Merry Xmas!!!! And I am broke

Every year, we go through this major capitalist holiday to drive the retail industry up and our wallets down! It's that time of the year again, it's Christmas! Despite my Mr. Scrooge impersonation, this is my favourite time of the year. I love Xmas but not because of the presents. I have not gotten much presents for Xmas even when I was a kid. Sometimes we get something and sometimes we don't. Because we were poor, you may not get the things you want. But it's ok. We didn't complain. Not if you want to live to see New Year's. But kids these days will get you where it hurts!!!!

They want to have everything on their list even if it's a 3-storey bungalow by the lake! Anyway Xmas is a great time for me to reflect on how I have been over the year. Was I good, was I bad, did I do what I supposed to do and how do I get paid more for doing less, next year.

So in true Xmas fashion, we trudged to the malls to buy presents for our young ones and our loved ones. I am not sure who started this present thingy for Xmas but I am sure organizations like Toys R' so-expensive-you'll-sell-your-kidney-as-downpayment are involved. I don't understand why they don't do it for Hari Raya or Chinese New Year where the WHOLE community gets involved! Every year at Xmas non-Christian parents are being suckered into buying presents by the capitalist economy and their kids. Yes, their kids!!!

Kids today know how to lay that massive guilt trip on you. We can't do that in my time. My dad would have just shot me and left me on the sidewalk to die and society would have agreed with him! Today, you can't turn the corner without some child psychologist chastising us in the way we bring up our children. What I realized though, my generation got A LOT of ass whooping yet you don't see us strapping bombs to ourselves and blowing innocent people up. You don't see us storming hotels and killing people. The next generation of new age, no-ass-whooping kids do. You do the co-relation and tell those child psychologist to take a long walk off a short cliff!

Anyway, my daughter Mandy is very into music, movies and musicals. At 7, she is now very into High School Musical and lately Mamma Mia. When I say into, I mean she watches it 5 times a day to the point where she can memorize the lines and ACT it out! So I definitely want to encourage her as I have no intentions of working into my 60s and I need a millionaire offspring to support me in my old age. I decided to buy my 7 year old an iPod Touch. It's the latest and coolest (don't even think about arguing with me on this one) MP3, MP4, wifi, PDA, thingy-in-a-palm-and-entertains-you thingamagic! Ok? If you don't know this, you gotta stop being a jungle family and move out of the Amazon Basin!

We went to the Mac Studio store at Low Yat Plaza to let her choose her iPod. You should have seen her face! It's gonna cost me but that look was priceless! Of course, after saying that I realized that I was STILL going to have to fork out RM1,200 for it and no one was paying me back. There she was, humming and happily hugging her iPod as we walked to Sungei Wang with my cousin KLY and Yee to get some game consoles for their loved ones.

There is this really cool guy who has this dinky little store but he has EVERYTHING for your gaming needs. All I want to say is that if you are shopping, you want my sister-in-law Caryn with you. You will get the best deals even if you don't know what it was.

So while my nephews and cousin were choosing their Nintendo Wii and PS3, I turned and realized that my first born was sitting there sulking a little. He is having his UPSR exams next year (yes he is 12 already next year) and I didn't want him distracted from his studies. So I told him I will get him his dream console the XBox 360 next year. He absolutely loves the XBox 360 but as a kid, when Microsoft comes out with the XBox get-more-money-from-you model, he will ABSOLUTELY love that too since he used to LOOVE the old XBox I.

So with all the present buying and his cousins getting the Wii and someone else getting a PS3, Mikey was just being super left out. I looked at him and he sat there mournful and gave me that large, pearly tears eyes look that just wanted me to wrench out my organs. So despite not having enough cash on me and not wanting to give my credit card to incur more charges, I broke down and borrowed money from my cousins and bought my son his XBox 360 for RM1,750. See how this works? But strictly speaking as a dad, both the iPod Touch and XBox are SOOOO COOL!!!! I have tried the Wii and that is pretty spectacular too! I am waiting for the PS3 to be unwrapped to see how that boggles the senses!

It would NEVER have worked with my dad! You could tell him what you wanted and he will grunt and he will decide if you get it or not. If you don't and give him the mournful and teary eyed look, he will kick your ass.....with a tyre iron! Mom was a little softer since she uses only 1 leg to kick you.

But it's Xmas and that's what it all means this season. It was the birth of our Lord Jesus, it's a season to give to less fortunate and it's a time to get suckered into being broke. So if you see a aerodynamic man by the road looking for handouts, take pity and give him something. I prefer XBox games.