Our First Real Tree

Our tree arrived, courtesy of the local Scouts troupe, on Saturday and we have really enjoyed the familiar smell of pine.  The kids were jumping up and down excited about having a real Christmas tree and have enjoyed putting on (and taking off and putting on again) the makeshift Christmas ornaments I bought at Woolies and made out of cardboard.  The homemade ones seem to be their favourite as they have animals on them.  It's nice to have this tall, regal reminder of Christmases at home in the corner.  A little piece of Canadiana in our sunny paradise.
Cian seems to really understand Christmas this year and is getting very excited.  His Christmas list is as follows:

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Bicycle
Legos
Dragons (Toothless)

Emily's list is very similar because she basically wants to be exactly like her brother with a few key differences.  Here is her list:

Hamburger
Bicycle
Doggies
Animals
Cookies
Platypus (and one for Cian too)

I went Christmas shopping for the kids today and I was surprised at how much of an agenda I had about it.  I wanted to get Cian TMNT but didn't want to get action figures because they were too violent and he already is a little predisposed to active ninja-kicking and needs no encouragement on that matter.  I found a super cute TMNT Michaelangelo pillow pet that I think he'll love and that won't encourage him toward violence.  Emily likes dolls and animals and I wanted to get her a new doll and decided on Doc McStuffins because a) she has a job and b) she's a different race than Emily and I want her to see diversity early on.  My parents got me an Orange Blossom doll when I was a kid and it was one of my favourites and I like looking back on those pictures and seeing how progressive they were that they didn't require me to have a doll that looked like me.  I want that for Emily too.  And I want her to have a doll that doesn't just look pretty as if that's all she can do.  Doc McStuffins takes care of animals and sings and likes a lot of the same stuff Emily likes (although I'm a little worried it's a bit heavy handed for her doctor mom to get her a doctor doll).  I also got Emily the car """Boy""" Lego (I tripled the quotation marks cause I believe it's that stupid) because she likes the ones with wheels and because I don't think colours that are not pink/purple are inherently "boy".  I am still amazed at how much agenda I had around buying Christmas presents.  I feel like it's a bit too activist to be so up in arms about toys but Keith said that if I think the kids will like what I got them and I am trying to form them into well-rounded caring people than it's ok.
I worry about being too heavy-handed as a parent but at the same time if we don't expose them to these things than who will - it's kind of our job.  Sometimes I need to remind myself that I needed to be taught the stuff I now know about the world - that it did not fall divinely from the sky - and, in turn it's my responsibility to teach my kids about these important topics.  They need to learn from me that Lego is not a gendered toy, that sharing and giving is the true spirit of Christmas and that Santa is pretty cool but so is Jesus.  My parents taught me those things and though it might seem passe those are the things that I want my kids to learn too.