Are you scaling back for the holidays?

[Bucky]

I was just wondering if any of you are scaling back your holiday celebrations due to the economy and financial strains?

The older I get, I'm getting to the point that less is more.  There doesn't have to be a huge feast for Thanksgiving with way more food than we all need to eat.  I know for myself, if it's there, I'm tempted to eat it. 

With Christmas, I really don't need a gift.  The best "gift" I could receive would be help around the house.   Do the dishes, vacuum, dust, clean the bathrooms, let me sleep in on Saturday morning without waking me up.  That's what I would really like. 

Or I would be thrilled with "coupons" that I could redeem at my will for the above mentioned items.

To me, it just seems that there is too much commercialism in the holidays and people get away from the true, intended reason for the celebrations.

I understand if we, as consumers, spend less, the stores lose money and employees lose their jobs and some times businesses close.  Yet, people tend to spend way more than is necessary or that they have funds to pay for when the bills come.  There's got to be a balance in there.  We live in a "got to have more, more, more" society.

If we would all scale back and if possible, donate food or money to organizations that collect around the holidays so those less fortunate have food to eat, etc. that would be a better way to ring in the holidays.  It only takes a spark to get a fire going  . . . a spark that encourages another soul that mankind for the most part, is kind and caring.

Bucky

[Joe S.]

The holidays are a cooperative effort arranged by my daughter. Jan cooks some thing here. Sarah and her MIL cook some things at Sarah's house and we eat at Sarah's.

[season]

My family and I (about 25 people) have the traditional Christmas dinner. We spend the day enjoying family.

As for the gift giving we don't do the expensive giving. We play a game called "Dirty Santa" and we have so much fun. It is a lot of fun and we laugh a lot.

This time of year can be very stressful. We have to know what we can and can't do as far as the spending goes and overworking ourselves.

[Scottietottie]

Hi 

I have yet to be told whether any of my kids are coming home this year or not. If any come home - I guess we will 'do' Christmas. If they don't - like last year - we won't do anything.

Hubby and I have never liked Christmas but went through with it for the kids. Last year was great. No tree - no decorations - no dinner - no hypocrisy. Thoroughly enjoyed a really chilled out day.

If any of the kids come home I guess there will be a tree and a meal.

Happy holidays everyone - however you do it.

Take care - Scottie 

[irish]

We don't get to "het up" over the Thanksgiving meal at our house. We started having order in pizza last year for Christmas which was wonderful. No stress and everyone enjoyed the day so much more.

Sooo, for Thanksgiving I am going to fix the turkey (while I still can) and fix the mashed potatoes and gravy. Our boys love the turkey, potatoes, gravy, stuffing and cranberries and I am the only one who fixes this so I don't feel like I can quit yet.

I try to fix the gluten free pie crust and a couple of pumpkin pies. Also, always do custard pie and regular pumpkin pie. A couple of years I did a cheese cake that was to die for. So easy and really rich without being overly spendy.

Hope you all have a good holiday---just being with family and sharing time together it wonderful. Irish

[Meld256]

I wouldn't mind if our Thanksgiving meal was rather simple, but my MIL loves the whole big traditional thing so we do it for her and our family here in Ky.  It's fun to get most everyone pitching in together.

We've "scaled back" for Christmas regarding gifts for several years. I make a few homemade things and my husband and I get one rather nice gift for one another. We give our 3 kids gift cards; I know that sounds cheesy (and impersonal to me) but they like it.
I love to decorate for Christmas; the tree, wreaths, you name it. Nothing huge and expensive but things I enjoy.

Speaking of giving to others, I was in a store today that had an "Angel Tree" for children who are in need. I was looking at the tags with a child's name, age, and what they needed and wanted.  I was getting in line and thought, well...maybe I'll do that later, I'm not sure.

When I turned around a tag I hadn't seen fell right at my feet; a tag/gift bag for a boy named Dusty. At that moment, I knew I couldn't hang it back up.  His tag fell at me, so I had to take it home!    He needs socks and underwear, and wants movies and games.  Guess I'll be filling the bag!

[lynnmarie219]

I've been slowing things down for the last couple of years...I have a small tree that is ready to go up on the tv stand and that's about it for decorations....and thats ok becasue we are hardly even home for the holidays. If I don't get any cards out I don't stress about it...I used to ALWAYS get cards out except for the last couple of years I haven't had the time to get it done....will try again this year and see what happens...lol!

I usually make the rounds for Christmas..starting out with 2 stops in the Chicago area with family on Christmas Eve, then I spend the night at my brothers house in the Joliet area, then a big Christmas morning breakfast and gifts with my mom and my brothers family. Then home for one more Christmas dinner and gifts with local family. Of course we have to fit the animals Christmas and gifts in there somewhere too... .

I used to really dislike traveling around everywhere for those two days but since losing my grandparents, great aunt, step dad and my dad...I like to see and spend some time with my family now...you never know what the following year will bring. We do a lot of the stuff we do for the kids in the family and my mom as she has always LOVED Christmas and buying gifts and doing the family visits.

This year will be different for me as my dad's wife has moved out of the house and further away since my dad has passed and my brothers family has GROWN again as my nephew and his family moved back in to the house....guess we will wait and see what this Holiday season brings!

[GeorgiaGirl]

I know I will be scaling back on at least the decorating due to all these lovely Sjogren's symptoms.  It's all so pretty & I enjoy the creative aspect of the decorating.  But, I am not looking forward to stringing lights, dealing with needle-y evergreens & pretty packaging with the way my hands feel.  Much less the taking down & packing away of ornaments. 

[Bucky]

Irish - are you going to share your cheesecake recipe with us?  I love cheesecake.

Meld - it sounds like Dusty was meant to be your little "angel". 

GeorgiaGirl - I hear ya on the "taking down & packing away of ornaments".

For several years I have opted to put up my retro, silver pom pom Christmas tree.  You can't hang real heavy ornaments on it, and you can't use lights.  So, I just get out my color wheel and some light weight ball ornaments.  It's real easy to set it up and then to disassemble it when the holidays are over.

This year, I have asked the quaint little antique shop on the square in town if she wants to borrow my retro tree for her shop.  Her eyes lit up when I offered it.  She said she wasn't looking forward to lugging this big, heavy tree up from the store basement and decorating it.  I told her . . . my tree and color wheel ARE NOT FOR SALE . . but, you can borrow them.     This way, everyone in town can enjoy my tree too!   

So, that means I'll have to bring a different tree up from the basement and use string lights and ornaments - ugh - (I have three trees - kinda like Goldilocks and the Three Bears . . . a small one, a medium size one, and a large one).  Maybe, I can get our son to help bring it up and decorate it.  (Years ago, he wanted a tree in his bedroom - so we put this tree in there and decorated it with his Hot Wheels hung from ribbon.  It looked pretty cool!    ).

Has anyone cut back on your Christmas cards you mail out?  That can add up to quite an expense - I'm still debating on that one.

Bucky

[Carebear]

I started to simplify Christmas a few years ago.  The tree is the only decoration, and honestly I wouldn't bother with that if it weren't for the children and grandchildren.  The meal is way, way scaled down too.  No turkey because none of us care for it.

I was concerned that the family would be upset when I started changing things, but none of them seemed to notice.  We are together because we love each other and want to spend time together.  The things my kids have taught me, eh? 

[Cricket]

As far as the decorating I just put up a slim pre-lit tree.

My house is getting to small for all the kids and adults, so I lucked out there.  We have it at my daughter's house which my house could fit inside.  It is kid friendly with toys and the such.  We have about 25-30 people.  But on Thanksgiving we have it at my cousin's house with the same gang, so not her or I get stuck with both holidays.

But I do not get away free and clear as I have to do all the cooking: roast pork and gravy, home made dumplings [ in order to make enough it takes me about 4 days] sauerkraut and dessert [ just a few, then everyone brings one].

The best about holidays are my family, I love getting together with my cousins and their familys, and my children and grandchildren are always a blessing, we all get along great no arguments!

[lynnmarie219]

Yummmm Cricket...pork and gravy, home made dumplings, and sauerkraut??? I would love to come to your house for dinner...lol...this was some of the good food I was raised on! Yummmmmy!

[Meld256]

Irish yum...cheesecake.  Cricket, you may need to set a place for Lynn and myself, too!  I'd be fine with a paper plate!

Yes, I think Dusty is meant to be my Christmas Angel.  I told my husband how his tag popped off at me and he said, yep, gotta do it!  I've decided to buy for him rather than over-extend myself on many great nieces and nephews. I'll explain before I sound like a real Scrooge...

For the last several years, my husband's aunt and uncle have hosted a big family potluck dinner the week of Christmas, and a cousin has dressed up as Santa for the 10 or 11 kids there.  It's very cute and he does a great job!  We all have a good time together.

My problem is that all the kids there have everything "under the sun."  It's become apparent that all the adults are expected to buy gifts for "Santa" to hand out incognito.  With the amount of adults, it turns out that each child receives about 8-10 items.  This is in addition to all the stuff their parents and grandparents get them. And we're talking about flat-screen TVs, real mini over-the-road vehicles, etc!  The oldest child is 8! 

Please forgive the rant...I haven't meant to offend anyone who wants to give their kids these things.  I'm not trying to preach on childrearing.  It's just for me, personally, I feel since I have limited resources and these children have so much, I will prefer to spend a bit on "Dusty" and maybe a few of his friends on the Angel Tree. 

[irish]

Meld, I guess we are cut out of the same cloth cause 8-10 presents from Santa is really a lot and the kids.

My one DIL has gained my respect in this area. She and our son had some Christmas' that were tight financially and she would get presents at the thrift shops for the kids. Well, the kids are a lot older now and the they now get one new gift from "Santa" and the rest of the gifts are things she picks up at garage sales and thrift shops.

She shops all year and watches for things in good condition. She buys clothes, etc toys, and the kids seem to be happy with them. She is the DIL who makes the kids go through their toys and possessions periodically and pick things they don't use anymore which they then donate to needy kids, etc. These 2 kids still have way too many toys---a sign of the times I am afraid, but at least she is placing the notion in their heads that others aren't as forunate.

We have cut way down on Christmas around here and we never did go overboards. The adults buy one gift for each child so being we have a small family that means 3 gifts to open from aunts and uncles and grandparents. We keep the cost down to around 20-25$ for each kid. The adults used to draw names and we quit that and don't even buy for each other.

I finally got them talked into not buying a gift for us as we don't need for anything. So, we have very little paper to dispose of and very little hollering and fighting at Christmas and that I like. Haven't exchanged gifts with my sister/hubby's brother for probably 35 years. The economy doesn't get much out of our family that is for sure. Irish

[Carolina]

Good question!

My first response is I will go anywhere for a holiday!  Let someone else clean and cook!!!

I'll bring something and arrive with a big smile.

I've been scaling back more or less since I realized I was baking cookies at 2 am that no one really wanted that much, because it was 'tradition'.....my mother's tradition.   That was about 40 years ago.

When the kids were little I went all out for doing home made stuff, like trimming the tree with popcorn strings,, and having kids friends in to bake gingerbread men to put on the tree.  And driving for hours to be with extended family on Christmas day.

We had a family tradition of  Chinese food for Christmas eve, a Christmas eve service at church, and then dropping in our friends with an ornament for their tree on the way home.   People looked forward to our small sharing of their family time.  It was nice.   

These are all things that didn't cost a lot of money.

I've already done my shopping, by the way.  On line, things with special meaning, books and weird toys (build a rocket car that uses a bottle and water or air power), Christmas DVDs, tub toys for the littlest one who loves her bath in grandma's big tub.

I'm currently printing out envelopes for our Christmas letter.  Our family lives all over and we've moved a lot....hence lots of letters.

We'll probably put up our 'fake' tree, which I finally agreed to.  It really does save us money.  With the grandkids so close, they'll want a tree at our house, I'm sure.

We've never had the sort of money 'some people' have, and I've always had a limited budget.   The best part now is that we don't have to spend a fortune travelling for the holidays.  For six years we flew to Hawaii.   Cause our family was there, and it sounds glamorous, but when money is tight, it isn't.  Now they are 15 minutes away!

We all did spend one Christmas together in Paris, since our eldest son and family live there, and our younger son loves for everyone to get together.  But airfare to France is absurd now.  And we saw that family last summer in Cuba.

I just have to be on the alert for my Christmas depression.  I always forget that it hits.

My father was killed in WWII, so I grew up feeling sad about the celebration of the family that is the center of Christmas, I think.   I don't think it is so bad now, or maybe I'm more ready for it, and on guard.

I think it is a hard time for lots of people. Overdone in so many ways.

Hugs.

Elaine