Am I missing the point?

So here was my big idea to save time, stress, and possibly money this holiday season. We primarily only buy for the kids in our lives. All of us adults agreed years ago to forego presents while the kids "bought" for the kids in our circle. But even this is tricky. I ALWAYS spend far too much on my own two, and usually stress, only to flop, on gifts for the cousins and friends... additional time and money wasted.

But it hit me as I was buying too much for Carson yesterday at Wal-mart. I could see about making some of the items in the cart actually from the cousins/friends. At first I thought I'd offer to buy the toys for them, and they (well, their parents) could pay me back. But then I realized how much simpler it would be if they would just do the same for me! They could stick our name on the tags of something they actually bought and picked out for their own kids... in whatever amount of money they would have spent on my kids.

And we can just pretend, for the kids' sakes, of course, that we all went out and picked out whatever it was, that which only the parent knows is perfect for them anyway, when it is gift exchange time with the family in question.

And since these families are all like ours, busy with jobs and younger kids, so far no one has turned down this idea. I know the point is supposed to be the spirit of giving to them, but what I feel when Christmas shopping is stress, pressure, and frustration. Yet buying for my own kids is so easy, especially when they let me know with each ad what they want, that I end up with too much.

It's my hope at the end of the holiday season that each kid ended up with something s/he really wanted or could use (whether I'm pretending I bought an individual item entirely or that I went halvsies with someone else--I soooo don't mind leaving that up their all-knowing, over-indulging parents); and that all of us over-spending parents can write off the surplus as what we would have spent on all those cousins and little friends anyway.

The real challenge, though, is figuring out what to get my mother-in-law. The suggestion book is officially open.