Too much stuff

This NYT blog post is more interesting than the usual Too Many Gifts rant.

. Things that once came as gifts, like clothes, new shoes or sports equipment, have become “needs” that we fill at any time. We want the children to read, so we don’t make them wait for the next book in a favorite series. We want them to exercise, so bikes of the right size don’t appear under the tree in snowy December — they arrive or are handed down as a matter of course every spring. When I was 6, my gifts would have included only a few “things to play with.” Now, my own children (who are 6, 7, 8 and 11) very rarely unwrap anything else.

This is something I have noticed in myself. I have trained my desires down and my income up such that I end up scraping around for stuff I want for Christmas. On the plus side, I rarely feel deprived. On the minus side, I never experience the joy of getting something I've yearned for.