It's Jesus' birthday and all I got was this stupid t-shirt

-
I almost peed myself reading this !
I got some responces to my ' Christmas isnt the time for begging"-









and then some people agreed!


Right on !


maybe ill get more funny hate mail.
Ill post em if i do.

I'm guessing I should be really glad that I didn't leave any way to contact me in my post!

There is shame in denying?

Please, please, please, nobody tell Mo how shameful all those "No" don't make me feel.

you have to leave an email address with craigslist. right? or not?


i dont mind it.
they cant hurt me with email.
And, if they make enough fools of themselves, I will post it here, for hundreds to see. HA

Not. Well, notish.

You can post without a contact. Just click on the little thing that says do not display (and therefore don't relay) any mail.

On the flip side...

I've been thinking about a good place to post my current dilemma. This seems like the right spot.

I grew up with very little. We usually had food, although not always, and we usually had a Charlie Brown type Christmas. We were not on any social assistance - I don't know if it was available or if it was pride on my parent's part, but we had what we had and that was it.

Christmas was difficult. It was difficult for my parents and it was difficult for the kids as we were 'the poor family' of the neighborhood. That's where I came from, but... I don't live there anymore.

Now I live "in the land where kids have E-V-E-R-Y-T-H-I-N-G", literally. I chose to move here because I love living in the woods but little by little, the area has changed into Richville. It gets worse each year and it starts younger and younger. My children are truly the only kids they know who don't have ipods, wear designer jeans, Birkenstocks, Uggs, or $300 shoes, carry designer purses, etc. And, it starts in grade school. Two second graders were recently overheard discussing the tread pattern on the bottom of one of the girls shoes. One girl proclaimed the other ones as fakes because the tread design was right for *real* Birks. I wanted to puke.

I've raised my kids with my sense of values and I suppose we could afford to outfit the girls in the last designer fashions but I absolutely refuse. This year my 15 year old is asking for an ipod nano ($249 for the one she wants) and I just can't get over the fence to get it for her. At the same time I know exactly how it feels to be looked down on by my peers on materialistic scores.

I keep saying, "I'm not from here, I only live here." But, they ARE from here. Mr B and I chose to live here and we choose to stay here. I'm interested in any thoughts you all might have on not only keeping up, but fitting in as a kid.

Thanks!

I agree with Shewolf, but do agree that sometimes, it's just hard because the things "the Jones' kid has" is way to expensive for you to buy your kid. And how do you tell them that?

Still, I would never resort to begging complete strangers for money for christmas presents. I'd ask grandma or other family to go in with me on it. And the a few more inexpensive gifts could go under the tree for the child to open. Bargains are out there. Ask Soz...she seems to be the Queen of Deal Finding!

Now, there are families that put their stories in the paper for help during this time of year to get their kids something (anything) for Christmas but I've found that these people genuinly have nothing and don't have the internet, cable tv and all the other expensive "necessities". They've recently gone through a very tough time and just need a little help.

I could help those people. The ones who bitch and moan about it while keeping their internet, cable and smoking 2 packs a day habit can kiss my money goodbye.

JB, can you have grandma go in with you to get this and tell your daughter that because she wanted something very expensive, that's going to be most of her christmas? That's what my parents did and so did my hubby's parents.

Wow J_B. Your story sounds much like mine.

I have the same struggle - we can give Mo pretty much whatever he wants. He's still little and doesn't want much yet but I worry about this stuff as the years go continue to roll on.

The only advice I can offer is my camera story.

I begged for from the time I was about 9 and finally got the camera when I was about 15. (Admittedly, a camera did not have the status qualtiy that an iPod does now though.)

My parents could afford it at the time I got it but I now know they had a hard time deciding to go ahead with it.

I knew a lot more about cameras at this point than they did. They did not want to go and pick something out for me so they took me to the camera store and let me pick it out (a Canon AE-1, I still have it and I still use it, some 30 years later).

It counted as my Christmas present and the following birthday present and as a "I wanna" anything that might come up over the year.

I wanted it bad enough that I agreed to those terms and they held me to those terms.

The fact that I grew up to make a living with a camera (including THAT camera) always amazes all of us.

So.... anyway.....

I guess what I'm saying is that deciding how important it is and WHY it is so important might make a big difference. Is your daughter willing to sacrifice say... her next birthday present... to get such an expensive and wanted item?

Ummmm..... shewolf?

Is everything alright?

Cover her next birthday?!? Ha, this is the land where all 16 year olds get a new car on their birthday!!! It's only a question of how big or how fast The idea of driving my 10 year old mini-van is already keeping her awake at night.

I'm leaning toward getting it for her, although the one she wants is out of stock everywhere. I don't know.... I need to sleep on it some more.

Bella, thanks but grandma has already purchased a bunch of gifts as it is. I'm truly the scrooge of the group. It's not that I can't afford it, I don't want to afford it. We see many kids here who can't leave home after college because they aren't willing to go without all the finer luxuries in life and start off on their own with what they can afford. Their parents have always given them everything and they continue to do so, well into their 20s.

But to my daughter, an ipod is what a barbie was to me. Something I could only dream about.

Ahhh, yes. A different horse all together. My parents were the same way. Being the kid of a parent who thinks like this is hard. Being an adult of a parent who thinks like this is a blessing. It does make you appreciate things and also not to expect the world to just hand you things.

Hahahahahahah...


my post on craigslist->

Your posting has been removed by the craigslist community.
Several craigslist readers flagged it for the following reasons:


DISCUSSION: posting appears to be discussing a previous posting

The flagging system is a work-in-progress, with all the pros and cons of a democracy - Please post suggestions for improvement in the feedback forum:
http://forums.craigslist.org/?forumID=8

After reviewing your posting and our policies, if you are convinced that those flagging your post were mistaken, please feel free to repost.

Sorry for the hassle! and thanks for your understanding.

http://portland.craigslist.org/wan/118454435.html


so, being the hard headed person I am .
I posted it again..

and again


http://portland.craigslist.org/rnr/118452783.html

now, i think i have beaten this subject to death..
i will stop posting.

i just threw a " best of flag " on that

I was a bit worried yesterday because there was a posting talking about "she wolf" and phone calls being made. So I wanted to make sure that nothing really weird was going on.

The flagging of everything on there continues, both the gimmes and the urghs. A few have slipped under the radar.

I'll go flag it too!

posting about she wolf?
with calls?
huh?

There were a couple on the same page deserving of best-ofs.

I love it when they close the office early

wow
my post was flagged and removed.
that was quick..