Joy and Pain

I love this time of year.  The Christmas season brings back so many fond memories from childhood.  Music, food, family, presents (of course, you’re a kid) all wrapped up into a couple of insanely busy and fun days.

This year we continued the tradition of Santa coming on Christmas Eve after dinner, while we’re hiding in a bedroom.  Someone (this year my sister did the honor) gets “stuck” in the bathroom and we sing Christmas carols until we hear Santa arrive and depart.

My daughter, who is six, went nuts.  She kept telling us to be quiet and peeking under the bedroom door looking for lights downstairs.  It was precious to see her so excited and believing in the magic of the day.

After Santa leaves and my sister gets out of the bathroom, the madness of gift opening begins. Wrapping paper flying everywhere, screams of delight or groans if they received something boring like socks.

I found a toy my daughter wanted last year on clearance and thought she would be so excited to finally receive it.  She was thrilled and begged for us to put in the batteries.  The toy is turned on…nothing.  Batteries are new, so that can’t be the issue.  Are we missing a part?  Nope.

What began as sheer joy has now turned into pain.  Ugh.  Figures the one toy I grab off the shelf is broken…very frustrating indeed.  Luckily, enough other toys were around to distract, but still.  The poor kid wants nothing more than to play with it and it’s a heap of junk.

Thanks, Toys ‘R Us.