The Cost of Santa

With their birthdays coming up in May, the boys have been making out their gift wish lists. Jack has very little on his, but Luke wants almost every thing he sees advertised on television. He will be easy to buy for this year. The problem is once he gets something he thought he really, really, wanted, he typically tends to find out that it wasn't as cool or as fun as he thought it was going to be.

Take the D-Rex Pet. He saw the commercial for this toy before Christmas and fell in love with it. And that was the point. The commercials made it appear that this dinosaur would move and interact like a living, breathing creature. He asked Santa for this toy and was sure he would get it. Mom and Dad scoured sales at Toys R Us for weeks to find a deal, since we don't have a workshop like Santa and knew that Santa would not be bringing the D-Rex down the chimney.

As far as Luke is concerned, Santa came through for him. But, he quickly discovered that D-Rex required a lot of input from him. D-Rex didn't follow him around the house like a little puppy. It was a remote-controlled dinosaur, and albeit a pretty awesome one if you ask me, not what Luke was expecting. So it has sat, mostly unplayed with, like the RoboQuad he got the year before.

For his birthday, Luke is asking for the Spy Gear Spy Video Car. He saw a commercial, and the commercial showed all these fantastic things that the car can do. I suggested we find one and play with it first before he decides for sure that the car is what he wants.

"Because, you know, you always pick these really expensive things that look cool on commercials and then when you get them you don't like them that much."

"Like D-Rex Pet," he said.

"Yes, like D-Rex Pet," I said.

"But Santa brought me that so it didn't cost a thing."

Not that I don't want him to continue to believe in Santa, but it sure will save me money once he stops.