Mom, come quick! my daughter shouted frantically from the living room. I dashed in, expecting to see blood. Instead, she pointed to a television commercial and said the words I dread, Mom, I want to get that. I sighed and gave my usual answer. You can put it on your Christmas list.

It seemed like the Christmas toy commercials started even earlier this year. Ive tried to explain that the commercials always make toys look so much better than they really are. Unfortunately, when you open a box, there isnt a party in there complete with music and lots of friends. Normally, the more exciting something looks on television, the bigger the disappointment when we open the box. No party. No exciting music. Just lots of little plastic pieces waiting to be lost.

If it were up to me, Id abolish all toy commercials on television. Then Id take all those advertising geniuses and reassign them to develop commercials that would make our kids want to eat vegetables. How about a commercial that shows a party starting when the carrots and broccoli are served? Why not a commercial with dancing tomatoes and cucumbers?

Until that happens, Ill just have to turn off the television as much as possible and remind my daughter that she cant have everything she puts on her Christmas list. The Christmas list is a major project. It gets revised and changed and prioritized over and over again. I only wish my daughter spent that much time and energy on her school assignments.

After the final Christmas list revision was finished, we mailed it to Santa and headed to the mall to give him the highlights. (There wouldnt be enough time to hear the full version.) The line at the mall to see Santa slowly moved as I anxiously checked my list of the many other stops I had to make. Finally it was our turn. My daughter and I have already discussed the fact that the Santas in the malls are just Santas helpers. Though the Santa that we saw that day, made me wonder if Santa himself hadnt taken a day off from the North Pole. The man sitting in the throne in front of us truly looked like a jolly old elf and, when he laughed, I swear that his belly shook like, well you know

My normally talkative daughter suddenly lost her voice and managed to whisper a few important items from her list. We thanked Santa and got our too-expensive-but-too-cute-to-resist picture that Santas elf talked us into.

As we headed into a store, my daughter said that she had forgotten to say something to Santa. Waiting on line again sounded worse to me than eating Christmas fruitcake but my daughter was adamant. I looked at my list of presents to buy and saw a great way to get through the rest of the shopping trip with a minimum of whining. I said if we could get the rest of the shopping done quickly, we would go back to talk to Santa again.

While visions of sugarplums and cookies that I havent had time to bake danced in my head, we got back on line for a second time. When my daughter finally got to Santa, I wearily waited to hear what heavily advertised doll she had forgotten to mention the first time she talked to him. Instead she said, I love you, Santa. And dont forget to wear your seatbelt in the sleigh. Then she gave him a big hug and jumped off his lap.

That was worth the wait. Merry Christmas.