All they want for Christmas

The annual making-of-the-Christmas-lists tradition has come and gone in our house, and it played out this year similarly to how it has played out in the past. Mallory cut everything pink and girlie out of the Sears Christmas Wish Book and said she wanted it all. Her original list was multiple pages long before she whittled it down to a manageable size. Liam, on the other hand, really didn't know what he wanted even with the Wish Book in front of him, and it took some suggestions from Mom and Dad for him to be able to compose any list at all.

Liam's big wish this year is for a Lego pirate ship. I had it on pretty good authority that Santa had requested this item from Sears back in the middle of November, only to get an email a few days ago telling him that the order had been cancelled. This upset Santa quite a bit and he fired off a nasty email to Sears saying he found it unacceptable that his order would have been deemed to be fulfilled only to be cancelled three weeks later, and what if he can't find the item elsewhere and has nothing under the tree for Liam on Christmas morning? Sears replied with an unapologetic mass email,which means that Santa will be taking his business back to the elves next year. Meanwhile, Santa sourced the Lego set elsewhere and though it hasn't arrived yet, he has a tracking number that at least indicates it's on its way (and residing in Mississauga, last he checked.)

Mallory's big wish this year is for all things Barbie. Actually, she has deemed that she wants the purple barbie and the Ken doll pictured here (actually, their names are Delaney and Nicholas - I think she will be pleased by that!) and this ridiculous thing called the Puppy Water Park, which is a swimming pool you can fill with water and a couple of plastic dogs that swim in it. No idea how much use she will get out of it but she very much wants it. And let's face it, Barbie wishes are easy wishes to fulfill - they are cheap and they are available everywhere. Santa is going to throw in an extra playhouse type thing that will hopefully give her more mileage with the dolls than the water park will. And, she is getting the Barbie Princess Charm School movie, starring Delaney and Nicholas, which I think she will be thrilled about.

Mom and Dad's gift to the kids is a Leappad for each of them, and thank goodness we had the foresight to order these in October because we paid $85 each for them and they are now going for upwards of $250 on eBay - they seem to be sold out everywhere. This year's version of the 1983 Cabbage Patch doll shortage.

Liam is still very much into Beyblades and will get a BeyLocker... some hockey books... Mallory has some more Squinkies and a Rapunzel t-shirt coming her way... and several more fun little things that will make for a happy Christmas morning.

If only Chad were so easy to buy for!!