What do you want for Christmas?

[WildChild]

Homemade goddies are another good gift, Peanut brittle, breads, jams, flavored liquors, cookies.

[CHANDLERS WISH]

Quit hyjacking the thread you two

[dr.mansview]

Quit hyjacking the thread you two

sorry CW..she always has to get the last word in..

i'd also like a new lazy boy chair

[ThexMrs]

sorry CW..she always has to get the last word in..

i'd also like a new lazy boy chair

What to the ever!

[Isabellacat]

I'd like a new laptop and some new lingerie.

[OhThereYouAre]

Meh - receiving is overrated.

WC - watch the gift cards this year. They are getting even more tricky with their practices. I find all of the caveats and stipulations that come with gift cards more of a hassle than a gift.

[WildChild]

Meh - receiving is overrated.

I used to think that way and am still working on correcting it. Giving feels good and it is part of loving. If you are unwilling to receive you deprive others of the joy of giving to you. When we love someone, if we are a balanced person, we want to give to them, to share their joy and not to just receive. Giving is important, receiving is equally important.

I'm really not big on the holiday giving but on giving when it seems appropriate or when there is something I think will really bring pleasure.

[OhThereYouAre]

I used to think that way and am still working on correcting it. Giving feels good and it is part of loving. If you are unwilling to receive you deprive others of the joy of giving to you. When we love someone, if we are a balanced person, we want to give to them, to share their joy and not to just receive. Giving is important, receiving is equally important.

I'm really not big on the holiday giving but on giving when it seems appropriate or when there is something I think will really bring pleasure.

Agreed. The folks around me give to me in other ways...material things i'm not interested in or I can get myself. It's the other things....demonstrations of loyalty, of trust and of affection that really please me.

These days holidays are one big list of hassles that people work endlessly to check off. It's sad. The only folks who are profiting from it are retail and credit card issuers.

[pretzel]

I only want 2 things for Christmas,

1) for my wife and her kids to understand that just because they want it doesn't mean their entitled to it.

2) a good book about politics (no bio's please, I hate them)

[WildChild]

In tough economic times the expected gift giving can strain people to the breaking point. People will give the oddest stuff, it's obvious they had no idea what to give and just came up with anything.

I'm amazed at the things people will give as gifts. As a single parent, who has come through a series of financially devistating events, giving gifts as a tradition can be difficult but I bake, make things (have been a professional seamstress) and keep an eye out for a good book. Some of the things I've received have left me baffled why they spent their money. Things I wouldn't use or buy even if money was no object and I had room to just store it. There is so much I could use, like a grocery store certificate or an offer to help pay my son's sport fee for school, or the renewal of a magazine subscription, heck even a box of tea - I'll get gifts that all I can do is say, "thank you, it was so good of you to think of me" and put it in the Goodwill pile later.

We need to get away from the obligatory gifts and give what feels right at a time it will be most appreciated. The Christmas giving is about economics, many people go into huge debt and for many businesses it is what keeps them in business - which argues a flimsy need for what they provide. Getting a pile of stuff all at once prevents real appreciation for most of it. If you watch kids with this, they'll have more fun with the wrapping paper and boxes than what's in them sometimes. Often they unwrap a gift and want to enjoy and explore it but get pushed into opening more and it can get overwhelming, they end up not really even knowing what they got. I think it leads to a sort of let down.

I enjoy most getting together with family and freinds, the gift of their time and presence is the best present.