Is it REALLY that difficult?? To hear some people talk about it, you would think that they would rather die than have to actually finish the dreaded chore of making sure that they get the right gift for everyone... I hear it at the office all the time, people gather around the break room talking about what they are getting who AND what they think they expect in return!?! Huh?? Is that what it is all about? To some, yes! Some moron the other day attempted to start a conversation with me about this topic while we were standing at the urinals... HUH?? Wow! First off, do I have a sign on me that says I enjoy idle banter?? Secondly, hello, why do you want to start a conversation with me while we are relieving ourselves?? The attempt at conversation abruptly ended though when he looked at the 'I can't Fing believe you are trying to talk to me' look on my face... Anyway, I know some people fret the entire season about the whole prospect of gift giving and gift receiving... Most of the people who do that, don't even appear to enjoy a single aspect of the season, and are likely miserable as hell throughout it and likely are quite relieved when January 1st arrives, but then they also likely start planning either 'revenge' for the people who didn't give as they think they should have or planning the 'gotta do it better' next season because that 'person' outdid me this year... Stunning really...
How about gift cards? That is the topic that got me thinking about the miserable, pathetic fools who don't bother to enjoy the season, but fret about it the entire time... It started with this article:
Gift cards are not gifts...
Wow!! And Miss Manners can kiss my ass too! Although, I wouldn't even bother reading that one if I were you, I MUCH prefer the article written that slams her about the whole concept:
Some language may not be appropriate to some readers... :)
My thought on the topic is, we don't give to receive, EVER! Carolyn and I do give Christmas presents, but we have NEVER expected anything in return, it wouldn't be a gift then, would it?? If you gave and then expected something in return, why not just each person go buy their own crap?? I don't get it AT ALL!
How about all the commercials? You MUST give gifts to your landscaper, barber, mail carrier, paper boy, blah, blah, blah, blah... Sure, it's nice if you want to, but HAVE to?? Yeah, whatever! I'm all about being kind to everyone, and I am to people whose services I use, but I DON'T feel as if I have to do shit because some moron who thinks they know about etiquette or manners tells me I have to... Idiots!!
I think people like that should take a HUGE chill pill and start enjoying the things that go on during the Christmas season. The family activities, the festive moods, the house at night when just the Christmas tree lights are on, driving through the neighborhood with the kids, listening to them ooh and aah about the various lights people have out, and of course the reason for the season, telling the story about Christmas! I doubt the 'people' who fret about the season SO much over the whole gift giving/receiving thing though EVER do actually enjoy it at all, and it's kind of sad really...
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Yeah I enjoy shopping. And actually Adam's family is huge about making lists and getting people stuff from their lists, which I think takes a lot of the fun out of trying to pick out something for someone. Ya know?
Adam and I decided to just do stockings for each other this year, and put the money we would've spent on each other into savings since we are looking to get a house this summer, we figure that's a better way to spend our money then a bunch of useless junk we'll forget about in a couple weeks.
Oh Christmas time.
Trust me, I know... I remember the first Christmas Carolyn and I were married, we were at my father-in-laws house, we had all just exchanged names for Christmas, then everyone dove for the Sunday paper and started rifling through the ads, the next thing I knew, everyone had an ad in their hands with something circled on it that they wanted, which they then proceeded to give to the person who had drawn their name, I was flabbergasted... I was thinking, "Doesn't this take all the fun and enjoyment out of it all??" Carolyn and I do get a good laugh out of it though when we think about it... :)
Good thinking about saving rather than buying crap you probably don't need! Too many people spend from January until June paying off their credit cards that they used buying the junk that by the time the bills are paid has long since been discarded, broken, thrown out or regifted...
Yes, I agree with you. People spend WAY too much time and energy on getting everyone "What they want" for Christmas. A "present" is supposed to be a surprise....and where do people get off demanding presents from people?
Of course, a lot of the "You should buy your postman, next door neighbor, gas station attendant..." presents is all just pressure from the retail industry trying to get people to where they feel obligated to buy presents for more people so they're spend more money.
No one is obligated to buy anyone a present. If we do choose to buy presents for people, we should do it expecting nothing in return. That's the real idea of giving!
And yes - enjoy the season! The festivities, the Christmas music...etc.
I overheard someone just the otherday saying "My husband better get me .... for Christmas, or he's going to regret it." Just blows my mind!
No kidding! The whole 'I better get x, y or z' kills me!
"Spin, Magic Wheel of Entitlement Douchery, Spin!"
too funny!
Did you click on the Violent Acres link? She's pretty funny.
Who does that lady think she's talking to?? I LOVE gift cards. :) Andy knows that if he gets me a gift certificate to scrapsupply or a gift card to Target that I'm thrilled beyond thrilled. lol So I think nothing of buying them for others - thinking they'll get just as much joy out of it as I will.
I do like to do handmade gifts when I get the time and have the means, but for now I handmake the cards... and this year that's pretty much all we're able to do but I figure people won't even care - if they do then I guess they don't really care about me, you know?! At first, I was like "let's just charge some gifts to send out" until Andy steered me in the right direction about not getting into debt again. And as for each other, as soon as the after-Christmas sales start, Andy and I are getting a new washing machine! :)
LOL! Yeah, I found the entire thing rather amusing Titus... :)
Yeah, I get e-mails when the Violent Acres blog is updated, which is how I found the other articles Petra...
I'm so with you too, who wouldn't want a gift card?!? I'd RATHER have a gift card than something I may or may not ever use, because I'm the type of person that if I want or need something, I go get it, I don't WAIT for Christmas! NOT that I don't mind gifts, but I would never be offended about a gift card! If there was anyone on my 'list' who was, I'd cross them off the list! :)
Kudos to Andy for 'steering' you in the right direction as well! It's insane to borrow money to buy gifts imo!! (Or anything for that matter) :)
totally agree about the entire "entitlement" thing... People should give because they want to, and because they feel like the person they are giving something to would want or need it.
As the boys get older I get a little more disgusted by this whole "give to get" mentality - maybe the jewish people have something there - no gifts, just 8 days of reflection and giving means that you give whenever you like to someone you want to give something to?? :) not that I agree with anything much about the Jewish religion, but that one piece, hmmm - has some merit.
A LOT of my friends are Jewish and 1/2 my neighborhood, which emmerses me into their "non" holiday situation - you can't ask them what they are getting their mother or sister for holiday, they would look at you and say um? we dont ever give gifts??
Marci - I know some Jewish people that give/get 8 days of gifts. maybe they aren't 'supposed' to?! lol
I know Jews that give the eight days too Petra LOL.
I agree on the whole gift giving thing, I love to give gifts if we can afford to. LeRoy helps me on the afford part :). I just love seeing people's faces when you have given them a gift they really wanted, too me that is the best gift because I like to make people happy ... except for selfish, arrogant people, I just like to annoy them ; ).
hmm the ones I talk to about gift giving don't give anything at all... probably some do? :)
Oh, so much to say! How did I miss this post.
Titus and I talked about the whole gift card thing. I don't like gift card. If you really don't know me enough to know what I like or the kind of stuff I like, then a nice card will be fine. Or take a chance and send a gift receipt. But I do agree that for teenagers it makes sense. just my opinion. :D
As for the Jewish people, my mom is Jewish and I still give her 8 days of presents. She agrees that it is not a gift giving holiday, but she enjoys the packages I send to her every year! She said in Israel, that they don't really have any gift giving holidays. They have Purim, but for that you give people baskets of apples and honey. Apparently, the 8 days of gifts was also blown out by good ole Hallmark because the jewish kids wanted gifts too during Christmas. :D
So... next... do you all have garbage men that leave their address and a holiday greeting on your garbage cans every year??? I think it is a hint as to where you can send them their holiday gifts. And if so, DO YOU SEND ANYTHING??
If the garbage men are actually leaving their address - that is basically asking for a gift. No - I wouldn't send one.
That goes back to the people who expect people to give them gifts....a "gift" is something you give people because you choose to - not because they "deserve" it.
If you are giving them something because they "deserve" it - they should be called Christmas Awards - not Christmas Gifts! :-)
My opinion on the matter anyhow!
Yeah, I pay for my garbage to be picked up - the garbage men aren't just doing me a favor by taking my trash... so a Christmas gift? I've never even met them so - no. No gift for them. Maybe if I was a gazillionaire and was just passing out gifts to anyone I met?!
Jackie - is that just for Christmas? Or did you not like the gift card I sent for ya'lls wedding? If that's the case, know that I LOVE gift cards above anything so the intentions were good. ;)
About the only people, outside of family, that I give gifts to are my kids teachers and we usually give our neighbors a basket of either homemade goods, or something... No, not ALL our neighbors, but a select few... :)
Yeah - just after I typed that comment about the garbage men, we checked our porch cooler and the milkman left a Christmas photo card with his family on it (and he's wearing a moose ears hat?). I guess that means he wants a tip??? I'll leave him a card in the cooler for next weeks milk. lol
I give the teachers small gifts (the elementary age ones - for Brittany I bought a box of candy canes for her to hand out). I will probably bake cookies for the select few neighbors that I like (not the child molester family across the stree though).
'street' that is, not 'stree'. lol!
You have a child molester family across the street?? That can't be good.
Ah.... :D The gift cards that we got the from the wedding were great! I forgot about that. We got many lovely gifts and it was great to use the gift cards to complete some of the sets. :D So, YES, Petra... we loved and appreciated your gift! :D
Yep and I agree with you all on the gift thing for the garbage guy, but I fear that if we don't do a little something, he may "accidentally" forget us sometime during the year. :D
Nice call on giving the teachers a little something! I can imagine that they really appreciate it.
Yeah - he's actually more catty corner from us than directly across... we didn't find out until we moved in (wasn't on the family watchdog site yet, just on the county police site). We saw him listed as "child under the age of 12" so we were like "great!" and then a couple neighbors filled us in on the disturbing saga. Apparently someone had printed out the page from the police station website showing he was a convicted child molester and put copies on everyone's porch so they'd know (nice of them, I think). And a neighbor who had gone down and asked the wife what the story was (she's like that) told us all about it. She said they had porno mags out on the coffee table like they were Family Circle or something... there are 4 kids I think (one is a nephew - he and his mom live there with them), AND they just had ANOTHER baby... I mean - if you found out your husband was molesting your kids would you have another child with him?!?!?!?! So gross. And he is so disgusting - he LOOKS creepy (but that might be b/c I know he IS creepy). I guess he's not 'supposed' to be there with the kids without another adult present - so the cops told Andy when he called b/c the guy was there all the time and Andy wanted to know what the heck! But we see him there all the time - with or without other adults. We get dirty looks from them all the time b/c our kids have been instructed to say "we aren't allowed to play with you" to their kids - so I guess the parents don't like that - but NONE of the other kids in the neighborhood play with them either (I mean - I DO feel bad for the kids, but I don't want them teaching my kids anything, you know?! And apparently the older kids - around 12ish - are mean and stuff - according to other kids in the neighborhood. They went ALL out for Halloween with the decor etc and of course we didn't trick or treat there, but we thought they should have to put a sign in their yard saying "child molester lives here" or something... some states have laws where child molesters are not allowed to decorate or leave lights on for trick or treaters... and I agree with that law.
Okay THAT was a long story. lol
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