Maggie's Farm

We are a commune of inquiring, skeptical, politically centrist, capitalist, anglophile, traditionalist New England Yankee humans, humanoids, and animals with many interests beyond and above politics. Each of us has had a high-school education (or GED), but all had ADD so didn't pay attention very well, especially the dogs. Each one of us does "try my best to be just like I am," and none of us enjoys working for others, including for Maggie, from whom we receive neither a nickel nor a dime. Freedom from nags, cranks, government, do-gooders, control-freaks and idiots is all that we ask for.

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Friday, November 23. 2012

A case against Christmas presents

My family of origin voted to ban Christmas presents amongst eachother years ago. It's my two parents, five kids with five spouses, countless grandkids. However, bringing food, booze, and home-made Christmas cookies to the family gathering is welcome and wanted.


In my own family, as the kids have gotten older, we keep it generally in the area of books, scarves, and Christmas socks.


My in-laws, on the other hand, love the whole Christmas ritual of buying, wrapping, and giving presents, and find joy in it.


To each his own. Here's one view:  It's time to ban Christmas presents


and here's a classic - Mama's Family Christmas Morning:


 


Posted by Bird Dog in Our Essays, The Culture, "Culture," Pop Culture and Recreation at 12:26 | Comments (6) | Trackbacks (0)

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With you up until the word "ban".

I've used the stock phrase, "Nothing, I just like to be with family and friends at the holidays", so often in response to questioners wanting to know what I "want" for Christmas that no one asks anymore.
#1 John the River (Link) on 2012-11-23 12:55 (Reply)
I give my adult kids, and children-in-laws, stockings and money. I try to find cute ways to package the money. Last year, I found little plastic gee-gaws you could put bills in, so it ended up looking like a stuffed shirt. I was up all night folding the bills, but everybody got a kick out of it.

It's fun to open presents on Christmas morning, so we stick with stockings. I enjoy buying and wrapping stocking presents.

There really are ways to keep it under control.
#2 Park Slope Pubby on 2012-11-23 13:32 (Reply)
Limit presents to homemade gifts that do not cost more than $x.

Vouchers for cheap/free days out (kite flying, picnics, hiking etc) or favors(will paint your room/mow the lawn), homemade edible goodies(when else will you get to bake those anise stars?), fancy DIY soap and so on.
#3 RightwingHippyChick on 2012-11-23 14:35 (Reply)
For me and my family, we don't buy a ton for each other throughout the year. Birthdays are usually pretty mild affairs. Christmas it typically when I buy my kids all the things I didn't buy them over the year as regular purchases. Everyone needs new stuff...clothes, toys, books, gadgets...so why not save buying most of them until Christmas and give them as gifts?

I think the problem lies in parents who try to buy everything on a kid's list or spend money they don't have and rack up bills or buy junk just to give someone something. Everything in moderation, including Christmas gifts!
#4 KJB on 2012-11-23 16:50 (Reply)
Tom Lehrer nailed a half century ago with A Christmas Carol. The song remains trenchant comment on Christmas- as we celebrate it today in the United States- as much as it did a half century ago.
#5 Gringo on 2012-11-23 19:51 (Reply)
I miss Carol Burnett. I identified with her primal scream at the end: "Well, MERRY CHRISTMAS!"
#6 Texan99 (Link) on 2012-11-24 10:04 (Reply)

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