Then why do I feel so guilty? I have completely rationalized this. As the first grandchild on both sides of the family, she's already being lavished with gifts on an almost weekly basis. You know, the clothes that one grandma had to buy because they were "just too cute to pass up." And the toy that the other grandmother had to get her "because I just knew she'd love it." And the toys and clothes that each grandmother had to get to avoid being outdone by the other.
Also, we will be traveling this Christmas visiting these same grandparents, so we will be 2,000 miles from home when Santa comes. We don't even have a Christmas tree this year. And the last thing we need is to add to our already considerable luggage burden by bringing presents from Washington to Ohio only to cart them back again.
So it's really not that bad. It's not like we're giving her a lump of coal in her stocking. Still, the other night I asked my husband, "Is it bad not to get her any presents?"
"I've been wondering the same thing," he said, "But look." He pointed to her overflowing toybox, to the bureau stuffed with clothes, to the pile of neglected stuffed animals.
All of which brought me back to my original point: She doesn't need anything. And mercifully she's much too young to really want anything. The great thing about a group of one-year-olds is that there is no peer pressure to have the latest toy. Put a bunch of waddlers in a room, and each child knows instinctively that there is only one toy worth having - the one that some other kid already has. Without that incentive, absolutely everything is entertaining. When you are one year old, the world is your toybox. If I could read her mental wish list, I'm sure it would say:
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