole while I made plans to change a couple of those gift ideas.
“Honey, why do you want a giant Easter egg?”
“So I can sleep in it,” she told me as a matter of fact.
“Oh, well I don’t know if they make eggs that big,” I told her. “Or roller coasters.”
“But Santa is magic, he can do anything!”
I began Googling for products that resemble giant eggs and found a chair at IKEA that could pass. But really? Was this something she REALLY wanted, or would this just take up space and become a waste?
“Isn’t there some kind of game, or dress-up activity you might like?” I encouraged.
“Oh I know!” She said. “I can ask for an Elsa dress!”
Now we’re talking. A dress, I can handle. She traded the dress for the Easter egg idea, thank goodness.
A couple of weeks later, now coming up on Christmas, my daughter explains how she’s changed her mind, and decided all she wants is a stuffed Ariel doll for Christmas.
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I told her the elves were busy getting ready to send out the stuff from her first list. She got really sad and pleaded, saying she didn’t want anything else, just "An Ariel stuffed animal."
So what did I do? I placed an order on Amazon. Her doll will be here by Christmas.
What did your kids request for Christmas?
