Psyllium, psychiatrists, psst

I have nothing more to say about running, particularly about my running, and really I just don't have enough to say on any one topic to have a specific blog.

My head is pulled 2 ways now.

1. The economy sucks, so Christmas is a frivolous expense
2. I have kids, Christmas is not optional

The kids want items approaching the GDP of a small country - really small, like Lichtenstein. But well beyond my willingness or ability to fund. What is a peavey amp? Why is it better than the one we bought last year at the pawn shop? Isn't the guitar loud enough now? And how is a distortion pedal different from a wah-wah pedal different from the knobby bits on the guitar that should have some function? Do philosophers ask themselves these questions, or just tell their offspring to piss off?

The middle child wants a Wii. Wii wii wii all the way home. A Wii seems kind of cool, but we already have a PS2 with Guitar Hero and Rock Band. And other games I don't play, but they seem to capture much of his time and effort. Unlike school, which captures his attention only when he is forcibly confined in a desk - now immediately in front of the teacher, as she has figured out his ability to do as little as possible while seeming quite diligent. I can see his future CV:

Serious rock drummer seeks low-input employment to fund video game habit.

Education
Some grade 7 done

Experience
Able to work under constant supervision, if nagged continually
Kick ass drumming skills

Does this sound like a child who deserves a Wii? Do any of us deserve a Wii, when 40% of the world's population lacks even a basic latrine? Yet somehow I can't envision my children's faces lit up with joy at the knowledge that mummy spent the Christmas money on outhouses for slum dwellers in the Congo.

I once seriously considered purchasing a sheep for a village in my husband's name. That was back when our daughter called him Daaaaaad. He's the only man I know whose instinct, when given the choice between finishing a beer and chasing a sheep, is to choose the latter. Really, in our neighbourhood it should never be a choice, it's not like we live in the country, yet he did end up chasing and tackling a sheep that had escaped its owner/future BBQ chef. And he did injure himself most seriously, and there was much laughing. So for a while anything sheep themed was funny.

Zoe has requested a chicken in her name for a village. Not as an alternative to a gift, as an additional one. My aunt has decided to help the poor. She is extremely rich, so this should not have been a recent decision for her. She has decided to help the poor by telling us all to buy our children livestock for the third world. I don't know what she wants us to buy her - wool sweaters instead of cashmere?

To Wii or nNot to Wii, that is my question.
Whether tis nobler to provide foodstuffs for starving children or, in the name of greed, purchase it?

I am now plagiarizing from myself. Exerpt from e-mail sent, expressing the thought that perhaps my children would accept poetry in lieu of gifts.

Ode to a 9 year old boy on Christmas morn.
Oh Westley, how the sun doth reflect off the snow and make thy cheeks sparkle. How the tears from the giftless tree gleam in the morning light. Oh, how thy does dentest the floor with thy rage, tis truly a sight to behold.