Finally done Christmas shopping.. I hate it...

[ddeclue]

next up Christmas travel.. I hate that too... Driving this year.

[msongs]

1. "christmas shopping" is a personal choice lol. just say no as nancy used to say nt

[LiberalAndProud]

3. There is a rub there, though.

I share your view, as does my daughter. We are weary of the ingrained notion that Christmas is a time for extreme consumerism. And it seems no matter how much thought, time, energy, money and debt go into the endeavor, the neighbors will always do you one (or more) better. It is a sickness, truly.

But Santa knows if you've been naughty. Heavens to Betsy! That's a hard cultural obstacle to butt up against when there are young people around.

[enough]

4. Hard yes, but it can be done. I'm at about year 10 of not Christmas shopping. Life goes on

and I have not lost any friends or family over it.

[Liberal_in_LA]

5. agreed. It is hard to stop the shopping when kids and teens involved.

[southernyankeebelle]

7. Well I let my fingers do the shopping online and finished a while back. All I got last

minute was groceries for Sunday. Even that I bought the turkey before thanksgiving and had it in the freezer.

[ddeclue]

11. Yeah but try explaining that to your family who are expecting gifts...

[mysuzuki2]

2. A one word solution to the Christmas shopping problem -

gift cards!

[ddeclue]

12. I actually did cheat and buy two of these because my mom is impossible to shop for.

[99Forever]

6. You should feel blessed.

To some of us, we don't even have the option. It would be wonderful to have meaningful work that paid enough that I could afford to complain about the time I used buying gifts for the ones I love. To say nothing of what it would do for my self-respect.

Just an alternate perspective.

[ddeclue]

13. I understand. I was unemployed at Christmas in 2008 and 2009. It sucks. nt

[woodsprite]

8. I usually get something small for me and my husband's coworkers.

This year has been a mess with scheduling, etc., so I haven't gotten any baking done yet. That, and I couldn't decide on something economical to get 25 people. I ended up making them all cajun spiced pretzels and made a donation to our local homeless shelter dining room. I attached a note to the bow saying that a donation had been made in their name to our local Emmanual Dining Room.

I wasn't sure how it would be received by all, but it seemed to go over well.

I think I'll do the same type of thing next year. With enough time, maybe I'll get the comm/writing group a donation of books for kids, the design group a gift of art/school supplies for kids and the tech group a gift of computer training for women in the shelter. I seriously thought about gifting the DBA's (staunch tea party repubs) a share of a donkey for a village But I didn't do that ---- this year.

Hope you and everyone on DU have a great holiday and safe travels!

As my friend says "Happy Christma-Hannu-Kwanza-dan"!

[SecurityManager]

9. I am going to put my fair share into the economy at my local mall this

AFTERNOON! WOOT!

[Kingofalldems]

10. Go Christmas shopping in the early morning

You will not believe how pleasant it can be.

[Odin2005]

14. What I find sad about Xmas shopping is...

...that even people strapped for cash feel that they have a social obligation to buy Xmas gifts even if they can't afford them.

One woman told me that she felt obligated to buy lots of presents for her kids and young relatives because "they would not understand the financial situation and think that she and Santa thought they are bad".