Pay all your bills and responsibilities first before you spend money you can't afford on Christmas gifts.
Do not supply your kids with gifts way beyond your means and then come crying to me that your electric is going to be shut off and you need to borrow money.
I have a sister and she does this. (Also, her adult kids do this, so apparently she passed on this gene.) Always has. She would also apply to all sorts of places to get things for the kids at Christmas. Yes, there is help there---but perhaps if you stopped smoking a pack a day each and stopped drinking 2 cases of beer a week.........
In 2009, both DH and myself were laid off. If it wasn't for the company he was temping for, my kids wouldn't have had a Christmas that year. My sister--same year---took out payday loans to pay her electric, phone, and rent because she spent her paycheck and her DH's disability check on Christmas.
In 2010, we were ok, and managed to scrape together a small Christmas (he was still temping, and they gave him a bonus, which covered the holiday). My sister and her oldest daughter both got new credit cards, ran them up for presents, then defaulted.
Last year, we were doing pretty well. DH has a FT job again, and we're back to getting it together. Still not as big as some of the Christmases we had when the girls were little, but well enough that DS got most of what he wanted. My sister and her oldest son both, once again, spent rent money on Christmas and then had to move in with the oldest daughter.
This year, my Christmas money went on having to move. (Yes, I'm glad the landlord is coming home safe, after 10 years of being military
...but I still wish he could be coming home safe in February or March...just personal frustration there.) So, my adult DDs won't see a present from us until February, and DS will get a very small holiday from Santa (and promises with more to come from mom and dad in January). My sister, and her two adult DDs...have already used November's rent money for the one DD for presents..leaving her and her two sons to move in with sis...and plan to use the other DD's December paychecks for more...leaving her to move in with either sis or the oldest son.