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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]My mother is like this but I'm firm with her and just say no.

Also, we do Christmas in our home. Grandparents are invited but don't host. That gives us a lot more leverage. Grandparents don't do kids stockings. I explicitly tell them in the lead up to the holiday "here's the kids list, here is what we are getting them, if you want to do one big present or 2-3 smaller ones, that's up to you." More than 3 gifts and I'd pull them aside before the morning and say "this feels like a lot for each kid to get -- we don't want to se this expectation and also our kids are so fortunate and truly don't need for much. can we save some of these for a birthday or another holiday?"

I've also explained to them that giving kids a lot of gifts at once tends to cheapen all the gifts. If they get 5 gifts (say 1 or 2 bigger toys, a new pair of shoes, some books, and some art supplies) they will play with/wear/use everything they get immediately and for months to come. If they get 20 gifts, 90% of them will get forgotten in the heap within a day because it's simply not possible to care about that many items at once.

The grandparents want to give the gifts that get used and loved, so this has been a compelling argument to giving fewer (but better, not junky) gifts, even though my mom's tendency is definitely very similar to your MIL's.[/quote]

GRINCH[/quote]

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