time to do Christmas

I started Christmas shopping today. (Yes, I know lots of people are done already, thanks for rubbing it in. I'm actually pretty proud of myself - to start shopping while December is still in single digits may be some kind of record.) My inspiration was the Angel Tree that they're doing at my work...you pick a child's name off the tree and get them the gifts they've asked for. I picked a 2-year-old boy named Luis, same sizes as Tagg and same interests (well, actually the card said he wanted "dolls" which I was cool with but after some investigation, he had actually requested "balls." That could have gone way, way wrong.)

The original Cars book set. He reads them 10 times
a day, sleeps with them, has not lost (permanently) 
one of them...loves them. See the duct tape?
That is true love, toddler style.

I feel like Tagg has so much, the least I can do is make sure that this little boy has a great Christmas too. I almost felt guilty picking out things for Luis. I mean, what we got for him is just a drop in the bucket compared to all of the toys, clothes, books and shoes that Tagg already has. It really puts things in perspective. How much do most kids (or any of us) really need? We could do so much more.

Should have gone with the flames.

Anyway, we got Luis a nice winter coat, a cute little outfit complete with black Converse sneakers (very cool...I almost got the ones with the flames but chickened out and got him the same ones Tagg has), a set of the Cars books in a box that Tagg loves so much he actually sleeps with them, and a Whacky Ball set from B. Toys that he loves to play with when he's at Nana's house.


I love B. Toys. Of all the toys he has, he probably finds these the most consistently entertaining (after cars and his books of course). Not only are they environmentally friendly, donate proceeds to Free the Children, and have a killer website and brand design, but they actually seem to care about making toys that kids will like. Here's a snippet of their philosophy, something we should all take to heart:

...it’s okay to be curious, to be pensive, to be loud, to be happy and sad all at the same time, to be generous, to be afraid, to be quiet, to be wild, to be fun, to be open, to be scientific, to be poetic, to be giddy, to be serious, to be smart, to be free, to be you. 

Of course, while I was at the store I had to do a little shopping of my own. After I got over my charitable guilt shopping spree, I still managed to find a few things for the kids. (no spoiler alerts here, please move on) I got lost in the book store as usual. We love Jamie Lee Curtis' book "Tell Me Again About the Night I Was Born" which is a lovely tale about adoption. (Her books always make me want to write childrens' books instead of trashy romance novels.) I wish they would make a customizable "photobook" type thing where you could write in your own story and have it end up looking like this book, but with your kid's story. Maybe one day, I'll get all artsy and try to make one for each of my kids. The book I ended up buying as a Christmas gift - My Mommy Hung the Moon - just seemed like a necessary add to the collection! It's not going to come close to the tent fort, but hey! that's what you get when mommy does the shopping. It's not always fair.