'Tis the Season to be . . .

jolly. Broke. Cold. Enlightened. Pick one. Or add one to it.

Two days ago was Christmas. My wife and I decided earlier in the season to not go into debt to pay for Christmas. For the most part, we did pretty good on that decision. I think we only put about $150.00 on a credit card for the two of us and six kids. And that will be paid off the next time I get paid. The rest of Christmas was paid in cash. Thank goodness I got a year end bonus from my employer, or life would have been very bleak. So, what did we end up getting the kids? Here's a run down of presents:

* 1 Nintendo Wii, a few games, an extra controller, numchuck and some Wii points. I paid full retail (considering that a lot of other people were paying several hundred dollars above retail for the console) for the game console. I bought it at the end of October from Amazon.com. The Wii and assorted games went to my three oldest kids.

* Geo Tracks Grand Central station for one of my boys.

* A bicycle for another boy.

* Nerf "you'll shoot your eye out" dart guns for another boy. This one reminds me a lot of myself when I grew up as a kid. Scary.

* New denim pants (blue jeans) for the wife along with movie tickets and gift certificates to our favorite local Chinese restaurant. Enough movie passes and gift certs for two dates.

* A shirt, tie and a bench press set (need some free weights) for me. Its sad to say, but I'm getting very fat and flabby in my older age. I need to tone down.


The kids were absolutely estatic about their presents. I must admit that I enjoyed playing on the Wii as much as they did. I'm utterly amazed at how Nintendo revolutionized game play with their game console. I'm even more amazed at how popular their gaming console is. I thought after being out for a year that demand would finally relent. Well, not the case for the Wii. I was in one store a few days before Christmas and I stumbled upon newly arrived Wiis. That is the only time since their release that I've ever seen one in a store. Crazy. Anyway, the thing is fun to play. I played boxing within the Wii Sports with my son. My arms are actually sore from the game play. So if this fat guy can get some exercise from playing the game, then this thing isn't such a bad thing after all.