When I first started blogging - during the Wild West years - it was a time when bloggers were virtually showered with swag. Everything from champagne to deodorant arrived on my doorstep - unsolicited - on the regular, and every time my fellow blogger friends and I attended an "event", we were sent off with bags overflowing with moisturizers and chocolates and sunglasses and what have you. See, brands were still trying to figure out how to harness this newfangled thing called "social media," and the initial plan was apparently to throw their stuff at the wall and see what stuck. In other words, for the relatively low cost of wholesale product, they hoped that they'd get what amounted to free coverage (at least relative to what they'd pay for traditional media).

This was obviously REALLY fun in the beginning. Overwhelming, even. But honestly? Over time, another lip gloss in your mailbox just stops being exciting, and starts being just another thing you don't need. What this meant: I became the actual best gift-giver on Planet Earth, sifting through my stash for the just-right gifts for everyone in my life - gifts, suffice it to say, that I would never, ever have been able to afford all on my lonesome.

Now, the industry shifted several years ago towards a more traditional pay-for-play approach - as did my personal business model, wherein I only accept product from clients I'm contracted to work with or otherwise intend to review for the site - but the fact that I love giving my friends gifts: That stayed. There's just nothing like it.

I can be very Grinchy when it comes to my kids' toys. It's one of those "Well, when I was a kid..." things - because when I was a kid, you know what I had? A cabinet for my toys, and exactly the number of toys that could fit into that cabinet. Maybe it was the fact that we lived in a small apartment or maybe my parents were just Grinchy, too, but I'm totally of the school of thought that when it comes to toys, less is more. You spend more time with each one; you get more creative with how you play; you create actual relationships between yourself and your possessions, a la the Velveteen Rabbit (sob).

Which means that the overflow of stuff that my kids get every Christmas, what with the multiple Christmases celebrated at multiple locations throughout the country with multiple pockets of relatives makes me, like I said...

Grinchy.