Adventures in finding Christmas gifts for my girls

Wow. It's been an interesting week for me in this regard. I have never before felt convinced that there was a certain toy I wanted for my kids. But, this year, I realized this week that I wanted to get them the Best Friends Club, Ink Dolls Addison and Kaitlyn. I started calling around on Tuesday and everyone told me they were out. So, I called a friend and asked if my girls could come over while I went to buy their last few Christmas gifts.

I drove from her house to the nearby Target and they had 2 left--just the ones I wanted to get them. But, let me back up...

As I was driving to the store, I sensed in myself a stress about this and I prayed. I realized how quickly I had gotten caught up in that feeling that I needed to find a certain toy for my kids. And wow! It is a powerful consumption! After finding the dolls, I headed to Toys R Us because I knew they had the clothes. I found them and saw a sign that they were free with the dolls--if only they had the dolls. After walking around a little more, I noticed an end cap full of them! So, I bought two new dolls (with the free outfits) and returned the others to Target across the street. I thought I was done.

Nope.

I had a nagging feeling that when it came to a Christmas gift for my girls, I should be able to give them the whole thing and not say "you can have this part, but not that part". I don't think that would have been very nice of me. So, I started opening up one of the boxes (already wrapped even) and realized that these dolls were very built! Probably a C cup (as opposed to Barbie's D or DD cup) Sorry for the graphic description, but I just don't know how else to put it! I was unsettled. I talked to my husband about it and he still liked the dolls--he pointed out that even the loving family dolls resemble real women in that way. True, but we had decided to put off Barbie and Polly Pocket another year this Christmas. He left it up to me.

So, I thought and thought and talked to a few friends. I looked online and decided that I would return them and get 2 Our Generation Dolls for my girls from Target. I had the impulse right then to run out and just get it taken care of and done with. But, I resisted and told myself, "no." I needed to pray and trust God that the dolls would be there the next night if that was what I was supposed to get. It all sounds so silly doesn't it? But, I know that God cares for the little things in our hearts as well as the big important ones! I just want my daughters to be excited when they open their gifts on Christmas--they really only get 1 toy from us, 1 book, and 1 something else (3 gifts in all like the Wise Men brought Baby Jesus).

So, over the next day, each time I would get anxious or want to do something about it, I would say a quick prayer to the Lord and give my cares to Him. Last night, the girls went to Awanas and I headed over to get gas, return the dolls to Toys R US (I've been doing a lot of returning!), and get the dolls from Target. They did have 2 dolls I liked and I brought them home.

After the girls had gone to sleep, I brought them inside and showed my husband. He agreed that they were the right ones for our girls. Autumn and Sami are just young and so innocent. I want to preserve that for them as long as I can and let them be little girls. It's hard to think about Autumn growing up! We looked at the back of the box for Sami and realized that one of them has a little dog that can go with it--so I have one last run to make--Sami loves dogs and my husband thought we should get that for her =)

So, that's my Christmas present buying story. I know it's a long one, sorry about that. I hope it made you chuckle, though--at my silliness. I'm thankful for God's lessons in this for me and the experience that will help me understand what other parents get caught up in around Christmas time and how they feel.