Almost time to start Christmas shopping!

[easyas123]

We're the same....we don't buy gifts anymore. The three teens (niece and two nephews) all want cash. We don't exchange with siblings or parents anymore. Everyone has what they need...plus plenty of "wants" too. DH and I take nice trips, that's our gift for each other. It takes a lot of the craziness out of the holiday for sure.

Honestly every year we lean more and more towards this and buy less and less gifts. Now that our kids or adults are nieces and nephews, except one are all adults, the act of simplifying really makes the holiday more and more enjoyable.

 

[dvcgirl67]

Honestly every year we lean more and more towards this and buy less and less gifts. Now that our kids or adults are nieces and nephews, except one are all adults, the act of simplifying really makes the holiday more and more enjoyable.

It's been great to be honest. They way we "give" as adults in our families, is that we go to my sister's house for Christmas Eve....so they're doing the heavy lifting as far as entertaining. At this point, we mostly cater everything and we split that with them for the whole crew that comes. And we bring nice wine. Christmas Day at my Italian father-in-law is always lasagna dinner....that he makes himself every year (at age 91!!). We bring the antipasto and other apps....and good wine. Good wine elevates everything . It's just nice to focus on visiting with each other.

 

[RedAngie]

Fret not! I'll be happy with cash.

 

[barkley]

anyone going out to shop starting today is putting their lives in danger. projected -35 wind chill factor, current temp 3 degrees, estimated snow overnite tonight 4-6 inches. the de-icer is not working on the roads cuz it's so cold, i'm getting notifications on my cell phone every 5 minutes or so of another roll over or jack knifed big rig.

 

[easyas123]

anyone going out to shop starting today is putting their lives in danger. projected -35 wind chill factor, current temp 3 degrees, estimated snow overnite tonight 4-6 inches. the de-icer is not working on the roads cuz it's so cold, i'm getting notifications on my cell phone every 5 minutes or so of another roll over or jack knifed big rig.

Im going out tomorrow- dog has a vet appointment. Rain & 45 here, yeah the temps drop in the evening and weekend but not like we can’t all go to work and whatnot tomorrow in areas not impacted-

 

[barkley]

Im going out tomorrow- dog has a vet appointment. Rain & 45 here, yeah the temps drop in the evening and weekend but not like we can’t all go to work and whatnot tomorrow in areas not impacted-

totally understandable for necessities like vet/med appointments, work, groceries...but intentionally putting off gift shopping (not out of financial necessity) until the last minute in regions like mine where we have had repeated advanced weather warnings for a couple of weeks cautioning us is (in my mind) irresponsible and endangering to others.

 

[Kameron Milne]

Ha ha, as usual. Last minutes shopping… I wanted to make so many plans come true this year. I loved the ideas I read about in this article source, but could't accomplish everything. Hope to do this next winter.

 

[slo]

Anyone just a day away from starting their Christmas shopping?

That would stress me out!

*On Wednesday a couple people I know haven’t started yet

 

[slo]

We're the same....we don't buy gifts anymore. The three teens (niece and two nephews) all want cash. We don't exchange with siblings or parents anymore. Everyone has what they need...plus plenty of "wants" too. DH and I take nice trips, that's our gift for each other. It takes a lot of the craziness out of the holiday for sure.

I’m jealous - I would love to not exchange with parents and have Christmas be like Thanksgiving. It’s not the money being spent or having to buy the gifts, it’s the trying to figure out what to buy - everyone is so blessed to have what they need and I’m trying to get stuff out of my house and not bring more stuff into it.

Last night my DH, DD19 and I discussed that starting next year we’re just going to do a few little gifts to each other and put money towards adventures instead. There’s so many places we want to go and all that Christmas money we spend on gifts can go towards that. They agreed so we’re going to start a new tradition

 

[dvcgirl67]

I’m jealous - I would love to not exchange with parents and have Christmas be like Thanksgiving. It’s not the money being spent or having to buy the gifts, it’s the trying to figure out what to buy - everyone is so blessed to have what they need and I’m trying to get stuff out of my house and not bring more stuff into it.

Last night my DH, DD19 and I discussed that starting next year we’re just going to do a few little gifts to each other and put money towards adventures instead. There’s so many places we want to go and all that Christmas money we spend on gifts can go towards that. They agreed so we’re going to start a new tradition

That's great! We're even to the point with my niece and nephews that we venmo them their gift because they all use their phones for debit card purchases. Makes life a lot easier for sure and removes a ton of stress from the Holiday season.

 

[RamblingMad]

Starting right now. I have the flu, so I'll be celebrating next weekend.

 

[kymom99]

I told my husband no gifts for me. He listened. I bought myself 2 small things from Santa. My son got me something I asked for. I don’t really like getting gifts just because it’s the expectation.

After the storm on Thursday/Friday, our furnace was having a lot of trouble keeping up. It was very stressful. The roads around here weren’t good so some of our plans had to change. It’s disappointing but I guess we will live with it. Fortunate we had everything we needed before things got bad.

A major interstate was closed for a long time due to the weather. They had to send an emergency alert out on our phones so people would stop trying to use it.

 

[MillauFr]

Only 364 shopping days to Christmas 2023.

 

[Kameron Milne]

Great! So I hope I can make it this time lol