The Holiday season is tough. It really is. You are constantly barraged by a million different messages. “It’s the New Gotta Have It Toy of the Season!” exclaims one television commercial. “Less is More!” screams a second. Children who want more, more, MORE, NOW. Well meaning friends who add to the stress by listing the extensive list of toys that they’ve managed to acquire for Precious Billy, including those hard to find toys that no one has on hand. The very ones that you feel you need, in order to make the holiday complete.

I lived this very experience a few years ago. One of my daughters wanted a life size Barbie. I called around three towns, looking for the toddler sized doll. I haunted the local toy stores, I knew when the shipments arrived, and it took three attempts before I was able to secure two of the dolls. Two, you see, because I have two girls close in age and I couldn’t bear for one to have a toy that the other might want. Grand total? $200. They played with those dolls for two days. I lost almost a month of my life to those dolls, which ended up sitting in the corner for months, haunting me with their spooky eyes, until I finally trotted them out to the thrift store. A waste of time, a waste of money, and, most importantly, a valuable lesson in overconsumption that I wish I had learned before the season began.

Stop running around. Stop making yourself crazy, hunting online and in stores for the toy of the minute. You know as well as I do that next year, maybe even before a new Spring breaks, that very special “Must Have” item will be gathering dust in the cabinet, long forgotten and rarely seen. Like, ahem, life size Barbie dolls.

At this moment there are eight pages of toys posted on Zwaggle.  There’s everything from blocks to trains, baby dolls to computer games, with new ones added every day that are a lot easier and cheaper to get than that life size Barbie.  And why don’t you make another family’s holiday special by posting last season’s “Must haves”? Maybe this can be the first year that we can all destress and enjoy ourselves.