Was what my wife did cruel/sad?

We still have the ornaments the kids made for us, and sometimes with us, and they are on our tree right now. Yes they are cheap and tacky, yes, they look like demented glitter dwarfs made them, but they are the ones that get the awwwwwww factor when people look at them. We have some expensive ones, too, but they don't come with the heart-warming story of little Joey's first Christams ornament. I hope you dug it of the trash and that it wasn't too damaged. Keep it, along with all the other stuff he'll give her and she'll throw away, and don't let her know. It will be your way of telling him how important something made with love, for someone you love, is in a family. You are going to have to be the one to teach him that lesson, because your wife is more about appearances, and less about love.