I have to say I haven't really looked forward to Christmas in years. When I was a kid it was about the Christmas tree, baking cookies, Christmas concerts, and people decorating their yards with lights. Now it is about making Christmas lists, shopping, wrapping gifts and avoiding certain Supercenters like the plague. It's a lot of preparation that leaves precious little time for Christmas trees, cookies, music and lights. So I started asking myself why we are doing this? December is hard on our budget and we usually end up giving gift cards to all the adults in the family. It's kind of like a gift card exchange. We might as well just have one person take a $20 bill out of their pocket, pass it around the room and when it gets back to the first person, put it back. So pretty much I am running to a bizillion different stores to get gift cards for them while they are doing the same for me? What kind of sense does that make?
This year we are doing things a little bit differently. We are buying gifts for the kids in the family only. No gifts for adults. And I am relieved. I don't have to make any wish list of stuff I don't need. I don't have to buy stuff for other people they don't need. I can stay at home and sip hot chocolate instead. The budget will be a lot less strained. I can enjoy the things that make Christmas, Christmas to me.
