Like David, I don't do christmas gifting. I give gifts through the year, as I see fit, when I am so inspired. The boys are quite happy about it, and actually, they are the ones who suggested it. We have enjoyed 5 winter solstice's this way, and it certainly relieves the stress of winter.
It is a holiday that is overated, over- commercialized, and IMO evidence of a nation gone nuts!
I just don't get why suddenly at this time of year we feel the need to recognize anyone other than the Savior. I prefer to recognize work well done, a need I can help with, or just to say "howdy, I was thinking of you today and saw this you might like" throughout the year. That way it is something I WANT to do, not something the marketer's say I NEED to do.
I hope this answers your earlier question to me Excat. Its the way we have chosen, works well for us, but I don't want to hamper everyone else's celebrations, and I wish you happy hunting for your gifting needs. good luck.
I like your style HAPe. I do that also frequently.
I also agree about the commercialism. I do love giving gifts, but I don't like being roped into it or guilted into it....and Chritmas shopping CAN do that if you're not careful. I do recognize the "spirit of the day" with ONE very festively wrapped gift and a very special meal.
I have to reiterate what Hap and some others have said. Christmas is a vile, digusting, contrived, stress-inducing atrocity. I don't want to play anymore. We've already raised rampant, unbridled, mindless consumerism to an art form, why not crank it up a few notches every year? sigh....
Last year was kinda the straw that broke the back for me. Wife was gone, daughter was away, and boychild couldn't have cared less about anything I tried to do. Then the only gift I got was a gift certificate for $50. from my mother - the same thing I had just given her, even from the same department store! So just what IS the point anyway?
The holidaze have turned into a months-long gauntlet to run. All sorts of things you "Have" to buy, places you have to be, parties with people you barely know, decorations you're supposed to put up, and all the while somewhere "The Little Drummer Boy" is playing softly in the background. And you look around the room and all you see is desperation in the eyes of everyone. They're all stressed to the max as well, and I'll bet, secretly wishing they could just go home and put their feet up. But, there we are, smiling and drinking some sickeningly-sweet concoction of milk, eggs and booze and wishing each other a Merry Christmas ("No Bull$#it, I really mean it, man!").
I think maybe I'll just stay drunk for the next few weeks and skip the formalities...
this year, it's buy.com for me! they've got this promotion going with google--if you checkout using "google checkout," they knock $20 off an order of $50 or more. the other day, i split some of my son's gifts into 3 separate orders, and saved 60 bucks! it takes a little time to figure out how to group stuff into $50 increments, but if i can save $60 on every $150 i spend, it's worth it. that's a lot of dough.
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HAPe4me
Like David, I don't do christmas gifting. I give gifts through the year, as I see fit, when I am so inspired. The boys are quite happy about it, and actually, they are the ones who suggested it. We have enjoyed 5 winter solstice's this way, and it certainly relieves the stress of winter.
It is a holiday that is overated, over- commercialized, and IMO evidence of a nation gone nuts!
I just don't get why suddenly at this time of year we feel the need to recognize anyone other than the Savior. I prefer to recognize work well done, a need I can help with, or just to say "howdy, I was thinking of you today and saw this you might like" throughout the year. That way it is something I WANT to do, not something the marketer's say I NEED to do.
I hope this answers your earlier question to me Excat. Its the way we have chosen, works well for us, but I don't want to hamper everyone else's celebrations, and I wish you happy hunting for your gifting needs. good luck.
Peace,
~HAP
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krys
I like your style HAPe. I do that also frequently.
I also agree about the commercialism. I do love giving gifts, but I don't like being roped into it or guilted into it....and Chritmas shopping CAN do that if you're not careful. I do recognize the "spirit of the day" with ONE very festively wrapped gift and a very special meal.
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dmiller
Didn't mean to sound like a scrooge or anything.
I'm usually alone during Christmas, so I don't buy gifts to ship off through the mail.
Nor are gifts bought for me, and sent up here in the mail either.
Now -- if I were going to be back in Indiana over Christmas, you bet I'd buy gifts.
I stopped getting and giving gifts at Christmas, quite a few years ago. :)
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George Aar
I worked on "black Friday" - as usual.
I have to reiterate what Hap and some others have said. Christmas is a vile, digusting, contrived, stress-inducing atrocity. I don't want to play anymore. We've already raised rampant, unbridled, mindless consumerism to an art form, why not crank it up a few notches every year? sigh....
Last year was kinda the straw that broke the back for me. Wife was gone, daughter was away, and boychild couldn't have cared less about anything I tried to do. Then the only gift I got was a gift certificate for $50. from my mother - the same thing I had just given her, even from the same department store! So just what IS the point anyway?
The holidaze have turned into a months-long gauntlet to run. All sorts of things you "Have" to buy, places you have to be, parties with people you barely know, decorations you're supposed to put up, and all the while somewhere "The Little Drummer Boy" is playing softly in the background. And you look around the room and all you see is desperation in the eyes of everyone. They're all stressed to the max as well, and I'll bet, secretly wishing they could just go home and put their feet up. But, there we are, smiling and drinking some sickeningly-sweet concoction of milk, eggs and booze and wishing each other a Merry Christmas ("No Bull$#it, I really mean it, man!").
I think maybe I'll just stay drunk for the next few weeks and skip the formalities...
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excathedra
well i can understand where you guys are coming from
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Tom Strange
so George... you don't like "Little Drummer Boy"???
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Belle
Well, George, there's always Festivus. for the rest of us.
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dmiller
Hmmmmm. To pole dance, or not to pole dance? What a dilemma!
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sprawled out
this year, it's buy.com for me! they've got this promotion going with google--if you checkout using "google checkout," they knock $20 off an order of $50 or more. the other day, i split some of my son's gifts into 3 separate orders, and saved 60 bucks! it takes a little time to figure out how to group stuff into $50 increments, but if i can save $60 on every $150 i spend, it's worth it. that's a lot of dough.
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