Ah, the Curse of Christmas is past, the guests - having arrived early and left late - are gone and the wrappings are in the bin. I'd thought the stories about parents buying masses of gifts were a bit of a beat-up until Der Tag. You could have wrapped a tennis court with the paper alone. Kids of 4, 2 (almost) and 6 months? I swear the gift-piles were larger than the kids - really! Never mind that most of it made no impact, created little interest and was discarded in favour of boxes and wrapping to play with. Babies do not need or benefit from this expensive junk.
On the other hand, Think Geek (unpaid plug) provided the usual range of tasteless and yet usable gifts for me offspring. The matching bathmat and shower curtain in white with 'Psycho' style footprints, splatters, hand-prints and streaks in a sort of blood red. The Star Trek 'red-shirt' t-shirt with Expendable thereon. Gifts to cherish and remember.
Studs Terkel does The Transition.
1 day ago
