This year is our first christmas as parents, she'll be 10 months old. Have to admit to already starting to pick up on the sort of peer pressure to go mad. Well, we won't be. It's pointless, she'll have no idea what's going on, and the amount of toys she's already been given and even still has waiting to be inherited from relatives is more than enough for a good while yet (we've been incredibly fortunate that my sister in-law and a cousin have 2 children each and no plans for any more, which means they have been very generously choosing to clear cupboard space via us. We have literally turned up at our parents' houses more than once to find a sack of stuff waiting). I'm sure we're not alone in noticing that it's the same handful of toys she gets drawn to anyway, so what's the point in filling the house with more dust magnets?
Her gifts from us will mostly be new clothes for the next 6 months, and possibly even the next car seat from her grandparents. They'll still just be sparkly packages to her. Next year is the one I'm looking forward to, but there'll still be a sensible budget.
As for Lego, I loved it. The best children's toy bar none. Evie has masses just waiting in my parents' loft for when she's old enough. I was actually asked to sell it a while back, which elicited a rapid and point blank no. I would never even consider it, and I don't know why they'd think I would (it was someone who knows how much I prized it as a kid and that I have a daughter it is ear-marked for). I'm also 31 and have been known to buy the 3-in-1 packs as recently as last year. Why not? My happiest christmas memories are building that year's lego set in front of the tv whilst my parents went back to bed for an hour because I'd got them up at about half 6.
