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

red_devil

The only thing i like about it is that my oh gets time off work as he is self employed so its a rare bit of time off together. In our business he gets to take a little bit more money at this time of year too although its hard going?

Apart from that i dont like it. We have crap families which dosent help and i find it comes round to quickly and starts to early. I much prefer the spring and summer.

I expect i liked it when i was a child though!

desperado2

I agree with the principle.. My small extended family has always done a big indulgence at christmas, though little or nothing for birthdays. That all stopped as we got older, and the kids became adults.

My current partner buys out of obligation, for people who are unenamoured of trhe gift they get, and seemingly buy whatever they can thats cheap and will do.

As my O/h does not want a gift to them from "us", He buys one from him, and I buy from me, trying to get something that will not show up his purchase (a real challenge!) In return I get unwanted rubbish that is binned or goes to the charity shop. ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!! )

I told them I do not want a gift of any kind - a unilateral decision, as they will still get one from me. If they cant hack it, the option is to enhance the gift to my O/h, or give to charity..

Oh, and I tild the O/h the same.. NO GIFT! - I would rather treat myself to something I wanted, than feel I have something that is bought from obligation and not with good grace.

heppy23

I've been with my OH for 8 years now. Each year she has bought presents for two kids, children of her "good friends". I've never met these friends, I've never seen these kids, we never got a card or letter from them when our two kids were born.

This year she said "what are we getting for X & Y" - and I went through the above and she went "fair enough" and crossed them off the list. It's a start.

Eric_Pisch

I though most people where going this way with secret santa's any way, we have a departmental one at work and a company wide one, and SWMBOs close click of friends do one

richardginger

Christmas, OMG it is not even December yet! It should be banned . . .

baby_boomer

awakelingg wrote: »

Let's get down to brass tacks. Xmas has NO biblical support whatsoever.

What is trivial information like that compared with the support of the entire British retail industry :rotfl:

I'm moving towards presents for young people only.

When helping my mum downsize I discovered that she had 20 unused nightgowns. Knowing that she is an economical sort I enquired why this might be. It was because she and her sister used to exchange nightgowns for Xmas.

Doing away with Xmas could help the environment!

edgibs

For the last 4 years we haven't bought christmas presents for any adults in the family, the kids all get presents as I think that would be unfair on them.

What we decided to do was, each year a different member of the family chooses a charity or a donation that is close to their hearts and everyone can donate as much or as little as they want to. The chooser recieves unmarked envelopes from each member of the family and then makes the donation and posts up certificates or photos of what the money went on.

I tell you one thing, Christmas feels more christmassy when you don't stress out on present buying!

awakelingg

Thanks baby boomer I'm thrilled to know that your mum (I mustn't forget and her sister) both have 20 unused night gowns, I must write that truly vital info down lest I forget.
Pity you didn't quote the bit where I said all born again christians should totally reject xmas, now that would hit the retail industry where it hurts, there are more of us than most people think. Also I notice no comment about the chap who died because of the lie about xmas. BTW if you're not a christian why do u celebrate the birth of Jesus? just thought I'd ask ?
kind regards,
AW.

When helping my mum downsize I discovered that she had 20 unused nightgowns. Knowing that she is an economical sort I enquired why this might be. It was because she and her sister used to exchange nightgowns for Xmas.

Doing away with Xmas could help the environment![/QUOTE]

pseeker_2

It's fine politcs, this christmas thing. It's society against history against common sense.

I ignore the retail madness every year, and all the October decoration really makes me uneasy.

My immediate family counts five other people - already a decent present-puzzle, as you can imagine!

I do enjoy finding non-expensive, practical and fun gifts, and i do it all year long.

My girlfriend's definition of a perfect gift? A thing that the other person wants (consciously or not) but would hardly buy it themselves - for whatever reason.

I fly home two, three times a year, and always bring some little things along. But bringing myself and living a happy, interesting life is always the biggest gift for my family.

There's nothing wrong with gifts, as long as it is not expectation standard.
That's not giving, that's business!

If you should only make forget all quarrels for a couple of days and create time of the life with your family TOGETHER, or even peacefully sort out some long issue beforehand - THAT is the point of Christmas, or any related holiday time for that sake.

InfamyInfamy

My OH & I tend not to buy for each other cos if we need it we would have bought it throughout the year! We both like practical stuff.
We spend £50 each on the two kids....again stuff they will use (clothes, boots, CDs etc).
We spend £15 each on Mum, MIL & FIL but if I get a bargain then that gets counted at full price not price paid!
We stopped buying for nieces & nephews when they got to 18 although my sister was really miffed by this!!! So now I buy them a token gift or make something.
We give to people who have been helpful to us over the year with homegrown produce.
My favourite part of christmas is not presents...it's the dinner & relaxing!!
So this year we have spent £154.70 on 14 people which works out at about £11 per head...not toooo bad! And about £20 on stocking fillers for 6 people!
:T