MARCO ISLAND — Electronics seem to be topping the wish lists again this year with many island girls hoping for the iPod Touch brand MP3 player and many island boys hoping for the Xbox 360 game console.
While 2008 wish lists are similar to 2007 wish lists, there also seems to be something different in the air this year.
“I want the iPod Touch because all the other iPods aren’t that cool. It has the touch screen,” said Sheyla Angeles, 11.
Sheyla said the “coolest” part of the Touch is that you can see music videos and operate the iPod easily by just navigating on a screen.
When Islanders were asked their favorite things to get and their favorite things to gift, not all were quick to say.
Justin Shroyer, 41, a chef on Marco and resident of Naples, had to think a minute about what he wanted.
“To be able to pay my bills,” he eventually decided.
Shroyer said his 18-year-old son wants an Alien Wear brand laptop, but it’s going to be harder this year to grant his son’s wish.
Karlee Nantz, 8, admits she has a long wish list.
“I want an iPod and an MP3 player … an Apple store gift card, High School Musical digital picture frame … ,” Kaydee says rattling off the list.
Kaydee Nantz, 11, said her younger sister “divvied out who would get her what” in the Nantz family.
“Oh I want a skateboard and Heelys (shoes with a wheel in the heel). I wanted a lot of things for Christmas and I forgot those two, so my mom will probably have to get them,” Karlee adds.
The difference this year is that parents Mary Beth and Kirk Nantz set a rule that adults won’t be getting presents this year.
Kaydee and Karlee said they may be able to bend the rule a bit. Karlee said she has given her father relatively modest gifts related to nature and “he just loves it.”
Barbara Lother, 60, is a part time Islander, part-time Wisconsin resident. She set a new rule this year too, she said.
“I have two adult children who each have one kid. I told them, please don’t buy me anything,” said Lother.
When pressed to be sure she really didn’t want even one gift for Christmas, Lother smiled and said: “Well jewelry is not out of the question, especially if it really sparkles.”
She and other Islanders said it’s really not all about material things, particularly this year as some find cash and credit a little harder to come by.
Though she admitted perhaps she might like that one gift, the grandmother of two seemed most earnest when she said she prefers to give than receive.
“Don’t go over board” is the new Lother family rule this year, she said.
Kaydee, 11, also seemed to have a less materialistic Christmas spirit.
“I want a sleep over at my grandma’s house so I can see my best friend,” she said.
She added that she hopes to see Rev. Jonathon Loerop, the youth pastor at Marco Presbyterian Church, his two-year-old child, her grandma and a friend who will all be in the Golden Gate area around Christmas.
Loerop has been the youth pastor at Marco Presbyterian for about four years and will be going to Cypress Wood Presbyterian as the head pastor in December.
“That’s where my grandma goes too,” said Kaydee, seemingly optimistic that this Christmas wish of reuniting off island might come true.
While many may be scaling back to fit within budgets, not all children understand.
Shane Totten, a teacher at Marco Island Charter Middle School, said children’s wishes aren’t always within parents’ means.
“Oh there is definitely a difference between the two. Their wishes aren’t always our budgets,” said the father of three.
Totten said his son, 9, wants a Nintendo DS because his is broken.
But that’s not all he wants.
“He would love a new laptop full of computer games … ,” Totten continues.
He said his children, particularly the oldest, a nine-year-old boy, seem to be getting more inundated with commercials and advertisements of what a kid should want.
“It’s tough to compete with all the technology that’s out there,” said Totten.
The Nintendo DS, Nintendo Wii and PlayStation 3 remain popular, but the Xbox 360 seems to be this Christmas’s most wished for game console on island.
The Wii is popular among the young and the old because it is interactive and gets players off the couch, however many say the XBox 360 has superior graphics.
Jose Martinez, 12, says he has the PS3 but wants an XBox 360 because it “looks more real.”
Eli Smith, 12, agreed and also wants an XBox 360 with Halo games to go along with it.
“I have a PS2 but I don’t play it much because it has no internet connection,” Eli said of his older broken game console.
Kaydee said she wants two of this year’s popular items — a laptop and an iPod.
Shopping, on- and off-island
While many Islanders said they shop off-island for the bulk of their Christmas presents, some might be surprised how many of these most wished for items are available on island.
Christmas outfits and the popular children’s stuffed animal with a virtual online life, Webkinz, along with many accessories, are available at Island Kidz, 923 North Collier Boulevard.
MP3 players including iPods and the iPod Touch, children’s laptops, gaming accessories, cell phones and adult gadgets such as those to ensure cell phone reception at home are among the popular electronics available at Marco Island Radio Shack, 1000 North Collier Boulevard in the Heritage Square shopping plaza.
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