Is it time to ban Christmas presents? Blog and poll discussion

awakelingg

Let's get down to brass tacks. Xmas has NO biblical support whatsoever. We are commanded to remember Jesus' death NOT His birth. All born again christians should reject xmas completely it is not of God it belongs to the world. I have a newspaper front page from a few years ago reporting a poor chap murdered for his xmas presents. He died for a lie, and one that christendom is perpetuating. Disgraceful. You cannot put Christ back into christmas 'cos He was never in it in the first place, yes, obviously He was born but He is NOW the Risen Lord, coming back the second time in judgement, He is not and never will be again a baby. Can anyone really say that they can square the teachings of Jesus with christmas, you have got to be joking or you are very deceived.
Andrew Wakeling, not celebrated for >25 years, never will again.

TheToothfairy_3

I apologise if this has been mentioned previously as I skipped a few pages...

But a couple of years ago we decided in my OH's family (which is quite large) to do a secret santa form of present buying for the adults and to just to buy for the children.
Each adult writes a list of pressies they would like (max value of £30.00) - they send it to me - and I send out one list per person. Noone knows who has bought for whom or what they will receive.
This has meant that when we all gather together, we all have a gift to open, which will be something we like but still a surprise, however, everyone has only had to buy for one person rather than loads. It has really cut the cost of Christmas down but hasn't killed the spirit of things.

InDebted2U_2

Someone mentioned using brown paper to wrap presents, and decorating it themselves. This is what I've been thinking of doing myself this year, but does anyone know a good source of affordable brown paper? I looked at the price when I was in the Post Office the other day and it was way more expensive than the gaudy Xmas wrap you can buy everywhere!

jw2003

I only buy gifts for my immediate family and a small group of close friends plus my godson and his brother. I actually rarely spend more than £10 on a gift for anyone other than my children and our parents and I NEVER give cash or a gift voucher because I feel this makes you feel obliged to give more. £10 in an envelope doesn't look like much but you can buy lovely, considered purchases and have change for the gift wrap for the same. We have stopped buying the adults in our family birthday presents instead.

Pepa

No it is not time to ban Christmas presents! But it is time for people to realise that it is not all about the size/cost etc. And to teach their children the same thing and to help them accept that they will not always be able to keep up with the rich friends' presents. We need to get away from the commercialised rubbish that is on offer in shops and give presents within our budgets to friends and family who are special. Whether you are religious or not, Christmas is about families and looking out for others and it really is time that we got back to that.

All my family are on strict budgets this year, but I would hate not to give presents though I would be happy not to receive any. I give presents because I want to not because I feel I have to.

Happy Christmas!!

jw2003

I did read a tip recently where a mummy said she uses her children's drawings as wrapping paper which is a fab idea

AliSingle

I like giving presents. I love buying them, I love wrapping them and I love seeing the faces of the people you give the gift to.
In my family, we have always set a limit - £12 for birthdays and Christmases. This will buy a dvd or a cd or similar, and if the family member doesn't give us a list of things they would like, they get the cash. It's a small amount but it's a way of ensuring that people don't go overboard and spend a fortune on one person but not another. Also, who wants to sit around after Christmas dinner and not have pressies to open, however small?!
With my friends, I have about 5 friends I buy for. I ask them for ideas of things they would like, and if they don't give me any ideas, they get a gift card or cash to spend on themselves.
My friends know that if they cannot afford to buy me a present, that that is fine - we all have tight times, and I make sure we spend some time together over the festive period instead. I have a day when I go to my best friend's house and we play monopoly all day!
I agree Christmas is expensive, but I would hate not to be able to give a gift to friends or family.

jw2003

Your wife is a star

[QUOTE=Grannywales;26891221... so she decided this christmas cash is tight lets get back to basics, she has made all the family cristmas presents from jams to pickles to quilts for the adult generation to clothes for the grand children, they all know they are getting hand made presents and are all excited, ...

Making these gifts has brought her much pleasure... And all gifts are made with love and not bought with future stress in mind of how much it all costs.....[/QUOTE]

gem3

My family isnt the largest but I have 2 sisters, both married, 4 nieces, parents, and my husband has a sister & both his parents. We used to buy pressies for every single person (usually spending max £30). That is a lot of money. However, we like to give pressies in our family. We all meet up on Christmas day, spend a lovely fun evening together and we feel pressies is part of the cheer.

So last year I suggested we do a secret santa between my parents, and us three girls & partners. everyone was really happy to do this. We also wrote down a list of what we would like so no-one was at a loss for the men. We have a limit of what we spend (so that one couple doesnt get £150 gift and the other £20 - no embarrassement). We are doing it again this year.
It saves a lot of money but still have presents on christmas day.

The children arent included but once they are old enough with partners they can be included in this as well.

doverrog

WE've been trying to get the Christmas roller coaster under control for some years now. All of our family and friends complain about the endless commercial pressure to buy, buy, buy and the bad influence the commercial pressure has on children, by encouraging them to want ever more expensive and prolific things.
We have hopefully managed to achieve a reasonable target of around £10 maximum per present for adults, but as yet keeping costs down for the children, aged 6, 7 and 8, has been more difficult but has been partially successful.
Have you tried asking people when Christmas is exactly?
It seems most people think it's around Christmas dinner time.
Does anyone know why advertisers seem to think that it's important to have things for this time? The 'must have in time for Christmas' seems a well established message which is drilled into us, yet we all know everything is cheaper when the stuff that didn't sell is piled high from Boxing Day inwards.
Does anyone actually connect any of the frantic commerciality with any Religious event?
Do children have any idea why presents are given?
Overall my personal opinion is that the whole thing is "well past it's sell buy date" and should be abandoned, but perhaps it won't be long before we add on another US import called "Thanksgiving" and we can all double Christmas up???
After all we didn't take long to add 'Halloween' into our culture of 'times to buy more stuff' and adopt silly and questionable children's activities!