Greed

I am tired of people saying that my generation is lazy and greedy. I am not saying we aren’t, but I think every generation is greedier, lazier and all around more spoiled than the generation before it. That is just the way life works, and we do it to ourselves.
Christmas is a perfect example of it. When I was a kid I got a regular sized stocking full of socks, perfume and other essentials, I got a few outfits, and a few toys. My mother probably got less because she was born into a much larger family so I cannot compare my Christmas’ to hers. I can compare mine to my nieces and nephews and all the other kids in my family, though.
Christmas morning, at one of their houses, looks like a toy store threw up in the living room floor. I am not talking about before the mess is cleaned up, when all the wrapping paper, bows, etc are still covering the floor. I am talking about after everything is cleaned up and all of the toys are laid out in full view. It is crazy the amount of stuff these kids get.
My brother, sisters, friends and family are not wealthy, so it seems odd that they would be able to spend that much on gifts. Up until my generation started procreating, I had not seen so many gifts under a tree . . . well except for on television.
I know some of it has to do with the fact that we are not having as many children, at least not at first. For years, I only had two nephews and I could afford to get them a bunch of things, and so could everyone else in the family. Unfortunately, now that I have 5 nephews and 5 nieces I cannot see how we are going to be able to continue doing it. I said the same thing last year and we were minus a few kids then, but the Christmas the kids had was above and beyond anything I could have imagined. This year is going to be fun (I say this sarcastically).
I personally have limited my funds and the number of gifts drastically, but apparently I am the only one. I ran into my stepsisters step mom the other day and she was telling my how much she had already spent on the kids and what all they got, it made my feel real bad about my few items.
I guess I should have mentioned I have a large extended family. I have a stepsister who has a step family who buys for her kids, my sister has also been married twice so that adds to the kid’s gifts. I have a half sister who has a stepfamily and who has married a man who already had three kids. I have a sister-n-law with a decent size family and a few small children. So, I guess there are a lot of people buying for all of the kids, but it doesn’t make the amount of gifts any less crazy.
Maybe the reason I think it is a bit much is because I do not have children, but it seems to me that people are going a little overboard on the gifts, and the prices they will pay for toys that will be destroyed in less than six months is ridiculous.

(Side note. As I was writing this, my niece came into my office, and we started searching the Wal-Mart web cite for Dora toys. I am no better than the rest of my generation. :) )