The Fur Real Pony Saga

For three years Kate has asked for the exact same thing for Christmas - a Fur Real Pony. That's all she wants, it's all she's wanted. A Fur Real Pony, for those who have never seen one, is a horse that interacts with you, looks at you, neighs at you, eats a pretend carrot and makes the little munching sound. However the horse, depending on where you look retails for anywhere from 250 - 350$. This is not just a TAD too extravagant for our kids - it's, in our opinion, WAY over the top. I am a person who easily talks myself in or out of just about anything, and spending an obscene amount of money on a toy that will last a year, maybe 2, just can not be justified.

2006 Year 1 - Kate asks for the Fur Real Pony and we make the decision we will not buy it unless we find a significant sale...then we find it on clearance for $199 at Sam's Club, and bought it - great sale, she will only get two very small additional gifts from Santa that year.

The very day we buy it, we picked Kate up from preschool to find out that she had gotten in a MASSIVE amount of trouble that day, and she didn't just get in trouble, she got in trouble for the one thing I absolutely will not tolerate, excluding someone. It seems a little girl sat down next to her for lunch and my little Kate, then 4, told her she was NOT allowed to sit next to her for lunch - and made the little girl get up and move. Very little would upset me more then this.

I was horrified, especially because Kate and I had talked about this issue over and over and over again because her little girlfriend constantly was doing this to other kids. On the way home, I asked Brian to return the horse (which, to clarify, Kate had NEVER seen), because I just didn't feel like her behavior deserved such a large and (in our family) extravagant gift. When we got home, after a long lecture from Mommy while Daddy was out returning the gift, Kate finally got out her side of the story.

Cue Mommy guilt: Kate had been very rude to this little girl....because her nose was green and snotty and she was coughing and sneezing and I've always told her NOT to sit near kids who look even remotely sick (you know, chronic illness, sick easily - that whole thing).

By the time I figure this all out, and decided I had completely, and totally over reacted - Brian had returned the horse, and as the LAST ONE at Sam's Club, it had been bought by someone else. (Don't get me wrong - Kate was rude to this little girl, but it my mind, it was different because her motives were correct, even if her delivery was really bad and in need of correction).

2007 - Kate asks Santa for a little sister, a plane of her own, and a pony for the backyard - clearly she believes this man is magical. I explain that Santa can not bring a little sister, a plane or a real pony for the backyard. She then decides all she wants is the Fur Real Pony (as a side note, my girlfriend's niece once asked for a Real Fairy, or Harry Potter - not the book, the real boy for Christmas - I guess girls are hard to please early).

This year, no Fur Real Pony comes for Kate. I don't see it anywhere on sale, and I can't justify that kind of money. After opening all of her gifts from Santa, she cries, because there is no pony for the second year in a row. I'm equal parts pissed (doesn't she know how flipping expensive this toy is? How ungrateful.) and bummed (I want her to have a great Christmas, and she's right, she has not gotten what she really wants and Christmas should be magical at least once in your lifetime). Kate tells me Santa never gets her what she asks for. Cue Mommy guilt two years in a row. 2008. Christmas lists consists of Fur Real Pony, Digital Camera, Pink Uno, Horse Stuff, and Pictureka.

Do we get the pony? The economy sucks and it's still $299. There is no back and forth on this decision. She can not have a $299 dollar toy. Unless I find it for dirt cheap, she's not getting it.

We walk into Costco one day and find it for $179. We make the decision to buy it and then talk ourselves out of it, we both continue to feel guilty at the thought of spending that much money, especially because we like to keep each child to about $125.

Despite how badly we want this for Kate, and know how badly she wants it, we decide not to get it. Which, makes me cry. I want her to have that one gift she remembers for the rest of her life (like my Cabbage Patch doll was for me many moons ago). I just can not justify close to 200 for a toy in this economy. I try to prepare Kate for the idea that we don't always get what we want.

Then... I walk into Toys R Us the week before Christmas. I stop there on a lark with a girlfriend after dropping the kids at school. There is 1 Fur Real Pony sitting in the front of the store. On clearance. For $99.98. I stood at it, holding the box so no one else could get it until my girlfriend came over to help me pick it up and put it in the cart.

A little girl got her wish this Christmas.