This year has proved to be the year of birthdays in our family. Not only is our third child’s due date on the same day as our son’s third birthday, but we have also had a rush of ideal gifts given. Starting out the year, my wife surprised me with the gift of a Nintendo Wii in February when most stores were still struggling to keep even one unit stocked on their shelves. While not the most expensive of birthday presents available out there, it has definitely been one of the most entertaining ones.

While I haven’t been able to keep up with the newest systems and games in some time, this has given me an opportunity to start reading and keeping up with this generation of consoles. I was sold on the Wii over the PS3 long before I had one, but since getting the system, it has only served to reinforce my initial thoughts. I must admit, though, that I have recently had the opportunity to spend an afternoon playing Halo 3 with a friend, and if I were to pick a second next-gen system to own, it would have to be the XBox 360, if only for that game. Back on the topic of the Wii, though, I have a wish list of games already. I have only been playing three games since I got the system in February (Wii Sports, Wii Play and Super Paper Mario), but these have been able to keep us pretty well occupied. What’s more, our five year old has been playing the Wii on a regular basis, and she regularly bowls a 170+.

Continuing on to a more recent birthday that turned out to be a winner: last week, I got my wife an iPod Nano for her birthday. After she had a day or so to learn how to sync everything and really give it a whirl, she made the comment that it’s the best birthday present I’ve given her. Now, that just goes to show that the most expensive presents aren’t always the ones that mean the most. I was able to find something that she could use and really enjoy during the days when she’s at the house with the kids, so it is going to give her more use than a lot of other things I could have gotten her. Now, all that’s left to do is wait until the next birthday comes along, whether it is the baby or my son’s.