Men and Packing for Trips!!!

I'm not sure there's anything more infuriating as a wife/woman, yet I can't say after almost 15 years knowing my husband and 8 married I should be surprised:

I've been making lists and packing things for almost a week and a half now, trying to account for everything that myself, 2 kids, and the 2 dogs need (AND the husband needs too, really - he has a list too) for an extended trip with multiple special events to dress and account for, presents to make & give, etc.

The man? He's still waiting until the morning we leave to pack his stuff and completely is content to let me handle the rest.

The sad truth is while I "want" help I also want it done "right", so the safest thing for him is probably to just not be in the vicinity of the TV or Xbox while I scurry back and forth like a squirrel, sweating bullets to get this done!

Seeing him sitting down is like waving a red flag in front of the bull, folks!!!

Goldilocks Christmas Spending - What is Just Right?

How seriously sheltered or off-base was my childhood's American Christmas from the norm?

My parents are from a generation that doesn't buy much on credit. They buy something, and then it's like a new family member. They take very good care of things and even limp questionable household appliances and vehicles along well beyond the efforts of most. Case and point: When after 15 years of loyal service they finally bought a new car, they had it paid off in one year for an interest-free deal.

During my brother's and my teenage years, Christmas was almost always spoken about with the "heads-up" of "It's a small Christmas this year."
That's OK. We enjoyed the holiday with family regardless of the size of the "pile" under the tree. And I never really thought any more about it.

Years later, as I begin establishing my own family's traditions at Christmas, and confront our own budget limitations, I came up with a "comfortable" budget limit for this season. My children are very young still, so I guess money goes farther or I don't really know what other families do...

So what is comfortable? Like Goldilocks, I tried on a few budgets:

Too small - What we "really" could afford w/o using credit? $100/kid (yeah our monthly budget is that tight)
Too big - what I *wish* I could afford: $500+/kid

Our "just right" was around $200/kid and then about that much for each parent.

Now... this gives each kid a "bigger" gift and a couple small items. Like I said, they're young still, so it maybe goes farther. I had to shop around to get that bigger gifts at this price, but it did happen.

Talking idly with a few other moms, they're listing what their kids are getting (one family here)... UGGS, VideoGame System, Bike/Scooter, Barbie Dreamhouse, Designer handbags, iPad, Cellphone, etc, etc.

Am I that out of touch? One of these items easily blows one kid's budget out completely. 

How much do "normal" families spend for Christmas? I'm not judging, I just want to know if I'm way out of bounds here...