Christmas shopping question????
I guess the older and wiser I become I feel the need for less stuff.
So with the holidays approaching and everyone asking what we and the kids want for Christmas, I find it hard to answer. There is nothing we really need and I feel guilty about the abdunance of gifts we recieve when we really dont need them and someone out there needs more than we do.
I feel with all the shopping we begin to lose the meaning of Christmas and we spend hours shopping and hours wrapping gifts and hours opening gifts and than hours putting away gifts in the places you can find for them or hours returning them and for what????
My kids have way more than they need and dont even play with most of it cuz they have so much they dont know what they have. They want and want more and for what? For it to sit around, for the thrill of opening a gift? Yes, it is fun the get gifts put I find the novelty of it wears off and once you have a moment to reflect- do you really need it or is it just more stuff? I guess I have this enormous amount of guilt- knowing how we celebrate Christmas with an enourmous amount of gifts that we dont need but somene does.
I find it harder and harder to think of gifts for people that wont just be a waste of money. Some say its the thought that counts but I would rather get no gift than one I dont want. I feel bad if someone buys me something I have no use for and 6 months later its at goodwill. Im not saying Im ungrateful but there just isnt much I NEED. I dont know if Im getting my point across in the right way or not.
My question is How does your family celebrate Christmas?
What is your limit and how do you establish that?
We have tried an exchange
We have tried a price limit
We tried only buying for kids
Nothing seems to work cuz someone always breaks the rules and we are back to buying for the entire family. And Im not saying I dont want to buy gifts I just wish we had an equal limit.
I would feel so much better if we put an amount on it. I dont like buying a 20, 30 50 gift and then someone spends more on me. Or one family member buys for the five of us but they are single so we only buy for them- they are getting the raw deal.
We also tried buying for a family one year- which I LOVED shopping for someone I knew NEEDED the stuff. BUT when we delivered it they had a TV as big as our wall with a cadilac out front and barely said thank you- they acted as tho we owed them the gifts. Bad experience!!
We do the angel tree- which is very sad to me, One tag a little girl asked for underwear and a training bra- I thought how sad that she must need that so bad that she has to ask for that for Christmas and that may be all she gets. When I see those tags I want to grab them all and fill their boxes with more than what they are asking for.
I guess I feel our shopping has no purpose cuz we can all go buy whatever it is we need, we basically are giving everyone our shopping lists or trading shopping list.
Heres my list go buy what I need and Ill go buy what you need. But list are good so you dont waste your money. But it seems kind of pointless>
I guess I dont understand why we give gifts on Jesus birthday? Its not our birthday and I dont give Matt gifts on my moms birthday, etc. And Jesus isnt here to give him the gifts and its his birthday. So why do we give gifts? And how do you put alimit on how many and how do you make it equal? Do you spend the same on each person or do you buy one gift per person and dont worry about making the cost equal??
IM SO STRESSED!!!
And being that we may owe FORD MOTOR CO a large sum of money we are scared to spend money- We dont know what will happena nd when it will happen. We may owe them or we may get another moving allowance and be blessed beyond our imagination.
So people have said well dont buy us gifts- but thats not my point, its not that we dont want to. And Im not going to recieve a gift and not give one either.
Someone give me some good Godly advice cuz Im tired of dreading Christmas cuz of the shopping- its not the reason for the season!
HELP!!!!!
posted by jessica @ 8:47 PM
3 Comments:
This year we are doing it a bit different. I have 2 kids and my sister has 6 so it is lopsided. Last year we did family gifts of $75 limit. I bought her family Disney Scene it game, popcorn buckets, video store gift card, movie size boxes of candy. She got my family 2 nights at the vine campground and set her camper up (since we don't have one) and supplied wood and smores stuff along with everything they store in the camper. This year my family and her family are spending one night at Great Wolf lodge in Sandusky in January instead of gifts. We can all have mini vacation that we all can enjoy.
I hear you, and agree. I would like to do the getaway idea in lieu of gifts. In my opinion, gifts are an outward expression of love and appreciation for the people in your life. I understand the swapping list notion. A gift should be something that someone isn't necessarily expecting or perhaps wouldn't buy for themselves. I don't like the feeling that I'm buying just to buy, or fulfill a quota but everyone has to agree to make a change in the way we celebrate.
Jess,
for our kids they only get 3 gift a piece, because thats all jesus got, and believe me they don't need anymore!!!, We have finally after many years of struggling with the same thing only buy for our parents, no brothers, sisters, cousins, friends, twice removed relatives, its not worth it, but a good suggestion to you if people insist that they have to buy for you, have them make a donation somewhere in your name, st. judes, even cherry street missions, ect. that way you don't feel guilty about recieving the gift and you know it is going to a good cause.
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