I’m no Scrooge; I love Christmas. I love everything about it especially the presents. I get so much amusement at hearing how my little cousins are being extra good this year to make sure they’re on Santa’s ‘nice’ list.

Of course if you’re on that ‘nice’ list you’re likely to be first in line for this year’s most sought after Christmas toy: anything to do with Frozen.

I was in awe when I saw my 7 year old cousin’s list of Christmas presents. She had three categories: 1. If I’m good, 2.If I’m very good and 3. If I’m not good. To be honest I couldn’t see much difference between the presents in the very good category and the not good category, but one present I did notice was the Frozen Elsa doll.

Yes, the very doll that was advertised at €500 on Donedeal recently. She’s also the doll that caused GardáÍ to be called to a toy store in Dublin after a fight broke out between parents all desperate to get this year’s top Christmas toy. Luckily for one 7-year-old, Santa bought her toys before she had even time to categorise them and a very merry Christmas will be had in her house. Unfortunately for many other children they will have to ‘let (it) go’ to their dream of having their very own Elsa, and really Anna is the hero of that film anyway.

The demand for the Frozen doll this Christmas has intensified and for people who are planning to do the annual Christmas shop on December 8th it may be too late to get your Frozen merchandise. The cost is not what is frightening in this situation; it’s the fact that grown adults are willing to physically fight and risk being arrested to get a doll that in 6 months time will be lost, broken or completely forgotten about.

This idea of the most sought after Christmas toy is not one that has appeared overnight; a few years ago it was the Nintendo DS. Remember that? My two younger sisters wanted one and even did chores to ensure they were on the ‘nice’ list.

Fortunately and unfortunately for my parents a family friend managed to get one – the pink one – however how is it possible to explain that Santa loves one child more than the other?  For days, and what felt like weeks, those who no longer believed in the man in the red suit argued about what to do; give it one sibling or let another child have it and not cause a row. Sharing wasn’t an option as 21st century Celtic Tiger Cubs didn’t share.

When all hope was lost a shop announced a shipment of 20 Nintendos which would be in-store 9 am on a Monday morning. To my great amusement my father didn’t sleep that Sunday night and instead queued with a ridiculous amount of other people for the game console. He was 11th in the queue and at 6 am in the morning it hit him  that after 6 hours of queueing, if every person ahead of him bought two Nintendos he would have been left with none, not to mention the fact that he had taken the morning off work for this.

A Christmas miracle happened and my father was triumphant in attaining the Nintendos DS. Christmas was saved in the Brady house, and the Nintendos in question, along with Super Mario, are now lodged at the back of some cupboard somewhere.

My point? Every parent wants to give their child the most magical Christmas they’ll never forget, but put it in perspective there’s no point getting arrested over a Frozen doll. Some presents just aren’t worth melting for…