astromeria
Moderator Emeritus
- Joined
- Aug 13, 2005
- Messages
- 1,375
I agree with this personally, but not everybody's the same. Plenty of people prefer money to a gift.Sheryl said:I just hate the idea that gift giving has turned into a black hole of people throwing money at each other.
I don't hate that--I love it! My hsuband and I always do this--neither of us is a talented gift-giver, and we both hate receiving stuff we don't like or use. We outgrew "gift excitement" when we reached adulthood--it's just not our thing. We also only do the Chrsitmas tree business when the kids come home for Christmas (every other year--and then I do buy a few additional books and DVDs or CDs, maybe a calendar for them in addition to the agreed-upon gifts). Also, adults in my family don't exchange gifts except with one's own parents, so I no longer buy Christmas presents except for my children (and son-in-law), my mother (always a service like concert tix or facials), some friends (usually I just do a lot of Christmas baking), and whatever DH and I agree on for each other/ourselves--often one gift for the two of us like something for the house or a shared hobby. We got a camera this year.Sheryl said:The other thing I hate is "I'll buy you this, and you buy me that, and we'll call it Christmas, but we won't bother wrapping a gift, or putting it under the tree, and while you're at it why don't you just pick it out, since you know what you want...
I let the kids know my budget for their gifts and ask what they want. Sometimes it's one gift for both birthday and Christmas, like the year I got a TV for my son and a computer for my daughter. My kids are 30 and 27, and we all prefer it this way. In my ex's family, everyone gives everyone else a pile of mostly useless knickknakcs, perhaps amusing when first opened, but then just junk that always made me feel guilty to get rid of.
Yup, CHristmas in the xNTP family (Myers-Briggs)--short on excitement, long on satisfaction My kids still have, use, and really enjoy everything I've given them for Christmas since age 22 at least.