Christmas time already!!

Oh yes.. it is coming quickly! Seems like just yesterday I was complaining about the HEAT.. now it is getting colder every day, the kids have new winter coats and yes.. soon it will be time to put up Christmas decorations!! I used to hate the Holidays when I was younger but now that I have children, I love it! The part I don't love is not being able to buy all of the things that my kids want. I dont want to spoil them with everything they want but it would be nice to be able to get them a decent amount of things.. The money is not there, though. My 5 year old thinks that Santa will bring him anything he wants.. Thinks that price doesnt matter because it's FREE from Santa!! How do you explain to a 5 year old that it is not free.. or tell him WHY Santa didnt bring him what he wants?? I mean, he is the type that will really get his heart broken if he doesnt get what he asks for.. he will think Santa doesn't like him or something!.. When I was a kid, my mom told me that Santa sent her a bill for the presents and not to ask for a lot because she couldn't afford a lot. I told my son not to ask for a lot because Santa doesn't have a lot of room in his sleigh because he has so many other kids to give toys to! It's times like these when I really hate being poor. I see other kids that have piles and piles of gifts under the tree and we can't afford much at all for our kids.

What really sucks now is that most stores have gotten rid of layaway! I guess they think that everyone in the world has Credit Cards and can just charge it now and pay later.. Not everyone has a credit card! Kmart is the only place that offers layaway now.. so I think the other retail stores are going to be losing a lot of our business this year! It's so much easier to make bi-weekly payments than to have it all at once! This sounds like an advertisement for Kmart but it really isn't! I think they are very smart for bringing it back because a lot of people depend on that at Christmas time. I think Walmart made a big mistake by getting rid of it!.. Yes, Im poor white trash and I do shop at walmart! heh.