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Post by Deleted on Dec 9, 2014 14:39:46 GMT -5
DH and I are practicing Christians and we do Christmas on our own terms. Right now there is nothing in the house that would indicate that it's December. We won't be buying gifts for each other or for other family members except that our granddaughter is getting $6K in a 529 account. As I noted in earlier posts, I'm in the middle of sending out Christmas cards with individual letters.
Next week we'll leave for a road trip to Myrtle Beach to visit my parents and will be in Charleston for a few days to visit my sister and her family. We'll make a trip to the Outlet Mall and stock up on socks, underwear and jeans. We'll go to church Christmas morning (a much quieter service than the pageant stuff the night before) and have dinner with my parents. And I'm retired so vacation days are no longer an issue. We're looking forward to seeing the ocean again!
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NancysSummerSip
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Post by NancysSummerSip on Dec 9, 2014 14:43:39 GMT -5
Let's put days off from work at the top of that list - LOL! We are closed Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and the day after Christmas (whoop whoop). My BFF and I have planned a spa day for the day after Christmas. I also love looking at Christmas lights/decorations. I enjoy all the Christmas gatherings (both personal and work related). I like some of the Christmas movies, music and live Christmas productions. We are technically open on the 26th, but always the day off. My boss is Canadian so he laughs when I celebrate "boxing day". It's the day we purge our house and donate a bunch of stuff. I like it nearly as much as Christmas. ![](http://images.proboards.com/new/wink.png) We celebrate Boxing Day, too. DH's family is from Scotland, and many of our friends are Irish, British and Australian. So we get together as a group and go out for pub grub and adult beverages. This year, everyone, including me, is off on the 26th, so we may be able to do a late lunch, rather than dinner. That would be fun. We could eat and walk the downtown and window shop, maybe have dessert at a different restaurant.
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Sam_2.0
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Post by Sam_2.0 on Dec 9, 2014 14:52:05 GMT -5
I would LOVE to scale down Christmas. WAY down. To me, I want to focus on the religious aspect, and I feel like a lot of the other stuff just clutters it up. I am thinking the kids will get just a couple of little presents, and DH and I probably won't exchange anything at all. I want to make some candy to hand out with the ornaments DD made and pass those out to friends & family this next weekend. Trying to get a 3-yr old to focus on being grateful and giving to others when all she sees are commercials for toys that she wants is really hard, but we keep trying. I think limiting the gifts she gets will help.
I wish we could do family exchanges just for the kids only, but MIL freaked out last year when we suggested it because she thought that my youngest BILs (18 and 16) would feel cheated out of the adult exchange, and they were too old to lump in with the kids. We all just trade around giftcards anyway so it's kind of pointless, but oh well.
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lexxy703
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Post by lexxy703 on Dec 9, 2014 15:11:22 GMT -5
I tried to get out of Christmas & sort of have. It got to the point where we were all just trading gift cards. Now we buy gifts for a homeless family the shelter assigns us. But I still give a gift (cash) to my nieces & get something for my mom. The first year we all agreed to no gifts my mom still gave us gifts & she was the only one with nothing to open so I felt really bad. At home I don't decorate.
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giramomma
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Post by giramomma on Dec 9, 2014 15:23:06 GMT -5
I would LOVE to scale down Christmas. WAY down. To me, I want to focus on the religious aspect, and I feel like a lot of the other stuff just clutters it up. I am thinking the kids will get just a couple of little presents, and DH and I probably won't exchange anything at all. I want to make some candy to hand out with the ornaments DD made and pass those out to friends & family this next weekend. Trying to get a 3-yr old to focus on being grateful and giving to others when all she sees are commercials for toys that she wants is really hard, but we keep trying. I think limiting the gifts she gets will help.
I think some of this is personality, though, rather than exposure to tv. My DS really only wants one thing a year for Christmas, and he's 10. He'd prefer to travel and have experience than have things. But he's also been like that. When he was 3, he wanted Dora Chutes and Ladders and popcorn from Santa. He also donates his spending money to school sometimes. And then tells us about it afterwords. My DD1 also like experiences. But, she's more high maintenance than DS. Like wanting foils and manis and the like. And I've indulged a tiny bit. ![](http://images.proboards.com/new/shocked.gif) It is fun. She's always been high maintenance though. Even as a three year old, having painted nails was a big deal to her. Fingers AND toes. DD2 has tantrums when we say no to toys. But, she's the normal kid. She doesn't really care too much for stuff. It kills her when she's separated from her sibs, though.
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Sam_2.0
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Post by Sam_2.0 on Dec 9, 2014 15:26:43 GMT -5
I tried to get out of Christmas & sort of have. It got to the point where we were all just trading gift cards. Now we buy gifts for a homeless family the shelter assigns us. But I still give a gift (cash) to my nieces & get something for my mom. The first year we all agreed to no gifts my mom still gave us gifts & she was the only one with nothing to open so I felt really bad. At home I don't decorate. My mom does this too. We say no gifts, but then she starts to feel bad & buys a ton of stuff for everyone. And then we feel bad because she didn't get anything nice, so the next year my sibs wanted to go and buy her something super expensive. Or we say we will do a $5 bad santa gift exchange and instead of bringing one present for herself she brings one for each person so that we each end up with two at the end. It's like she can't NOT buy presents for everyone, but then she complains about how expensive it all is. It's so weird.
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t-dog
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Post by t-dog on Dec 9, 2014 15:27:25 GMT -5
In our family we only do purchased gifts for kids. If you give a gift to an adult it must be homemade.
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Spellbound454
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Post by Spellbound454 on Dec 9, 2014 15:41:21 GMT -5
We usually do Christmas day with family. (they all sleep here)... and a Boxing day a day out....and a evening a party with friends....(and buffet all the left over turkey ![](http://images.proboards.com/new/smiley.png) ) As for gifts....I buy lots for the children....then a few bits and bobs to open on Christmas morning for the adults....Slippers, jewellery, books, perfume, aftershave Nothing too expensive. We buy a game to play after dinner...then usually wind up down the pub. Its a well tried routine and works well for us.
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Angel!
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Post by Angel! on Dec 9, 2014 16:23:43 GMT -5
Trying to get a 3-yr old to focus on being grateful and giving to others when all she sees are commercials for toys that she wants is really hard, but we keep trying. I think limiting the gifts she gets will help.
My kids pretty much only watch Netflix, with amazon in there occasionally. Had them watching a hulu show with me recently and I told them "next commercial you all have to brush your teeth". They were so confused and asked me what a commercial was, LOL.
Commercial free TV has been great for me as well. I spend way less money & time on movies because I rarely see previews. I couldn't even tell you what is in the theaters right now.
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lurkyloo
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Post by lurkyloo on Dec 9, 2014 16:35:38 GMT -5
I used to love picking out the perfect gift for everyone, and I was really good at it. Times have changed, people have changed (my inlaws seriously all went insane on me and I'm not really inclined to shop for them), and I'm starting to get antsy about being unemployed and not bringing in money. I'll buy a few things for my parents that they wouldn't buy themselves, maybe $300 total, and I have a small stack of toys for DS. DH is harder. I like buying him nice things, which involves doing the research to figure out what's right. I'd really like to get him an iPad, but the one I think I'd want to get him is over $600 with tax and I've already spent over $300 on him...not feeling very comfortable about $1K for Christmas gifts on one person this year, even if it is DH. I put together boxes for DH's aunts and uncles, as per tradition. DH will cover his parents' yearly concierge medicine bill (lifestyle support as well as Christmas gift; he'll send the check after Dec 25 so hopefully his mother won't see it, feel rich, and go blow a lot of money on gifts) and his sister requested no adult gifts, which is fine. I like decorations as long as they're put up by other people! We'll go get a tree this weekend and put lights and ornaments on and if we're very organized we might get the icicle lights hung outside. I'm hoping to bake cookies and maybe pick up a CD of carols, and I like doing Christmas dinner and watching bowl games for a week straight ![](http://images.proboards.com/new/cool.png) Mostly I like Christmas, in a low-key kind of way. DS isn't old enough to get really excited about it yet, so maybe we'll get more energetic in future years.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 9, 2014 18:18:32 GMT -5
I would just as soon skip the whole thing. I put a stop to exchanging gifts with anyone a few years ago. Just having dinner with my family is enough for me. The whole Christmas thing has gotten out of hand.
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zibazinski
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Post by zibazinski on Dec 9, 2014 18:21:39 GMT -5
I spend way too much and enjoy every minute of it. For too many years, I didn't have much.
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quince
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Post by quince on Dec 9, 2014 18:24:20 GMT -5
Husband and I are not Christmassy people. If it were just us (and when it was just us) we did nothing. I like the way the trees smell, though. Once I got a tree, but while I enjoyed it, I was more irritated by the work.
My mom LOVES Christmas, so we are going to my parents place now that we live near them (and have a kid.) she can enjoy the tree and presents and doing a stocking for the kid, and we can bring a couple of gifts and enjoy NOT doing most of the work. My parents enjoy gifts, so they each get two. My kid is getting one, my husband is getting one, just so my parents don't feel weird about being the only ones opening gifts. Really it's just stuff I would have gotten them anyway, but now they have to wait to use them.
My parents are pretty easy to buy for: they like stuff. My husband and I are not accumulators of stuff if we can help it.
We get whatever we want/need whenever we want/need it, so waiting for an occasion isn't really our style.
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busymom
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Post by busymom on Dec 9, 2014 18:43:00 GMT -5
I agree with Abby that Christmas is about the only thing to look forward to on these cold, dark Winter days.
It was completely out of control when we had to buy for every member of DH's extended family, but now we adults don't exchange gifts, & we make it about the kids. We go to the children's program at church, & try to see the holiday through their eyes. We drive around our community to look at the Christmas displays, enjoy baking the traditional goodies, & do a potluck with DH's side of the family. And, our family celebration doesn't have to be "on the day", any date close is good! ![](http://images.proboards.com/new/smiley.png)
BTW, I'm accepting donations for DD's college tuition bills, too! ![](http://images.proboards.com/new/grin.png)
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msventoux
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Post by msventoux on Dec 9, 2014 18:45:01 GMT -5
I've completely checked out of holidays. They were never special growing up, just stressful and something to be dreaded. As adults we kept up with pretenses on a scaled back basis until my mom passed away. Now that she's gone I'm not participating.
I've never wanted kids, but I think if I had them I would go all out for them. Not necessarily tons of gifts, but doing my best to make it a fun, magical time of year for them. Kids grow up soon enough, I don't think holidays should be a time of angst for them.
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JustLurkin
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Post by JustLurkin on Dec 9, 2014 21:21:59 GMT -5
Christmas was always magic when we were kids. ![](http://i239.photobucket.com/albums/ff155/JiminiChristmas/smileys/rudolph5b.gif)
My son doesn't understand the whole gift-giving season, so I don't go all out. I wish people wouldn't ask me what I'm getting him--um, we're spending the day at his grandparents and he will help with dessert. Ohhhhh <insert disappointed tone>. Maybe now that he's 18 people will cut it out. Clothes, he's getting clothes--and he doesn't understand name brand so I get slack with that too.
I do get my immediate family members--dad and brother--something nice, usually needed. I am so excited to give my dad a leather jacket this year! My mom and I usually spend $100 on ourselves (for once) and it has to be something nice--not like "I paid the water bill." Sometimes I wrap mine and put it under the tree and act all excited when I open it "Oh, Mommy, it was just what I wanted!" ![](http://i239.photobucket.com/albums/ff155/JiminiChristmas/smileys/snowman.gif)
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skubikky
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Post by skubikky on Dec 10, 2014 7:56:05 GMT -5
It's not that I don't like Christmas, I don't like the over commercialization of Christmas. I see/read about so many people getting stressed out about the holidays and buying the right gift, or worrying about offending someone. I just don't get it. Christmas or Hannukah or Kwanza or whatever holiday you choose to acknowledge is what YOU and your family make it, not what Macy's says it should be. If this holiday season sparks some joy and festivity for people that's great. It's as individual as each person is. I have no idea what your beliefs/faith are but for a lot of people this is a truly joyous season. If it doesn't resonate with you, fine. It's up to you to do what you choose. The "I just don't get it" comment? Really? You have no clue what might be appealing about this celebration? None? Do you feel some need to stand in judgement on those who enjoy it because it violates some moral standard that you hold? That's on you, no one else.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Dec 10, 2014 9:23:37 GMT -5
Kind of agree on the gift giving, I hate having to get gifts for a few adult family members, my brothers and I have long had a pact where the gifts we give each other are that we don't have to get each other gifts, I wish that was true for other adult family members but a few would have a cow.
I'm ok with Santa and giving children gifts, though not getting them many trinkets they won't play with but pooling money if necessary to get them something they actually will want/use.
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TheOtherMe
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Post by TheOtherMe on Dec 10, 2014 22:37:24 GMT -5
I am not a religious person so that is not what Christmas is to me. After watching DS's annual spending of thousands of $ on gifts for her adult children, including them going upstairs while she puts out 4 ft Christmas stockings for them filled to the brim with gifts, I can't do it. She just took them to Disney World, yet she's still doing the whole Christmas extravaganza. I did finally get through to her that I don't need anything. I had bought a gift for her that I do think she will like, but this will be the last year we exchange gifts. I enjoy buying gifts for my great nephew and niece. This year, I was asked to contribute to some high $ items for a combined November birthday/Christmas present. I can't have them have nothing at Christmas so I bought a couple of books for each of them since their teacher says they both need to work on reading. I got Frozen books for the niece and joke books for 4th graders for the nephew. His parents will be ready to kill me after he memorizes the jokes. I will be giving my 90 year old dad a gift card to Dairy Queen as he goes there every Saturday and Sunday to eat. I know he appreciates that and it will get used. Mom passed away this year. Christmas was her favorite holiday. She wasn't well last Christmas. DS had dad and I come to her house to eat in the evening. Then we all went to mom and dad's place with their gifts. By New Year's Day, mom was in hospital in critical condition, so that was the beginning of the end. So far my decorations have consisted of a garland on my door and door mats. Totally feeling bah humbug this year. I've watched the two kids in my life never play with their toys after a day or two after Christmas. They have way more stuff than they need or use. It's ridiculous. They even have a room in the basement for unused toys. When we were kids, we had a tree. Gifts amounted to one nice clothing item, a nice non-clothing item and maybe one or two other things. I always gave my dad Old Spice. When I became an adult, he told me he never liked Old Spice. ![](http://images.proboards.com/new/wink.png)
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Dec 10, 2014 23:27:05 GMT -5
I love tree and lights. Never have other good excuse for hanging colored lights around. I see what comes when I am 70. Maybe then I am sick of tree?
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mamasita99
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Post by mamasita99 on Dec 11, 2014 6:13:28 GMT -5
My 11 and 15 year old kids still love the decorating, baking, and special events of this time of year. I want them to feel that joy, for as long as they can, after all, they are still children. So I make sure to keep our celebrations manageable and peaceful, and I really try to go with the flow of the season.
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dancinmama
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Post by dancinmama on Dec 12, 2014 11:58:13 GMT -5
Our family decided to cut down on Christmas commercialism by drawing names among the sibling adults. DH gives and gets one $50 gift and I give and get one $50 gift. We've been doing this for several years now and it has been great. In addition we buy something for DS that he needs and wants. Last year it was new tires for his car. This year it's new bedding - a comforter set, sheets, and new pillows. Being a mom, I also bought him some new socks and t-shirts. ![](http://images.proboards.com/new/wink.png) My mom is the only living parent. Part of her annual Christmas gift is paying for her cell phone. In addition, I get her something in the $100 range - usually a Costco gift card or a donation to her favorite charity.
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