G is for Goddammit, Not Another Blog About Gratitude

Okay first of all, did you know that Target's Wondershop has a little "Santa Stationary" pack for $3 that includes templates for children's letters to Santa, as well as a parent pack that parents can use to reply? And then send them to some place in Alaska and they will stamp it with North Pole postage? It's adorable.

So we sat down with the kit and asked Archer what he wants for Christmas and this is how it went:

Me: What should we tell Santa?

Archer: Merry Christmas!

Me: Yes! Awesome. Merry Christmas, Santa! Okay, what next? What do you want?

A: Um, nothing.

M: What about legos?

A: I already got some.

M: Okay, what PJ Masks?

A: I have a Catboy car!

M: You sure do! Do you want some, um, some train stuff?

A: I play with trains at (daycare)!

M: Okay. Do you want maybe like some candy?

A: I have a lot of candy in my Halloween basket.

(Eventually he mentioned that he wants a treasure map, and I added the rest of his wishes based on parental knowledge.)

Dude. I don't want you to be materialistic but I also want you to participate in this holiday in a materialistic way a little bit.

Right? Now here I am trying to encourage my son to make a list of all the things he wants and he keeps showing me up with his contentment in the things he already has. Way to be more mature than me, Buddha child. He was playing with his crayons and he just didn't to do anything but color. He's still at the age (nearly three) where any little thing can become a toy, and can be a treasure, and it's amazing. He did not get this zen like sense of gratitude from me. I'm also afraid that I, and the world, will teach him to want more more more all the time. And I felt guilty for asking him what he wants, and trying to teach him to want more. In his view, he has everything he wants and more. And in truth, he does. He has a host of people who love him more than anything, food, family, a warm bed, perfect health. He has everything.

As we get ready to celebrate Thanksgiving, and I start plotting my Christmas presents for my happy and blessed little man, I'm thinking about gratitude as something that maybe we just are born with, and that maybe we learn to be less grateful the more we learn about all the neat stuff there is in this world. I mean there are some awesome fun toys out there, and I never have any problems making a Christmas list. But no matter how much I have, I always feel like its not quite enough. Even though its always been enough, and more than enough.

Just tonight I was complaining about what I'm supposed to bring for our Thanksgiving meal on Thursday! For Thanksgiving! I can't wait to be grateful and all that but in the meantime ughhh so annoying I have to prepare dishes to share with others, ughhhhhhhh.

I think we should have maybe more holidays like Thanksgiving. And maybe we should listen to the little guys a little more.