I'm a Goody-bag Convert

Yesterday, Cindy-Lou Who got an idea in her head that she was not going to shake. "Mom, can we make goody-bags for the Valentine's Day Party at school?", she asked. Ugh. The sky grew dim and there was a bellowing organ piping in the background, "Duh-duh-duhhhhhhhh".

I don't like goody bags. I don't like all the candy that comes in them, especially the hard candy that rots my kids' teeth. I don't like the little thingamajigs that get dumped out all over my coffee table and scattered all around the house. I don't like useless stuff. And in fact, while there are those who are packrats, I am one who tends to get rid of stuff. To my husband's chagrin, a little too much stuff. (Disclaimer: To all those reading this who have given my child(ren) a goody bag, I sincerely thank you and do not mean to sound ungrateful; it is simply that I am a scrooge).

So back to the request... I tried to put her off. "Well, we'll see," those famous last words. Well, I went to pick up Super-boy from school and came back to find exactly twelve (the number of children in her class) sandwich bags filled with things ranging from Halloween candy to old pencils with no erasers, pennies, candy canes and even an old whistle. At this point, I said, "Oh, Cindy-Lou Who, wow, you did a great job, but we really shouldn't give people our old stuff". Wrong choice of words. She burst in to tears sobbing, "But I worked so hard on them!".

Here is where mom shrinks to the ground and feels like she can't get any smaller. So what if I don't like goody bags! I was hearing all kinds of craziness come out of my mouth: "Honey, mommy will go to Target and get you new heart pencils and special Valentine candy. Maybe I can even find little heart bags!". The tears began to dry, and there I was at 8:30 p.m. with a cart full of miniature dinosaurs, slinkies, jolly rancher suckers, fun-shaped notepads, the list will only make you point and laugh at what a big schmuck I am!

But here's the thing: as I was buying all of this useless stuff for my little girl, I found myself feeling a little giddy. Why? Because I was making my daughter's day. Because, well, why can't we get carried away once in a while with the little things? Her joy was totally worth the inconvenience I felt at having to sift through this stuff. And to top things off, the first words out of her mouth this morning were, "I can't wait to do my goody-bags when I get home from school!".

That did it. I'm a goody-bag convert.