Christmas Shopping

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Personally, Christmas has fizzled out for me and no one I know wants more stuff. Donations in someone's name is the way to go I think. No kids left in the family (we weren't prolific). Seventy years and it's just stale. I wish I could be in a cottage the woods...snow falling softly, fire crackling, cbc on.
If not that, then this. It would make a nice present for less than a car detailing.1000002360.jpg
Both scenarios are extremely unlikely.
:LOL:
 
Cottaging in the woods is a summer thing for us. But I definitely feel the softly falling snow scenario with the fireplace going.

I relate to the fizzled out and stale feelings @ninj

Mixed feelings abound when it comes to Christmas I think.
 
Is the gift of giving a thing long past as we tend to forget ... because we didn't wish to understand how this works in genera-L support?

Then we ask about gener-Æ! Genteel ...
 
ninj said:
Experiences vs things are more memorable. Like @Mrs.Anteater is doing. Great idea!
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Yes, wonderful!

The only downside I see is that experiences can be more expensive than physical objects. But I suppose they don't need to be. Certificates for babysitting, a promise to cook a themed dinner or a pledge to help clean the garage could all work.

The need to have gifts to open can be solved by getting creative with wrapping the tickets, printing cute certificates and so.

Consumable gifts are great too.

Charitable donations on the person's behalf can be meaningful. I once received such a donation as a thanks from someone at church. She gave me a card from the agency indicating a donation had been made. She wrote a few nice words on the card. Now that I think about it, I still have the card in a box of little treasures.

Back when we were exchanging gifts with extended family, I was almost preprogrammed to hit the malls. :unsure:
 
paradox3 said:
Yes, wonderful!

The only downside I see is that experiences can be more expensive than physical objects. But I suppose they don't need to be. Certificates for babysitting, a promise to cook a themed dinner or a pledge to help clean the garage could all work.

The need to have gifts to open can be solved by getting creative with wrapping the tickets, printing cute certificates and so.

Consumable gifts are great too.

Charitable donations on the person's behalf can be meaningful. I once received such a donation as a thanks from someone at church. She gave me a card from the agency indicating a donation had been made. She wrote a few nice words on the card. Now that I think about it, I still have the card in a box of little treasures.

Back when we were exchanging gifts with extended family, I was almost preprogrammed to hit the malls. :unsure:
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Most people don't even remember what they were given on Christmas days past....but an experience is
 
Someone I know has a family tradition of buying books with the expectation they will be passed along after reading. This always seemed silly to me. Why not just go to the library?

But I guess it means reading the new releases and best sellers more quickly than getting on the wait list at the library.
 
Getting a new book is more than just the book. It's time of sitting. It is memories of boxing days with families curled up with new books, toys. It can be an ongoing tradition.

It is a pass-it-on, share them. Some of mine have ended up in cottage country little lending library after I posted on Facebook - does anyone want these books
 
As long as the book hasn't been culled ... a type of elimination of broad based literature that addresses things that many would deny as a messy business ... is such knowledge censored due to ignorance or such? I know I can't say be cause I was told to shut up ... thus I write ... silence is best! Just some mere scratching or clicking in the shadows ...
 
paradox3 said:
Re: the Yankee gift swap (Why is it called that?) Here are 3 examples that made me feel bad.

1. The gift I brought was two handmade stained glass Christmas tree ornaments (crafted by Mr Paradox.) They were treated like a gag gift and got passed around as funny earrings.
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The name - because it's less racist than Chinese Gift Exchange/Santa - used to be the most popular name.
Chemguy was an organizer of a work one and he asked me what to call it. I gave him non-offensive suggestions. He went with dirty Santa but that did cause some confusion one year as to if it was supposed to be gag gifts or not (one new person took it to mean gag). Everyone had a good time with it though, the person highest up in position stole the gag gift so everyone left happy. Since then I think the organizer has always ensured to keep the details obvious and not just assumed.

Stained glass ornaments sounds like a lovely gift! My mom in particular loves the glass ornaments, especially angels as she loves how the tree lights catch them.

I usually enjoy the game, but I can see how when that's the family Christmas exchange it might not go over as well. I remember my great aunt hosted a few when we had a Christmas gathering when many people were present - but she actually bought all the gifts herself. We still exchanged gifts within smaller family groups. Small issue with my generation and not understanding, her rules were different so when a gift was stolen we had to wait to get an item - by the end we were all happy.

I think these work best with workplaces and a low-ish price limit. Worst case, someone ends up with a box of chocolates or alcohol they won't use personally, but gets regifted for a host gift or something instead.
 
No Christmas shopping done yet - I just finished buying the birthday gifts for this year - and they haven't arrived yet.
I try to get an earlier start, but have shifted to doing a lot of online stuff. We also reduced a while ago - stocking-like gifts for adults, gifts for the kids. Good reminder though to check in with Chemguy and his family - he wants to be there for Christmas Eve and they used to always draw names. It has been less consistent the past 5ish years. We had stayed involved when everyone else did, even if we weren't attending. Some people declared they weren't participating though so I suggested we stop when we aren't even there. We have no issues with anyone in the family but that's not true between everyone else so I didn't want the appearance of 'one upping' those not participating. It can feel a bit tricky at times to navigate the relationships when some of the connections have gone low contact. I've also been the only in-law of our generation - until this year.
 
Something that was done in my youth (in Germany) was called “ wichteln”- translated something like “gnoming”. You would draw names and then you would be the one to make “gnomes” for that person- something small- a piece of candy, a little something, during the period before Christmas. You would leave that gnome with the name of the person somewhere a bit in a hiding place, but still easy to spot. If someone saw the gnome, they would mention to the person who hasn’t found it yet, “ I’ve spotted a gnome”, which sends that person off searching. The hiding and finding was the main fun of the game.
 
The Secret Santa tradition is pretty much the same without the hiding of the little gifts.
 
Mrs.Anteater said:
Something that was done in my youth (in Germany) was called “ wichteln”- translated something like “gnoming”. You would draw names and then you would be the one to make “gnomes” for that person- something small- a piece of candy, a little something, during the period before Christmas. You would leave that gnome with the name of the person somewhere a bit in a hiding place, but still easy to spot. If someone saw the gnome, they would mention to the person who hasn’t found it yet, “ I’ve spotted a gnome”, which sends that person off searching. The hiding and finding was the main fun of the game.
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In conversion could this pop-up a gnomia ... a quiet place for gnomen? Similar to elves up there ... causing stange antes or antics!

Mote a' vation as the vat I Cannus ... dog of Roman nature ... made into a tome or book vs a scroll ... the effect on the mind is like page ante ... tryst ...
 
My congregation does a chocolate fundraiser twice a year, so I get nice chocolates for my son's package, for my daughter, for my sister, for the big guy.
 
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