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I'm looking for ideas on Christmas gift giving. My wife has a large family
and growing. She now gives gifts to fifteen (15) family members and that
list is growing yearly
Mom Dad, Brother sister, brother's kids, sisters kids account for the
immediate family then they're other aunts/uncles grand kids that I've not
included.
I have multiple problems with the present gift giving system where everyone
buys everyone else a Christmas gift. On Christmas morning everyone has to
open presents in sequence or there wouldn't be enough time in the day...
thus things become very rushed. And... what we end up with is a living room
full of odd, mostly imported, K-Mart sorta stuff that no one needs nor wants *but* everyone has managed to buy everyone else a gift. I also have
a problem with the cost... and I also have a problem with the amount of time
it takes to shop for gifts.
Note, that I don't exchange with my gifts with my side of the family, for
cost considerations. My older brother and sisters simply put a stop to
exchanging gifts and we exchange cards and photographs. I think I had one
sister that used to keep exchanging to some degree but it was at her option.
It's now to a point where I have to take Christmas budget from my children (three boys all in college) as I simply don't want to have to go into credit
card debt buying Christmas gifts... and... I'm trying to control the
Christmas gift budget as best I can. Really what it amounts to is my
children gettin' less and less of the budget each year.
Gift Giving SUGGESTION:
The Adult families (4) draw names for a gift exchange between the adults.
And a second drawing for a gift to be given to the children of one of the
adult families. If *anyone* wanted to buy *others* gifts beyond that it
would be 1. Baked, 2. Handmade 3. Christmas decoration. (Under a $10 cost).
Grand kids stand by themselves and can be spoiled ...at will.
There is another family member that actually worked out the above suggestion
but we're the only two that favor "downsizing" the gift giving... the plan
was vetoed by my wife's sister who wants to give to everyone no matter what
it takes.
Does anyone else have a gift exchange plan that works? (Sorry for being so
long winded and I hope I explained the situation well). (21 more shopping days 'till Christmas) |
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-Does your wife agree with the "Gift Giving SUGGESTION"
described above? If so, continues as usual with the
excessive gift giving this year, but inform everyone that
this is the LAST year you'll be doing it.
Does the SUGGESTION have a budgeted amount for the adults
and children? If so, tell everyone that you'll gladly
participate in the aforementioned plan next Christmas if
they all agree. If they don't, ask them to remove you from
their gift giving list. Then, donate the amount that would
have been spent on the SUGGESTION, to a charity of your
choice that will provide a merry Christmas to some who are
less fortunate than yourself. After all, this is Christmas,
and the true meaning has nothing to do with fattening the
coffers of K-Mart, Wal-Mart et al. -Still have a fondness for a nice tight booty... ...now that I think
about it ...mushy butts are cool too. So I haven't changed a whole lot in
that regard. The Bootyman alias was following me around in a negative sense
so regretfully I put the Booty alias in storage. (Folks would take a
trolling digital shot a Booty with no real intent other than to gain some
sort of twisted pride in their digital attack... on "booty"...). An odd
sort of behavior... but all trolling (flaming) is odd isn't it. (That's not
a question).
My latest and greatest interest in female vocalists has shifted to Eva
Cassidy. If you haven't hear her sing yet... get down to your local music
store and by her CD immediately. May I suggest "Songbird" as a starter.
She has a total of six CD's released, all after her death from cancer about
five years ago. A remarkable woman... with a remarkable story. She *never*
had a recording contract while *alive*.
My #2 son is finishing his first degree in music theory and will be studying
voice at the UofW so I get a bit more insight into music in general because
of his involvement in writing music and singing.
Anyway... I've been hangin' here as long as all yous guys... once I left
WorldNet or was tossed from WorldNet? I went to Mindspring... and I
think I got tossed from there as well. Now that I think about it I believe
Sprint tossed me too. I suspect
this article will be followed by an array of trolling mindlessness ...*but*... in the sprit of Christmas I'd surface for a moment and say...
hello. You're one of the few from the WorldNet groups (post beta days) that
I felt comfortable with or could trust to use logic. |
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