The Nativity set is on the server, and the Advent candles are sitting in the wreath with their usual degree of catawamposity, and I have a picture that might suffice for our Christmas cards. (My standards are low. Does the picture contain all five of my children? Is anyone actually scowling? Is anyone extremely blurry? Slightly blurry has been known to pass muster, because getting this whole crew to smile for the camera at the same time wears me right out.)
Before we get much further into the season, I need some advice, please. Here's the story. During our first Christmas as godparents, I started a practice that might need to die. I asked my friend what she thought about an ornament tradition. I had the idea that I would give our goddaughter a special ornament each Christmas until she left home, and then she would have a little collection for her own tree in her first apartment. Her mom thought that was a great idea, and so every year since 1999 I have found an ornament related to my goddaughter's Christmasy name, and have sent it along with a more kid-friendly gift.
It worked fine for this goddaughter, whose parents have a history of exchanging nice Christmas ornaments or using them to mark special occasions. The problem is that I decided to do it for my nieces and nephews as well, and I don't think think it's a great idea for them. For one kid in particular, the history is a little painful to think about: the mom doesn't even pretend that she sees anything special in these gifts. The more I think about it, the less reasonable it seems to continue giving an annual ornament to this particular kid.
But...tradition, she said lamely. And...family, she said with equal lameness. Do I just...stop? Do I ask my sisters-in-law directly, "Is this idea worth the organizational hassle?" I do understand that there's some hassle involved for them if they're in charge of keeping track. Will there be hard feelings if I continue for some kids and not others? I do not know. But I do not really want to put in the Etsy time, and the PayPal dollars, and the post office time and dollars, if all of my SILs share the opinion of my dismissive SIL about this practice.
I'll keep going for my oldest goddaughter, of course; this is her senior year. But these are my questions for you: how do you figure out the niece/nephew gift question in your family, especially if you have a bunch of nieces/nephews? I usually send each one a book as well as an ornament, but I am not entirely pleased with that strategy. And what's your recommendation for me about the ornament tradition: seek input or make a unilateral decision? I suspect that I have one niece who likes it, one niece who thinks it's okay but wouldn't really miss it, and five nieces/nephews who care not a whit. Alas, it's a bit of a bummer to write that down. Here, I will share a picture of my laughing children to take my mind off things:
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