Electronic Christmas Exhaustion

by Kate Hayes,

I just finished Christmas shopping for my children. I did most of it from the comfort of my own couch. And it was exhausting!  Somehow that doesn’t seem to add up, does it? 

The ability to shop online certainly has changed the way that parents of my generation shop for the holidays. I honestly would not know how to begin to shop without the ability to research the best products for my kids’ ages, read reviews from other parents, and compare multiple sellers for the best prices. Can you imagine…just showing up at a store and somehow knowing what to buy? Or having to drive from one place to another to find some specific item that is in high demand? Ugh. It just sounds so…inconvenient. 

On the other hand, sometimes I wonder if I would spend so much time thinking about Christmas gifts if I had no other option but to just go shopping. If you really hit it hard (say, the day after Thanksgiving, like many “old-school” shoppers do), then you’ve devoted one entire day to finding totally adequate presents. Whereas, I have now spent hours and hours over multiple days poring over endless websites in search of the PERFECT gifts. What are the best books and games and puzzles to stimulate my kids’ developing little brains? What toys are going to keep them independently busy without the constant need for help? Which ones are going to nurture their developing talents and interests? Which ones will they not get tired of in two weeks? Which items should I buy, and which should I offer as suggestions for grandparents and other family members? Do you see where I’m going with this? If there is a “Holiday Gift Obsessive Compulsive Disorder,” then I would be the first to admit that I have it. And I blame my ability to shop entirely online, where the options are limitless and the stores never close.

The good news is, thanks to the ability to save money early in the season via online discounts, I still have nearly two months to recover from my “Electronic Christmas Exhaustion”.” Now I can stop obsessing and start enjoying the holiday season.

What I’d really like to know is if our kids will be any happier or smarter as the result of their carefully selected gifts than my husband and I were with the presents that our parents happened to randomly pick up at the store. Is my way really better? I like to think that I’m making better, more informed decisions…but maybe it doesn’t really matter. What do you think?

Kate is a contributing writer for Mommy Moment. Kate is the proud mom of Anna and Kellen, who are starting to pick up all of her best habits: a passion for reading and exploring new places, an intense interest in organizing, and a total disregard for sleep. See what she has been up to over at www.adventuresinparenting.me