Nice Weekend

Over the weekend, one tradition died. The Chapman's prime did not draw secret santas. Instead, the Chapman derivative 3631 did. This was a passing of the torch of kinds. But, I am still sad. That being said, while I can buy gifts for my siblings, honestly, they probably all (except Mary) have more disposable income than I do - so I am not sure what interesting gifts I could give anyways.

I am unsure how to handle the parenting thing with my kids regarding secret santas. James bought a hideous gift for his sister, Martha, and more importantly, I paid $15 for a bad gift. Good or bad? Not sure. Not sure it matters either.

So, I drew one of my daughters and not one of my siblings. While I am sad, I am also incredibly excited about having a new family tradition. I like seeing how my kid's brains work. In his quest for a gift, James let the excitement of the situation take over his reason. He knew the gift that he was buying for Martha was not the one that he wanted to get for her, but he seemed unable to separate the desire for giving a really good gift for buying something right now. I don't think that this a cultural problem. I think that this is probably more of an age issue and an inability to build patience. James, in particular, struggles with patience under buying pressure. His brother, Aidan, who is two years younger, is already a better, more patient shopper.

Surprisingly, we had a tremendous weekend. The boys played Civilization for a good portion of the weekend and the girls followed the adults around. I say surprisingly because almost every long weekend of this type leads to really bad behavior by about day three. Instead, the kids were actively helping on day four in the afternoon. Whatever we did this weekend really worked because all of the children were terrific.