I finished Christmas shopping today for my kids and thought I did pretty good. Since they love hunting around the house looking for their gifts, my mother-in-law keeps them at her house. I just brought the things I bought this morning over, and she told me “Wow, this is all you’re getting them? Why did you take-in the extra 3 kids if you would have to sacrifice things for your real children?” I thought I did good considering we have 8 children this year instead of 5. So the question:
Is she right? Or is she just trying to make me feel bad?
13 year old:
silver Tiffany bracelet
black Uggs
Coach purse
Wii Fit
picture frames for room
10 year old:
digital camera
brown Uggs
new bike
DDR Hottest Party 2 (for Wii)
scrapbooking kit
7 yscrap-booking for room (the only reason she’s getting it is because my husband has a bunch of points from work and used it to get a new tv FREE)
Disney’s Hannah Montana DVD Game
Hannah Montana Malibu Beach House
Hannah Montana Wii Game
Wild Planet Hyper Dash Game
6 year old:
American Girl Doll
karoke machine
Wild Plkaraokeyper Jump Game
Apples to Apples Kids
Learning Journey Desktop PC
5 year old:
Power Wheels Barbie Jammin’ Jeep
LeapFrog Leapster Learning System
LeapFrog Leapster Game: Dora the Explorer -Wildlife Rescue
Moon Sand Treasure Kingdom
Totally Me! Ultimate Jewelry Workshop
3 year old:
Disney Princess 12″ Girl’s Bicycle
FisherPrice Kid Tough Digital Camera
Fish Price Kid Tough DVD Player (got it 40% off this morning!)
Cranium Hullabaloo
Noddleboro Picnic Basket Manners Game
3 year old:
Girl’s Grow N’ Go Bicycle
FisherPrice Kid Tough Digital Camera
FP3 Player
Twister Hopscotch
The Cat in the Hat I Can Do That!
16 month old:
Eco-Friendly Rocking Caterpillar Ride-On Plush Rocker
Vtech V.Smile Baby Infant Development System
Vtech Roll and Learn Driver
FisherPrice Roll-a-Rounds Listen-Up-Rounds
Animal Friends Stacking Rings (made by TAGGIES)
I tried my best. Each child on average gets about $400 worth of toys. Yes, it would have been more if we didn't take 3 extra children in, but should how much we get on Christmas make a difference bettween leaving them in foster homes or letting them live with us?
Oh and another one was that she is only buying for her "real" grandchildren, meaning she's not getting gifts for the 3 childre I recently adopted. So now I'm going to have to buy them something and bring it over there to pretend it's from her.
Yes, we have to keep everything fair. I tried to sick to 5 items that totaled up to about $400.
We actually adopted them when their mother (my friend) passed away from cancer.
I’m very impressed with the list of what you got for all of the kids. It looks as if you spent a lot of time and thought in selecting what you thought that they would really like and cherish.
As for the Mother-in-Law: I would have your husband discuss the situation with her, and mention to her that it is not fair for her to single out a particular group to give gifts to, or not. The older kids (5 and up) are old enough to realize who is getting gifts, and WHY the others are being excluded. Therefore, my advice (all $.02 of it), is that either EVERYONE has a package to open (with some sort of gift inside, price not important), or NOBODY has a gift.
Don’t pretend, and get something, hauling it over there. Just inform her that you AND HER SON have made the decision to adopt / take in / foster these children, and BOTH of you have decided to love them as your own. But your husband needs to have this conversation with her, and present this as a JOINT decision.
And if she persists, your husband can always inform her that until she can accept ALL of your children, NONE of them will be visiting.
Good Luck.
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