12.19.08
Scrooges
I realize that Christmas is about much more than giving and receiving gifts — our gift giving is an allusion to the greatest gift of all, given so long ago. But I enjoy trying to find gifts for people. Gifts are an expression of affection or appreciation, etc.
So, it is extremely upsetting to me to be told (by both sides of our family) that we’re not exchanging gifts this year. On one side it was like “you guys don’t mind if we only buy gifts for the kids, do you” and on the other there was not even the formality of asking before a “decision” was made — we were just told we weren’t exchanging gifts. The crazy thing is that we haven’t bought gifts for every family member for years. For I can’t remember how long we’ve drawn names with a price limit set for the gifts to be exchanged (generally something like $20). But this year everyone seems to think they have to scale back. Why exactly? The economy here is just fine — no one has lost a job or seen a reduction in salary (except for me). I just don’t believe that there’s a single member of this family who couldn’t come up with $20 for a gift for someone else. Umm, I don’t think so. It’s all about priorities — maybe you eat out a little less or give up a little “blow” money as someone I know did to justify spending more than I thought was appropriate because of that someone’s generous nature. I was somewhat bothered to learn recently that one of the couples who were cited as justification for this no gift exchange on one side of the family were in fact purchasing lavish gifts for each other. Hello! If you are “broke” you do not buy lavish gifts for each other or go on unnecessary vacations (okay, so that’s just my opinion — I don’t approve of Vegas anyway — especially when you’re an impoverished college student living on student loans).
In my professional opinion (hey, I had the highest grade in my honors macroeconomics class in college), all this scaling back (in our families and in others I know of) is only going to further hurt the economy. As during the Depression, we actually need to SPEND (within reason) to “prime the pump” and keep the economy moving. Yes, you need to have a budget for your gift giving and you should not give more than you can afford to, but skipping the gift exchange that only costs you $20 or $40 bucks? That makes no sense. And, I resent the manner in which the decision to do so was made. Please, include us in the discussion and be willing to compromise.
And good gosh, kids get way too much crap at Christmas — they could definitely do with less “plastic” as Dave Ramsey says, if anybody has to do with less.
Don’t even get me started on the subject of celebrating Christmas after Christmas . . . that’s a topic for another post with lots of delving into the past.
Permalink Comments off