Amanda Lamb: Wish list

Each year, my children’s wish list at Christmas gets more specific, more expensive, and shorter.

I am very grateful for the shorter part and the specific part. I could do without the more expensive part, but realize it is a compromise — a few choice gifts versus many small, cheaper gifts.

“Mom, seriously, this is all I really want,” my older daughter says as she sends me links to the specific items online. “I don’t need anything else.”

I’m pretty sure she doesn’t need what is on the short list of links either, but I appreciate her guidance and admonition that I no longer have to wrap a bunch of stuff that she doesn’t really want just to make it appear like there is more under the tree.

Her scaled down expectations started me thinking about what my wish list reads. As an adult, most of us buy what we need throughout the year, and often, we buy the things we really want as well.

So, at Christmas, my list has always been pretty short. I am mindful that I really do have everything I need and more, and have trouble coming up with ideas for my children when they ask me what they can give me for Christmas.

If I had my druthers, it would be a few big, specific items - items that are hard, if not impossible, to come by. I don’t mean a new couch or a walk-in-closet.

My wish list would go something like this: I wish we could stop teenagers with guns from going into schools and shooting people; I wish I could talk to my mother; I wish I could take away a people’s suffering when they are dying; I wish I could sleep past 5 a.m.; I wish there were more than 24 hours in a day; I wish my children were being raised in a less stressful world…

While I am pretty sure my girls will get everything on their list, I’m also pretty sure I will have to settle for candles and bath salts this year.