I really do love the holidays! I enjoy getting together with friends and family to celebrate life, and giving thanks, and reflecting on the year gone by and the new one approaching. I especially love hosting Christmas Eve, preparing a wonderful meal, and spending the day/evening with all of my favorite people.
But what I don't love is the gift buying. I feel like such a grinch just typing that! These days, I just don't need or want any more "stuff". And anything I do need, I prefer to buy myself as I know exactly what I like. We don't have any young children in my family anymore so it's just us adults. Honestly, I could do without receiving and giving gifts. I think I would enjoy the holidays even more without the stress of it all.
The problem is that I am the only one in my family that feels this way. Everyone else loves gift giving. My sister especially who lives in Texas (we are all in Maryland). I think it makes her feel closer to us to have gifts to open, a little piece of "home". So, I go along with it because it seems to make everyone else happy, and I don't want to spoil that for them.
This year, I just asked for gift cards and when I got some resistance because it "felt like an impersonal gift" I really stuck to my guns and assurred everyone that that was really what I wanted (and it is).
Does anyone else struggle with this? I guess in the grand sceme of things it really isn't a big deal. It's something we do to make the people we love happy, even if it goes against what makes us happy. I save for it all year so I have the money put aside, so this isn't a financial strain issue.
Well, I have rambled on about this enough! I hope this all made some kind of sense.
December 5th, 2022 at 09:08 pm 1670274534
December 5th, 2022 at 09:26 pm 1670275576
I like it because it does really reduce the stress. We don’t know each other that well any more, some of us have too much stuff and some too little money. We always have some laughter around it.
I don’t like it because it reminds me that I am essentially alone with no one who loves me and knows me well enough to buy me presents. I also really enjoyed wrapping, and I miss that. For many years I wrapped for my company’s toy drive - even after I retired - but covid ended that.
Holidays have a cycle and when your family reaches ‘all adults’ can be a tough transition.
I try to find joy where I can.
December 5th, 2022 at 09:33 pm 1670276019
I love this tradition. It is so much nicer than running around trying to choose gifts for people.
For my own children, both adults, I just give them some cash.
December 6th, 2022 at 02:44 pm 1670337845
On the plus side, it is certainly nice to not have any gift obligations whatsoever. This is my takeaway from this season of life. When we see the "perfect gift" we will buy it, but there's no stress about it. This is my takeaway for the future when maybe I have a little more control and we can decide what *we* actually want to do (for our kids and grandkids).
December 9th, 2022 at 01:49 pm 1670593758
December 17th, 2022 at 07:30 am 1671262238