Christmas Would Be Better Without Presents (My Truth)

My truth about Christmas is that I both love and hate this holiday. Hmmm…maybe hate is a strong word. I both love and dislike this holiday.

I’ll take a few minutes to explain what I mean.

I love wrapping presents, decorating my home, sending Christmas cards, baking cookies, being with my family and having huge celebration with everyone.

I hate shopping for presents.

So how can I love wrapping the gifts but hate the shopping? Simply because I abhor shopping for other people. It’s so hard to find something that you think your sister may like or a shirt that may or may not fit your dad. The decision making process and amount of money being spent soils the whole holiday for me.

My husband is the opposite; he loves shopping for everyone and usually allots himself a hefty budget to shop for everyone; and now that we are married, I’m cutting that hefty budget as much as I can. I think it’s wasteful to spend so much money on people who have over and beyond their basic needs.

I’m a SCROOGE! I know!  

Not only that, I come from a family of adults with, until recently, the one exception of my cousin who is the only kid (15 yrs old now) while my brother, sisters and myself are all grown. It’s not been until the last couple of years that we’ve had more than one child in the family. My brother got married and his wife has 2 children so that added three to the mix and then I got married last year and my husband’s youngest sister is 15 so now there’s 4 children to shop for. Why can’t Christmas just be for the kids? They’re the ones that are really excited about getting gifts. All I need is family, good food, and maybe a 10 deep trip to the movies.

I know it’s wrong. The Lords loves a cheerful giver*. That’s not me though. 

Christmas without presents would technically be a second Thanksgiving; so maybe they should have Christmas gift registry? You know like at weddings and baby showers. I can easily shop for someone and not have to stress and worry about whether they’ll like it or use it. We all had a Christmas list as children why not now? Pick a few items at a “reasonable” price so that your family members will have an idea of what you want. They can purchase from the list and voila! Christmas is easy.

*2 Corinthians 9:7 Each of you should give what youhave decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, forGod loves a cheerful giver.