Christmastime is a fascinating time to me. There’s just so much going on, and every year there’s some new, must have toy for the kids.

Now, I’m the kind of parent who refuses to buy all that stuff. Yes, my kids get toys, but if I’m going to have to fight for it or overpay on eBay for it, the toy can wait. There is no toy my kids need that badly.

There’s the new Elmo TMX doll, for example. No interest at all in getting that one for my kids. Fortunately, neither one has asked for it either. But if one wanted it that badly, they’d have to wait until the stores got it again after Christmas. It’s just not that important.

Ariel, of course, wants just about everything this year. We’ll be taking her to Toys R Us this weekend to help develop her wish list, which I’ll have her help me post on her website for her grandparents.

But looking around online it’s interesting to see what other people think are the hot toys. I love the looks of the Roboreptile, but maybe that’s just the geek in me. LEGO Mindstorms looks like it might be popular this year. Ariel keeps saying she wants a robot for Christmas (having a 4 year old’s notion of what a robot is capable of), so either of those would fascinate her, even though they are way out of her age range. In other words, she’s not getting them.

For those of you parents who have kids into video games, the Zoombox DVD projector certainly looks interesting. A way to free up the main TV, perhaps? Could be interesting.

I could see both my husband and my son enjoying the Manley Toys Blue Man Group Percussion Tubes. My husband likes Blue Man Group (even knows someone who quit them before they got famous - ouch!), and Gage is just fascinated by anything musical.

A good MP3 player is likely to be quite popular. Mostly that means an Apple iPod of one variety or another.

For little girls, a variety of dolls are popular right now. Baby Alive is perfect for little girls who love to play mommy. There’s a Barbie that comes with a small Tickle Me Elmo… apparently it even giggles when you push its tummy.

I could go on and on about the hot items available right now, but I won’t. Christmas time is about more than gimme, gimme, gimme. However, that’s the part that fascinates and repulses me before the holiday itself. Do your family a favor and keep at least some focus on the reason for the holiday, and not just the gifts.