1 Mother 2 Another

Every year it seems we run into a problem
with Christmas and the girls’ wish lists. Last year, Maddie
was all over asking Santa to bring her a ballet barre – until
she saw a pretty necklace in a jewelry store, and that was all she
could think of.


This year, the troublemaker might be Cora.

If you recall, last year Cora only wanted
a real, live tree, and when she came downstairs and saw her own
potted spruce I thought her joy would light up the room. This year,
Cora saw a small Angelina Ballerina play set that she’s had
her heart set on; it makes sense, since Cora loves to dance and
watches the show regularly. The set is a small dollhouse, and I
warned Cora that if Santa does bring it to her, she’d need to
pack up her little toddler-friendly Little People dollhouse –
only one dollhouse needed, thank you. Cora quickly agreed and I
thought we were on our way.


During all of this, we’ve been talking with the girls about
what they each want to give their sister. Maddie has a very large,
lovely dollhouse with several rooms crammed with furniture which
she simply doesn’t use any more, while Cora is constantly
sneaking into Maddie’s room to play with it. Maddie has
already boxed up all the furniture and decided to give her
dollhouse to Cora for Christmas, a move that has really touched me.
Maddie’s overjoyed at the look she’s anticipating on
Cora’s face when Cora sees that fancy dollhouse set up in her
own room. For Cora’s part, she’s declared she wants to
give her Cinderella doll to Maddie. How much do I love that neither
daughter feels the need to buy something new for her sister?


So this is all well and good, so far. I’ve reasoned that the
Angelina thing isn’t REALLY a dollhouse, and Cora can get
away with both that set and Maddie’s magnanimous gesture. But
then yesterday I bought a very small, scaled-back version of
Maddie’s dollhouse for a child we adopted this Christmas
season, and Cora saw it and now, you guessed it, wants it
desperately.


It’s exactly like Maddie’s dollhouse, but much smaller,
and purple. Purple is Cora’s new favorite color, and this
stupid new dollhouse is all Cora can speak of. She’s already
told a couple people she’s going to be asking Santa for it.
So what is a mom to do? Give her something she doesn’t really
want from Santa? Tell Maddie not to give hers to Cora? Or break
down and let my 3-year-old have the largest collection of
dollhouses in our town?


What to do, what to do.