Christmas is coming and I have a two year old and a five year old. My wife and I are pretty stumped about what to get our kids for Christmas. The two year old is easy; he doesn't care, will be thrilled with a ball, and just happy to be included.

The five year old is very down to earth and grateful for anything, but he already has everything he needs because up to now we've tried to be smart about buying him things that will last and give him good enjoyment mileage. He has plenty of Legos, an assortment of figurines (farm animals, fantasy creatures, little play houses, action figures, cars.), plenty of outside balls and whatnot. He also doesn't need consumable stuff (has plenty of candy from Halloween, crayons, coloring books, crafty supplies)

He doesn't need more stuff, but we still want Christmas morning to feel special and exciting and we want him to have a good "Santa came!!!" experience. I like the idea of giving experiences like tickets to Disney on Ice or a voucher to an ice cream shop, but that just doesn't have the same effect for a five year old, cause he can't hold it and it's really just a promise for the future.

Any advice or suggestions would be really appreciated!

Thank you all and much love from me to you!

Posting this in the Simple Living community a well, but thought I might a different perspective and additional input here.

Christmas is coming and I have a two year old and a five year old. My wife and I are pretty stumped about what to get our kids for Christmas. The two year old is easy; he doesn't care, will be thrilled with a ball, and just happy to be included.

The five year old is very down to earth and grateful for anything, but he already has everything he needs because up to now we've tried to be smart about buying him things that will last and give him good enjoyment mileage. He has plenty of Legos, an assortment of figurines (farm animals, fantasy creatures, little play houses, action figures, cars.), plenty of outside balls and whatnot. He also doesn't need consumable stuff (has plenty of candy from Halloween, crayons, coloring books, crafty supplies)

He doesn't need more stuff, but we still want Christmas morning to feel special and exciting and we want him to have a good "Santa came!!!" experience. I like the idea of giving experiences like tickets to Disney on Ice or a voucher to an ice cream shop, but that just doesn't have the same effect for a five year old, cause he can't hold it and it's really just a promise for the future.

Any advice or suggestions would be really appreciated!

Thank you all and much love from me to you!

My salutation is belated, because I just found this community. Seems a little sleepy here, but maybe we can get some conversation going. I'm a solitary practitioner and would enjoy a bit of company.

I'd love to hear what the Equinoxes mean to you in your faith system and how you express it. I don't personally ascribe to nameable form of paganism, but my personal practice is largely nature-based and draws a lot of principles from modern druidry and Buddhist philosophy.

I've seen through my reading that often the equinoxes are recognized and honored to a lesser degree then the solstice's, but for me they are very special, because I feel like I can see them in nature more strongly; they are times of change. In the spring equinox it's a joy to watch the natural world reawaken from its winter slumber, but the autumnal equinox fills me with feelings of nostalgia, of a summer cycle completed, a time of rest and coziness, warm fire, reflection, and optimism. But, it's also the beginning of a time of hardship, of death, and of perseverance after which we will welcome and cherish the warm breeze of spring, and the cycle continues.

No idea if anyone will reply, or even ever see this. But whether this is seen by hundreds or just you, I send you my love and wish you a very happy autumnal equinox!

Humans are creatures of habit. So often we do things a certain way without really thinking about why we do it or why we do it that way. It's just the way we've always done it. It's so nice when we have those aha moments when it dawns on us there may be a better way to do something that removes complexity from our life.

Here are a few of mine:

1. It occurred to me that it takes the same amount of time to prepare for the day whether I do it the night before or the morning of, And for me warnings usually feel more crunched for time than evenings. So I started doing everything I could for the next morning the night before. Laying out my clothes, fixing my breakfast, laying out my morning hygiene items, packing my bag for work, etc. This ha really decompressed my mornings and given me less decisions to make first thing.

2. I realized that having notifications for email on my phone spurred me to react to them immediately, Even though the emails I receive rarely require immediate action. I disabled them all together and put a weekly calendar reminder to sit down at my computer and review my emails.

3. Picking what to cook for supper was always a chore every single day. Figuring out what we were in the mood for, do we have what we need to make that, etc. To eliminate this daily aggravation, I made a list of every supper I know how to cook and numbered them. Once a month I sit down with my list, roll a dice for everyday, and put down what's for supper each day So I don't have to think about it for the rest of the month.

What are some of your aha moments?

Saw this awesome little guy on the sidewalk and almost stepped on him because of his camouflage. so glad I didn't! I've never seen one before and I think its a leopard moth. if you look closely, some of his spots are a beautiful royal blue instead of black :) (Piedmont North Carolina).

For me simple living is tied closely to my love of nature. I found that Emerson's Nature is available for free online. Been working my way through it slowly (some sections take a while to digest), but I've really been enjoying it and I hope you do too!

They're are so many great quotes from this one after another. What is your favorite(s) and why?

It is interesting to me that very few people want clutter in their life (both tangible and intangible), yet it tends to manifest insidiously even for vigilant minimalists and requires the periodic clean-out to bring a space back into the desired state.

What is your insidious clutter that constantly tries to creep in? How do you manage it?

For me it's papers (bills and stuff waiting to be scanned) and children's toys (family just loves to buy my kids more and more junk). For my wife, it's stuff like lotions, shampoo, soaps, etc.

Our basic strategy is to give all this kind of stuff a designated amount of space they are allowed to take up, and once that space is full, stuff must leave before new can come in. We have a folder for mail/papers, bins for the kids toys (that have to be put away each day), and a basket for my wife's products.

I love my garden. I'm not a master gardener, there are weeds everywhere, and a lot of times my plants don't produce well, but it's mine. (I'll post a photo when I can figure out how to)

I love how much slower time passes in the garden. The sounds of bees buzzing, seeing the plants grow, feeling the wind and the sun. I love the connection to nature and the flow I feel when caring for it. family and friends like to poke at how I could do things "better" if I used power equipment or pesticides/herbicides, but that's not the point. I'm not trying to "do better" or be more productive. It's my simple place where I can disconnect from everything and do things my way.

What are your outlets or routines that give you peace and tranquility?

Not strictly related to simple living, but I just wanted to put this out there as reminder, because it is so easy to forget or to be persuaded otherwise. You are enough just as your are.

Don't be pulled into the illusion that life is complex and that there is a high bar to measure up to. We all have faults, vices, and setbacks. But every day is a new day and you're still here. The sunrises, the birds sing, and the earth turns. You're still you, and that's enough.

Love yourself and love others. Be kind to yourself and others. Be compassionate to yourself and others. You are enough.

Hi everyone! Glad to be here on the new Lemmy community ☺️

I've been mostly out of the gaming scene since about 2012 due to grad school, starting a family, etc, but am wanting to get back into it. I love games like Zelda Link to the Past and had a lot of fun recently playing Hyperlight Drifter and Tunic (though I prefer 2D over 3D). I'm not looking for a rogue-like and rogue-lite style game. I'm leaning towards giving Crosscode a try, but am open to suggestions and would love to have a list to work my way through 😁. I'm perfectly happy playing games that came out last year or 30 years ago.

Does anyone have any recommendations for good PC games that scatch that 16bit action RPG Link to the Past itch?

Thank you all in advance and I appreciate your time and input ☺️.

UPDATE: wow! Thank you all so much for all the suggestions! I'll check all these out. Y'all are great 😃