Comments on: Christmas Consumerism – It’s Time to Nip it in the Bud

By: scottsdale carpet cleaners

scottsdale carpet cleaners — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 23:17:01 +0000

Well, I just wanted to say congratulations. You are the first blog I’ve read that was able to successfully incorporate Barney Fife into an article. I loved Don Knotts too. He made several very funny movies.

By: Mr. ToughMoneyLove

Mr. ToughMoneyLove — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 06:43:02 +0000

Overit – I feel your pain. Long-standing traditions are hard to break 100% in large families like yours. Some sort of compromise is in order to manage things until everyone figures out that you have the best idea for the long run. How about appointing one of the family elders as a “Santa” to deliver the gifts at the family party to those who are receiving one. Santa can work the room with the gifts at his/her own pace without making a huge deal. Those who are not participating as a gift giver can watch Santa if they choose or simply continue to socialize with other family members without appearing rude. We did this once on a family Christmas cruise and it worked great. By the way, I promise you that if you stick to your guns on not giving this year, others will follow suit in due course. Thanks for visiting and let me know what happens.

By: OverIt

OverIt — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 06:22:47 +0000

I come from a large family — currently numbering 28 in three generations, and growing. Our Christmas events were like Skulegirl’s — 2 hours of frenzied unwrapping. And nobody remembered an hour later who gave or got what. It was not exactly quality family time. I’ve tried for years to get people to only give to children or, better yet, put the money toward a charity or nice dinner or family activity. No deal. Finally this year a couple of us have put our foot down and said we’re not doing gifts and urged the others to join us. The rest have said we’re welcome to opt out but they’re still giving gifts. The problem is that they still want to do their gift exchange during the family holiday get-together. The whole point for us was to enjoy one another’s company and do away with the materialism! We can’t make them not give gifts, I suppose, but I feel as though they should schedule another event for the gift-opening. Any opinions?

By: Mr. ToughMoneyLove

Mr. ToughMoneyLove — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 22:07:19 +0000

Drippychick: Isn’t it amazing how dropping the gifting part increases the overall enjoyment of the holiday. We have many “dustables” still collecting dust from Christmas’ past.

Thansk for visiting and sharing.

By: DRiPpyChick

DRiPpyChick — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 22:01:57 +0000

Like others here, my family used to buy gifts for everyone, regardless of age. One year we implemented a challenge that all gifts had to be hand made… not a problem for me (I sewed close to 20 pairs of pajamas that year!), but for others it was more of an issue. Eventually we dropped down to drawing names + gifts for the under 18′s, and then just gifts for the under 18′s and now just for the under 12′s. It’s a lot less stressful for everyone, and our collective collection of “dustables” (kitchy nicknacks that no-one really cares about) is no longer growing.

For the past many years, I have been hosting a Christmas party for friends and people who have been special in my life in the past year or two in mid December. Good food, good company, fabulous conversations and the occassional spontaneously erupting Christmas carol make the season special.

For me (and my family, whether “related” by blood or not), Christmas has become about the sharing of time and togetherness, rather than the distribution of presents to those who have everything they need and most things they want. The money I used to spend on unappreciated “dustables” now gets donated to overseas charities that create sustainable living situations in developing nations.

By: Mr. ToughMoneyLove

Mr. ToughMoneyLove — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 20:42:57 +0000

Skulegirl: I love your story and what your family is doing with its money at Christmas. This will create a lasting impression on the young ones in your family. Thanks for sharing.

By: Skulegirl

Skulegirl — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 18:44:55 +0000

My mother’s family consist of 8 siblings, their SOs, and upwards of 20 grandchildren, some of whom are now married with children themselves. We’re a close knit group and get together every Christmas to enjoy each other’s company, and we used to do a gift exchange, with names drawn out of a hat at Thanksgiving. It was only one gift per person, but with that many people, you still ended up opening gifts for 2 hours, tons of gift wrap everywhere, and mostly people got stuff that while somewhat thoughtful, was not really necessary.

A few years ago we decided to scrap the whole thing. The young children still participate in a gift exchange, but everyone else decided to pool their money together and donate to a charity in my Grandmother’s name.

We’ve bought school books and cows for families in Africa, we’ve paid for soccer equipment to go to remote northern native communities here in Canada, and this year we’ll likely send our money to the local food bank.

The thing that amazed me most about the whole process though? Even some of the younger grandchildren – only 10 or 11 years old – wanted to move from the gift exchange pool to the charity pool. The moral: our children can learn from us to love charity and selfless giving, instead of mass consumerism, but we have to be willing to set the example!