Christmas Tree
I have certain adult family members that get upset if they only get 1 present. These same people also complains if they get a lot of (in one family member’s words) small junky stuff.
As an adult, I really don’t care if I get a Christmas gift or not. It’s nice, but 1 Christmas gift per relative is more than enough for me. Heck, a Christmas card from the adults in my family is more than enough for me. One of the biggest reasons I do like to get 1 gift from each family member is because my kids ask why I didn’t get more presents… But 1 present from each family couple is plenty!
Know that just because I don’t really want Christmas presents doesn’t mean I don’t want to get them for other adults (especially my younger, adult sister).
To me, Christmas gift giving is more for the kids. To them, each gift still has that magic quality, especially those presents brought by Santa Claus!
As a small child, I remember waking up around 6:00am excited to go down and rip open packages! The beginning of Christmas morning was always so exciting! But even as a kid, I remember getting tired of opening packages after a while!
So now for me at the current point in my life, Christmas presents are much more of a chore than something to look forward too. With some of my other family members though, it’s almost a competition! I do get a lot of pleasure out of watching my kids open their presents though!
Do you still exchange presents with other adult family members? If so, how many presents do you exchange?
Presents, Bah Humbug!
-MR Scrooge (lol)
Did you like this Article? Then please subscribe to my RSS feed so you can check out new articles when they become available. You will help this blog grow by doing so! Thanks!
DH’s family is REALLY into gift-giving. So every year we try to figure out the *perfect* gift, without paying attention to price at all (well, keeping it under $150… usually it’s in the $30-80 range). Sometimes that means one thing, sometimes it’s a themed present or a couple themed presents.
My family is very difficult to shop for. My father said he wanted a beard trimmer then when questioned on specs said he did NOT want a beard trimmer. Then he wanted replacement windshield wipers for the car, but when we questioned what kind he said no he did not want that after all. So I broke down yesterday and hit the liquor store and spent $50 on Grand Marnier which he had better appreciate. The salesman was certainly appreciative.
Since my parents changed their travel plans, the Barnes and Noble gift certificate I’d planned for my mom to use in our small town became useless, so now I owe my sister $50 for picking up a Borders gift certificate yesterday. I think she spent more than that on my Amazon list… which is now making me feel a little guilty though I hadn’t thought about it before.
I used to get annoyed at my sister for requesting expensive things for Christmas and then getting a small amount of stuff off my Amazon wishlist in return since she makes more money than I do. I also got annoyed that we were ALWAYS treating her to meals and she never offered to pay in return. But she’s loosened up so I no longer feel like I need to keep score. (Other than that bit of sibling rivalry, I feel like you do on the issue of gift exchanges. And I wouldn’t have minded it if she hadn’t always asked for expensive stuff.)
You sister is the one that’s loaded, perhaps she starting to loosen up because she is no longer that little sister that she once was. Perhaps she’s seeing herself as more of an equal adult?
Nah, I think it’s that she’s bought the house and is getting two rental streams from it (she only planned on one, but she rents out the third bedroom to part-year tenants) so she no longer feels strapped for cash.
Presents definitely feel more like a chore now as an adult. I never ask for anything anymore, but if someone insists, I try and think of what I need… like a weed wacker!!
Merry Christmas!
Good way to go about it. It’s makes it so much easier if you give someone something to buy instead of them guessing and buying you a glass poodle figurine! While the female buyer might like that figurine, I bet you would hate it!
Did I mention that when I was about 8, one of my adult relative bought me a campbell soup dish? That must have been a year that I was bad…
Good topic MR. I have the hardest time buying for my siblings because they are well off and have everything. I tell people I want books. I will try to read any book, as long as it isn’t Tale of Two Cities.
Even my kids are getting to the point where they don’t really need anything, but I still love buying for them.
I sometimes cop out and end up getting the gift card, but it is so much less fun.
Merry Christmas!
Ah, good point! most of my immediate relatives are doing fairly well too. It would be so much easier if they needed something vs something that I have to guess they would like (an that will probable be returned).
My daughter created her first mass-produced book (sort of). Actually it was only 6 copies. But it stitched bound and printed by a printing company and everything. Kind of cool really 🙂
Great topic Money Reasons,
I do give gifts to adult family and friends, but definitely don’t do it for every household. I’m fine with it and don’t think any love is loss. I do believe it is more important for the kiddies!