RE: Daily Discussion No. 2: "Black Friday" and Holiday Shopping - Too Much Emphasis on Consuming Rather than Connecting?
I've been off the hook for holiday shopping for nearly a decade.
We used to go broke trying to buy gifts for everyone for the purpose of putting something under the Christmas tree.
Then I whittled the habit down to "Secret Santa" where you pick a name out of the hat and only shop for that one family member.
Then I began to tell my entire family to stop giving me presents because I reject the commercialism. I volunteered to make Christmas dinner and that was my "present".
But I actually stopped buying Christmas presents for my kids when I gave them a choice. At the time I was a singer/soloist and I really wanted my kids to attend Midnight Mass with me - not necessarily for the religion, but because they never heard me sing for an audience before. I told them it was the only gift I wanted and if they decided they didn't want to go then I couldn't afford Christmas presents. They chose not to go and I had a fat wallet that year. The tradition continues and frankly, I'm glad.
I'm just not into the whole commercialism thing... oddly enough, because I have spent about 17 years of my adult life in various forms of "gifty" retail... and I soured on people's behavior; many were angry, many were acting out of a sense of obligation; many were in a "spending competition" and it all just felt wrong.
Food, though... I'm all about the food. And if someone wants to give me food (as in, their homemade strawberry preserves from the summer, or their freshly caught crab or salmon... then I'm a happy and grateful recipient.