Child-appropriate gifts

I had always wondered how godmothers and godfathers decide on what to give their godchildren.  Especially on Christmas.  I have a total of 3 official godchildren and it was always hard to think of something appropriate for a certain age, is practical, educational and unordinary.  Toys are a given, but what sort of toys?  Should I give clothes?  Or cash?

It is noticeable that as the child grows older, they prefer cash more than toys.  But then, how do I make sure they make the most out of the cash?  It doesn’t help that you don’t trust their parents to spend the money wisely.  As a child I get to keep all the money my godmothers and godfathers gave me, and I placed everything in a plastic jewelry box under lock and key (isn’t that fancy?).  I remember counting the crunchy, uncrumpled 20s and 10s and the occasional 100s in that box. Ah, bliss.

Yesterday I braved the malls and bazaars to start my Christmas shopping and got a total of 20 coloring books, 4 wall stickers, and a Dora the Explorer sticker book. 

discounted coloring books

I got everything on a discount.  The coloring books were originally priced as P20 each, but the lady gave it to me for P15 for a minimum of 20 books.  The stickers were P25, and I got them at P20.  These will form the first batch of gifts I will give my 2 godchildren, one 6 years old and one is 3 (very mature for her age, so yeah, she can color).

Next time I visit a bazaar, I will look for connect-the-dots books and some storybooks at the same price range.

How did I come up with the coloring books and all?  Because I want them to be able to play, have fun, and learn.  And they’re cheap!

’tis the season to be jolly…

…then, why am I so stressed?

With only 36 days to go before the Big C, things are getting rougher and rougher.  Metro Manila traffic just got worse.  It now takes me just a little less than 2 hours going to work, which should have been just 15 minutes with no traffic.

It’s now quite impossible to get on a shuttle the moment you arrive at the terminal.  I wait for an average of 20 minutes since mid October and this waiting has put me into trouble.  It is only November 19 and I already registered 4 lates.  We are only allowed a max of 4 times of tardiness, or we will get a reprimand.  Crap.

Several of my reports are delayed, several of my subordinates are also delayed.  My boss is still forking some new task for me and my staff like I have more than a pair of hands. 

Today, the planning for our department’s Christmas party/get-together went in full swing.  It took us a halfday of emails to decide on a date, another half day for a venue.  And about an hour to decide on the food that we want.  Being the 2nd senior member, I was smacked right in the middle of everything.

Since almost all of our staff are new hires, us seniors took it as our responsibility to shoulder most of the expenses.  Our manager pledged (indirectly) a max of P5k, and I pledged P2k. 

I am targetting a max of P10k in Christmas related expenses, and a few extras for wedding gifts for my friends.

Also, my schedule starting 2nd half of December is extremely tight.  There’s the company party on the 17th, division party on the 19th (tentative), my own circle of friends’ party on the 20th-21st.  If the division party pushes through on the 19th, we will move the department’s on the 21st-22nd.  And we still have to report to work in the morning (it’s a Monday).

I think I will be glad for this craziness to be over.