Have you written your Christmas list yet?

We don’t have a chimney in our house at the moment*, which isn’t really a problem when it comes to Christmas, as no one seems to physically write a Christmas list any more. When they were smaller, Bee and Belle liked to write lists, and there was even cutting and sticking from catalogues, which when I was younger was definitely the cue to get excited about Christmas.

Not any more.

One Christmas, or it may have been a birthday, Bee’s list was in the form of a Pinterest board, and more often than not I’m now just presented with an email or collection of links in a ‘note’ on the iPad. You’re not fooling me iPad – just because you try to make your notes look like they are being written on actual paper, doesn’t mean I’m taken in. I can’t burn that up the chimney for Santa can I?

(Not unless I want to put a new iPad on the list.)

I’m waffling on about this because apparently, according to research from GAME, this week is the week for writing your Christmas list. It’s the week that in the past would have seen kids everywhere getting out their best felt tip pens and festive stickers, but instead now sees them browsing the Internet and sharing gift ideas on Snapchat.

Almost half (49%) of UK children, according to the research, will be starting their lists this week, and around one in three children now use technology such as iPads or mobile phones instead of the traditional pen and paper. A particularly lazy subsection – 19% to be precise – will rely on parents to take note of all the things they point at during TV adverts and during trips to the shops.

This last ones sounds familiar.

“Can I have that for Christmas?” Belle will say often, as we potter around various shops, any time after her birthday in August.

More often than not that equates to me buying it on the spot, knowing that I’ll forget about it completely five minutes later, resulting in a treasure hunt and sharp intake of breath in early December when I discover said items in various hiding places around the house.

The worst bit for me is when Belle asks for something and I don’t understand what she’s saying.

“Can I have the new Glaventrops Heliboms,” she’ll say. Or she may as well say, for all it means to me. This, along with the fact that teachers and doctors have started to look suspiciously young, is further proof that I am old, and not as down with the kids as I may have once been.

(I’m fooling nobody. I was never down with the kids. Even when I was a kid.)

If you are confused, GAME have put together this useful glossary, so you can at least pretend to know what you’re talking about. Look out for Gamer Claus too – a new Christmas character from GAME who’s going to be around to help you if you’re confused about a family related item on your child’s Christmas list. They have also just launched a Xmas list app, which could be handy for me for avoiding that early December panic moment when I realise I have bought 67 presents for Belle and nothing for anybody else.

Have your kids written Christmas lists yet?

*This makes it sound like we normally have a chimney, and we’ve just mislaid it temporarily. We don’t actually have a chimney at all. It’s not just lost.

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