I Must Confess: I have mixed feelings about Christmas and really struggle to get into it every year.
Am I a Grinch? Or a Scrooge?!
I’ve already shared about the ghosts of Christmas past …
My main problem, and I know I’m not alone, is the blatant commercialism/consumerism, and the excessive pressure to “spend, spend, spend”. The temptation to prove my love with gifts is overwhelming!
Does anybody else feel like it is just spending for the sake of spending?!
Let’s face it, we live in the Lucky Country (even with drought, floods, and the Global Financial Crisis), and many of us are blessed to be able to buy whatever we need or even want. It seems such a waste to give and receive presents that will only collect dust, or tossed away, ending up as landfill …
My children have never had to go without, unlike my own childhood. But many is the time I have caved into that Christmas pressure and bought them toys and gifts which I *know* they don’t need, and which will be forgotten within days or even hours!
There are so many people in the world who don’t even have access to clean water or food, that it seems greedy and wasteful!
I can’t help feeling that I would rather buy a gift for my loved ones and friends for no particular reason, except that I have seen something that I know they will really enjoy.
To me, this seems a much better idea than struggling to come up with the “perfect” present on 25 December.
But would I?!
And would you if there was no such thing as Christmas?!
I am hearing you Janet. Before Nick came along, we were total scrooges! We didn’t do anything for Christmas if we could help it. Then Nick came along and we had a renewed passion for it. But now he’s getting older, I’m feeling very frustrated by what we think we should spend on him, what we CAN spend on him, what other friends are spending on their kids (some are RIDICULOUS). We are very lucky that we tend to buy what we want through the year, I don’t see the need to go overboard at Christmas. Ah well. I think as long as you spend quality time with family, a small gift is sufficient, and just enjoy the day. x
I attempted to start my Christmas shopping on the weekend but couldn’t get into it. Our girls are now 13, 15 & 16 and still have some expectations of how things should run. Thankfully we’ve always been fairly low key so their expectations aren’t over the top but I would love it if the rest of the family would decide to give Christmas a miss this year.
I have to admit going way over the top in the past, especially when I lived in the UK. It’s very much thrust upon you over there and with the cold weather you can’t help but get festive and spend far too much. Since living in Australia, I have a different approach. Less is most definitely more and that applies to over-indulging on food too. As you say, it’s nicer to receive a random gift or bunch of flowers throughout the year!
I think it’s sad that Christmas is seen as a stressful, consumerism affair because back in my grandmas day it was a very special occasion and she was always given a bangle and she looked forward to those bangles. In this age we don’t wait for Christmas or Birthdays for things we like… We buy them throughout the year and when it comes to Christmas we’re buying more than we can afford. I love Christmas and it’s a special time for our girls. We haven’t gone overboard but I’m happy with what we’ve spent and bought. I totally understand where you’re coming from Janet, and sadly most of the world forget why we have Christmas in the first place. X
You look so cute in that photo Janet! I hate the pointless spending too. It’s way over the top.