My family decided a few years ago that this time of year was getting a little too expensive for all our tastes. Coming from a big family who almost all now have large families of their own, having to buy presents for all the uncles and aunts, sisters and cousins, it became clear that there were just too many presents that need to be bought.
This is a three fold self inducing curse as a) we don't have the money; b) we don't have a clue what to get that many people who would otherwise already be getting more than a dozen other presents from the family ( so asking other people what so-and-so wants is more confusing than illuminating ); and c) we don't have the time to find and buy that many presents.
As none of us have won the lottery, married a millionaire, or inherited a vast fortune, we mutually agrees a few years back to limit the number of presents to just out immediate family, our mother plus one sibling, the one being drawn blind from a hat of names.
This ensured that everyone gets at least one sensible present and no one is forced to either remortgage their house or take out a loan just to keep up the rest. It also ensured that you don't just get a collection of tiny presents that are as cheap and random as the contents from a dozen Christmas crackers.
It might not work for every family, but this suits us and ours just fine and dandy thank you very much.
1 comment:
What?? So you mean I have to get Mum a pressy too !!!
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