Image via WikipediaYesterday, my wife needed to go shopping for a denim jean skirt. She had been having a difficult time finding anything she liked at the stores near our house, so we decided to head out to the Arundel Mills Outlet Center about a half hour drive away from our house. She had already told me that she had been in one store this week that was already playing Christmas music. Earlier in the week, we had dinner at the Red Robin in the Bowie Town Center shopping center, and they had lights and decorations up. Well, Arundel Mills went one better. Santa Claus was already set up in the mall and visiting with the kids. It isn't even Thanksgiving yet!
I had already started to think about what I wanted to get my son this year for Christmas. Now, I guess it won't be long before I have to start giving it some serious thought. I am already done with shopping for my wife's gift. Originally, I was going to get her a new Android phone on Christmas Eve, however, she recently had her phone stolen so she got it early. It is still possible that Santa may have a small surprise for her Christmas morning.
Shopping for my wife is easy. My son is another matter. It is complicated by the fact that he is away at school the majority of the time. I think if you add up all of his breaks through the year, he is home a little more than two months a year. Currently, my son has two old console game systems hooked to the television, a Playstation 2 and a Nintendo Game Cube. Neither one of them works very well and they no longer make games for either system.
The father within me wants to get my son a new game system this Christmas. Each game system that I would consider getting for him would end up costing me $200 or more. The practical side of me thinks that is too much money to spend on something that would get such little use throughout the course of the year.
There are a lot of things that I could get for him that he would be able to get a little more use from during the course of the year. He loves music, so I could get him some CDs that he could take to school with him. He also likes a lot of shows like iCarly and Spongebob Squarepants that are available on DVD. He also breaks his portable CD players frequently, so that is another option.
Still, I get a bit sad when he is home and he can't play Madden football or hockey because his game system no longer works. Help me out here. Which father should win out; the practical or the indulgent?
