Am I wrong?

KMSForLife

This year my family decided instead of getting gifts for each other we adopted a family and are getting gifts for a family at my mothers church.

This.

My family decided not to exchange gifts this year - instead we are putting money toward "adopting" 4 children from the Elementary School.

I love Christmas!

kmbrooks15

I've always loved Christmas...the music, the lights, the celebrations with friends, the time to remember Christ's birth. But the constant pressure to buy gifts for everyone and the craziness of shopping does get old (anybody see the story about the woman on Black Friday who was pepper-spraying people at Walmart?!). I've been buying for my kids throughout the year (They are not necessarily getting everything they asked for, like the iPads and the horse my daughter wants!). I chose gifts I know they will like and that were within the budget I established. Once the budget is gone, that's it. I stopped exchanging with my parents and my sister a few years ago. We were basically swapping sweaters and restaurant gift certificates. My parents are hard to shop for because if there's something they want, they just buy it. Same with my sister. So we just buy for the kids and that's it. I keep the gifts for my kids reasonable, too...no crazy, extravagant stuff (can't afford it anyway!).

On Christmas day, we will get up and go to church, then celebrate as a family at my sister's house that afternoon. That's the best part of the day for me...family time!

deeharley

Nope, you're not wrong to feel this way. I personally LOVE Christmas, but then I sit down every year and decide what I want to do and what I'm going to do to celebrate. And extended family gifts happen some years and some years they don't. But the tree, music, cookies and Christmas Eve party for my friends happens EVERY year.

nehtaeh

There are people dying out there and because of the selfishness of the group for no religion. Children in Africa ( being supported by Operation Christmas Child) might not get presents this year. Really sad when politics get in the way of giving.:frown:

I think I'm a little confused by this statement...

sunkisses

Just celebrate it in a way that would make you happy. Maybe go volunteer somewhere and spend your time there rather than buying crap that people don't really want? Or you could just skip it altogether. I'm going to the beach with my parents and my brother to avoid the rest of our family so we don't have to do anything for Christmas.

This.

I just invite people over to have drinks and hang out. I like the "togetherness" aspect of Christmas, but not the gift buying obligations. If I want to buy someone something, I just will. I don't want to be told it has to happen around this date.

King_Bee

Ok, dont know about yall, but Im sorta sick of Christmas. All this money for crap people dont really want that could be spent better served. Maybe Im just crabby. How about yall?

Coming from a family who couldn't always afford giving gifts, I'm not sick of it. I look forward to it.

Now Christmas music.....

mcrowe1016

I love giving gifts. For those who are hard to shop for, I try to do something involving charity. :-)

fit4mom

Ok, dont know about yall, but Im sorta sick of Christmas. All this money for crap people dont really want that could be spent better served. Maybe Im just crabby. How about yall?

Coming from a family who couldn't always afford giving gifts, I'm not sick of it. I look forward to it.

Now Christmas music.....

My hero.:flowerforyou:

sunkisses

This is a little cynical. Why bash a day that most people really genuinely enjoy and love. Like Thanksgiving. Even if you don't like how corporate America destroys and abuses most things, (from personal experience) most families really do get meaning out of the holiday and take it to heart. I get tired of the anti Christmas attitude. It's about tradition. But if you are tired of the corporate part of it I so get it. There are people dying out there and because of the selfishness of the group for no religion. Children in Africa ( being supported by Operation Christmas Child) might not get presents this year. Really sad when politics get in the way of giving.:frown:

I fail to see any bashing in the OP's post.

shonasteele

I'm tired of how commercial it all is. It seems like it's just a list of obligations anymore... where to be, what to bring, what to buy. It's tough when both sides of the family are VERY traditional and doing something out of the norm would be a huge departure, but I think next year we are going to sit down with our daughter and decide what WE want out of christmas and make our plans accordingly, whether that be a quiet day at home or a trip to Mexico or something in between.

Right now I'm a little frustrated by the gift exchange for my hubby's family... We are having 2 different gatherings, the small one with a dozen people, and the big one for 30 people and we are doing a 'chinese gift exchange' at each one. $30 each times 3 people times 2 parties = $180! I'm torn between participating and HOPING that we all don't come home with crappy gifts, or just donating the money to a charity. I don't want to seem cheap, but if I'm going to spend $180, SOMEONE better be happy with their presents!

fit4mom

This is a little cynical. Why bash a day that most people really genuinely enjoy and love. Like Thanksgiving. Even if you don't like how corporate America destroys and abuses most things, (from personal experience) most families really do get meaning out of the holiday and take it to heart. I get tired of the anti Christmas attitude. It's about tradition. But if you are tired of the corporate part of it I so get it. There are people dying out there and because of the selfishness of the group for no religion. Children in Africa ( being supported by Operation Christmas Child) might not get presents this year. Really sad when politics get in the way of giving.:frown:

I fail to see any bashing in the OP's post.

This was in general.But also the opening statement allured to Christmass only beeing about the presents and money and basically greed. Allot of people including on here are anti this and anti that and allot of people just hate Christmass and it gets old. I happen to love it and if someone doesn't I'm not going to force it down their throught. In a sense all of this anti Christmass stuff is an attempt to controll people. You can't say this you can't do that. The opening statement wasn't exactly understood if they were not against christmas, but just the ideals of all the greedyness. If you don't like then that's fine but let me choose what I wan't to do VS forcing an agenda on me. And again in general not stated at you personally.

Midnightsun04

I have struggled with this for several years and now I take my children on holiday for Christmas. They get a small gift each, but we always try to have an adventure on Christmas day- like going on a boat trip, or swimming in the sea (not possible in the UK at that time of year) . We are going to Morocco this year. We also sponsor a child at www.foreverangels.org We are so fortunate, most of us on here because we have eaten too much food, while millions of people in the world struggle to get enough. I think Christmas is a good time to give something back.

Fantastic! I'm going to keep this in mind for an idea to mention to my family for next year! Thank you

teagin2002

I was raised in a muslim home and my hubby a hindu home so we don't celebrate, or buy in to the hype of shopping for gifts. For birthdays we always got a piece of cake and some chocolates to pass to our friends and class mates. You shouldn't have to spend all that money to show others you love them.
Treat them nicely every day and that shows that you love them.