Christmas Gifts

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Claire

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Am I the only one who has actually done something about gift giving getting way, way out of hand? Now, granted, I do not have children, and of course, hence, grands.

For a few years I just threw my hands up and said, no one is getting presents, but we'll buy a hayride. Daddy and sis with musical instruments, a pinata, some KFC and some hootch on a picnic.

Organizing that became impossible. Now I just buy a huge box of food delecasies and pay Mr. UPS to deal with shipping.

My husband and I just quit. We now just plan something for a future day and call that "Christmas."

Anyone else just get fed up? And how did you deal with it?

I swear, buying presents was sucking any and all joy of the season out of me 15 years ago.
 
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Several years ago, Shrek and I decided on giving Birthday presents only...they are more spread out and easier to afford that way. My parents, my sibs, nieces and nephews all get Birthday gifts. Shrek's brothers, nieces and nephews. My step-kids and my Grandkids. That's 25 gifts throughout the year.

Shrek and I buy for each other out of our account. Pretty much whenever we want something. We were fortunate this year, in getting an inheiritance...it allowed us to splurge on ourselves.
 
Anyone else just get fed up? And how did you deal with it?

I swear, buying presents was sucking any and all joy of the season out of me 15 years ago.

We did.. Moving solved that problem about 15 years ago..:LOL:
What ever happened to sending Aunt so and so a thank you card?

Munky.
 
I made an agreement with family members I used to exchange gifts with. Adults don't exchange gifts. My sister and I used to agonize over what to get each other, often asking for hints. We saw the futility of all that and agreed to limit Christmas gifts to her and my young grandchildren.

We have a similar agreement with my children (they are adult). We exchange stocking stuffers with a dollar limit and the little guy (4 YO) gets all the big time goodies. Our kids don't need the expense of buying us gifts and we really don't need anything.
 
Thank you cards? My dd is the only child I know, heck the only person I know who has been taught to send thank you cards. We have been trying to get hubby's kids (all adults) to do a drawing so we just buy one lovely gift for whichever person whose name we recieve. But the kids won't go for it. So this year we just said that we will buy for all of the grandkids 18 and under. But everyone else got a batch of their favorite cookies. It meant a lot of baking but I love to cook/bake so that was not a problem especially since there were only about 6 types of favorite cookies in the whole crowd. And I think a miracle happened because for once some of the kids followed our lead and made gifts for the adults. That is as it should be in my opinion. Christmas shouldn't be expensive. It should be about thinking about others and what might please them, not about spending a lot to get them something that we can't afford. Stepping off my soap box now.
 
I have to say that, seldom that I do it, my sisters have their kids trained to send real thank-you notes. The only time I send gifts are real accomplishment times -- nieces and nephews who graduate HS or college, and when they marry or have a kid. Remembering a dozen birthdays and such was making me crazy, but if you send me an announcement of an event, I'll send something (my favorite is a US Savings bond; to me it says, "I believe in you and your future", whereas a check for the same amount says, "gee, what toy can I buy with that!") So when I do buy a gift, I do get a nice thank you card.
 
this has become a dicey subject in my family.

there's my parents, of course, and 6 kids. which means 6 bro and sis in laws, and thereby 17 grandkids.

a few years ago, my bro's (the eldest) wife, the hardass pennsylvania german/dutch member decided that no one should exchange gifts anymore, so in order to keep the delicate china veneer on the family's face, most of the rest of us went underground and exchanged small gifts. but not everyone. no one was sure what to do.
well, mrs. pennsylvania nazi, aka the sil, wasn't happy that some of us formed a resistance movement, especially with me as the very vocal leader that she was acting out of place.

this went on for a few years, and it became increasingly awkward as each year passed. who bought for whom, who was in, who was a nazi.

so, with the family splintering, she relented and decided that homemade gifts were ok, and made this little christmas lights in an old wine bottle crafty thing for everyone. well, everyone but me.

it's a shame.

i could have re-gifted it... :mrgreen:
 
this has become a dicey subject in my family.

there's my parents, of course, and 6 kids. which means 6 bro and sis in laws, and thereby 17 grandkids.

a few years ago, my bro's (the eldest) wife, the hardass pennsylvania german/dutch member decided that no one should exchange gifts anymore, so in order to keep the delicate china veneer on the family's face, most of the rest of us went underground and exchanged small gifts. but not everyone. no one was sure what to do.
well, mrs. pennsylvania nazi, aka the sil, wasn't happy that some of us formed a resistance movement, especially with me as the very vocal leader that she was acting out of place.

this went on for a few years, and it became increasingly awkward as each year passed. who bought for whom, who was in, who was a nazi.

so, with the family splintering, she relented and decided that homemade gifts were ok, and made this little christmas lights in an old wine bottle crafty thing for everyone. well, everyone but me.

it's a shame.

i could have re-gifted it... :mrgreen:

Froehliche Weinachten.
Proud needy people are more likely to willingly accept gifts, such as luxuries they can't afford, during holidays like Christmas.
 
We only give to our children (2) and their children (5) so it isn't a problem. Dh and I don't always exchange gifts.This year I asked him what he wanted and he said money. He asked me the same question and I said money, so we decided we would buy ourselves something we wanted after the holidays. I do give to my mother, but usually before or after Christmas.

I got a very nice and totally unexpected gift from our daughter this year - a mahogany tea chest with several different kinds of tea. That was NICE!
 
We stopped buying gifts for the extended family members a few years ago. We were all just exchanging gift cards and gift certificates anyway and it seemed silly at that point to so we just send Christmas Cards now. We just exchange gifts between the two of us and we get something small for the neighbors and their children and send flowers to Mom and Gram.
 
we tried drawing names except for the kids. didn't work. the way it is now if you want to give a gift or homemade jam (my daughter does that) i still spend the most on my great grand daughters. even there i only buy them one gift. or i make something that i know they want. i had a little extra money this year so none of it was a strain on the pocketbook. i think everyone in our family is understanding if someone else has had a tough year money wise. i love christmas and often wish i had lots of money so i could indulge everyone. i love them all so much and would miss doing it for them. each of us is different, if you don't truly enjoy the gifting, then don't do it.
 
Buckey, don't feel all alone. I'm the one in my family who said, "enough is enough". We have a quite large family, and all my nieces, nephews, and brothers-in-law want really expensive stuff that I don't even know how to buy, much less can afford it. We went to exchanging names, but after a few years of that, when my husband got a T-shirt that was a freebie one of my BILs got with an expensive pair of sunglasses he bought for himself, but Mom said everyone was hoping we got their name, roll of eyes. This has to stop. It isn't ba-humbug. It is I must be insane. Now I buy big packages of fancy foods (all my immediate family love really good food), and my family loves it. But if I still lived near them, I doubt I could get away with it.

This year my mom told me that Daddy can't take the strong, aged cheese I send. Ok, I'll go for a milder one. In the background I heard a sister yell something like H''' no! I want that cheese. Then I asked how the basil cheese went over. Another sis yelled, don't you dare stop that one!. So I buy several food packages, knowing my family as I do (heck, we love our food, and two sisters are marathon runners, so can consume tons of it), so I put a little of this and that in it and everyone is happy. Works a lot better than when I actually had to try to think of something for everyone. Guess I've just gotten lazy!
 
I put a cap on how much to spend. It's the thought that counts. I try to buy gifts from charitable organisations so that those less fortunate are also benefiting.
 
i say, 'tis better 2 give than 2 receive. i give when contending w/ luved ones.
 
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