Happy Holidays.

[Eamonn]

About a month back I had to visit Sam's Club as we were running low on dog biscuits. I was a little taken back to see all the Christmas Trees and decorations on display.

I enjoy Christmas but I'm not sure that I want it to last for 3 months.

Over the years I have started to appreciate Thanksgiving more. It is nice that we have a holiday which everyone can enjoy and join in without any real barriers.

Last year I worked Thanksgiving in the jail. I wished a Muslin inmate a happy Thanksgiving. He said that for him it was just another day. I went on to inform him how lucky he was by telling him how bad things could be and how much worse off he might be.

I'm not sure if he agreed with me because I was right or if he agreed with me in order to get rid of me? But for a minute I felt I'd made an impression.

 

Sometimes around Christmas time I feel that I have failed as a parent.

A lot of the things that make Christmas special for me; the music, the renewed feeling of hope for us all and the idea that we can be nice to each other. Just doesn't seem to have rubbed off on my son. For him it seems to be a time when the most important thing is "What's in it for me?"

Rumor has it that the stores are getting ready for a slow Christmas. A co-worker told me the other day that he is waiting for Christmas, as he expects to buy a 32" LCD TV for less than $300.00.

I have more than enough TV's. In fact I don't need anything. (Maybe this might be the reason why people tell me I'm so hard to buy stuff for?) Her Who Must Be Obeyed thinks that I'm just being silly and gets a little annoyed when she asks e what I want for Christmas? And I reply Peace on earth and joy to all. The truth is that I'm not joking.

 

Her Who Must Be Obeyed does get into making the house look like Santa's Grotto for the holiday. We have to have a real tree that is twice the size that is needed, we have thousands and thousands of lights. Decorating the tree is a big thing. (A day or so after we have had our annual Christmas Tree fight. I get upset that the tree is too big and keeps falling over and blame her for buying such a big tree.) Each and every ornament is unwrapped and we talk about when it was bought and who it was bought for. Some have special spots on the tree.

I used to think all of this really was Humbug, but since she got sick I'm happy to buy into it all. My way of being thankful that she is still here to share another Christmas with me.

We have over the years managed to merge her American Christmas traditions along with my Anglo-Irish Christmas traditions. This merger of traditions has become OJ's Christmas. Hopefully in time he will find the right girl and in time they will have their own way of celebrating the holiday.

The true message of Christmas can be found in the Scout Law. It has nothing to do with a 32" LCD TV for $300.00.

Times might be a little tougher this Christmas, people might not have as much money to spend as in past years. But maybe this isn't really a bad thing?

Eamonn.

[packsaddle]

Eamonn, I'm with you. And with regard to gifts, I too have everything I really need. So when I am asked what I want for Christmas I respond:

A nice, thoughtful, handwritten letter;

from my neices and nephews, a nice hand drawing or news of a good report card;

from my children, good grades and letters of happy, successful lives;

from my wife, more good days together, maybe a pair of hiking socks.

But then, who needs the holiday if you have all those things? I really don't need anything else.

[scottteng]

That would be a nice Christmas gift a 32" LCD for under $300 I would probably get one. That is quite a deal as the prices on them are $500 and over. I have enough TV's as well but these new HD ones are quite interesting. My dad has one and each TV station seems to have 4 different stations on HD you really get a lot of variety without a cable subscription. Your area may differ. They keep bringing on Christmas earlier and earlier they have gotten to the point where there are several year round Christmas stores where you can buy decorations etc any time. The rank commercialization of all holidays does get a bit wearing. Seems like every time one turns a month there is another Hallmark inspired holiday to buy cards, gifts, candy, or flowers for. I guess it is all part of our consumer driven market economy. We do have the option not to participate and for the most part that is what I choose to do. That used to land me in hot water several times a year but the divorce remedied that. My kids have adjusted they know if they need a costume or cards it is time to break out the sewing kits and craft supplies and make em. Hand made is much better than store bought.

[scoutldr]

My boys and wife got me a 32" HD tv for my birthday, in spite of me telling them I didn't want or need ANYTHING. When my son walked in with the box, I was actually ticked off. My reasons were that my MIL now lives with us and I have no storage space for anything what with oxygen tanks, wheel chairs, and her stuff all over the house. Now the perfectly good 27" Magnavox that I inherited from my Dad 13 years ago sits on the floor in the spare bedroom. I'm not impressed with HD...I watch the news and the Weather Channel...that's about it. Don't care about sports or movies and I don't pay for any premium channels. It's like giving a Ferrari to someone who takes the bus everywhere. I try to live very frugally, and I would never buy a new TV until the old one croaks. Yes it's a little larger, and the few HD channels available on cable look nice, but now all the non-HD channels look crappy and stretched out. I would rest much easier if I knew that their Roth IRA's were fully funded. At ages 30 and 26, they have managed to save ZERO towards retirement...nor do they seem to care.

 

For Christmas, I will repeat my request for NOTHING...I need nothing...especially more things that I need to find space for. I don't want clothes...I am extremely hard to fit (short and fat) and always have to take it back or give it to the Salvation Army a year later with the tags still on. I don't want "gift cards"...because usually I forget I have them and they expire. My wife's family has a tradition of "exchanging names"...you write what you want on a piece of paper with your name and draw from a hat. THen whoever pulls your name goes and buys it and gives it to you. No thought involved...just taking orders. I don't get it. I always suggest...let's just keep our own money and lessen the stress on everyone. Then I'm called Scrooge. One year I pulled my own name and didn't tell anyone. I don't get it. Happy Holidays? Bah!

[FireKat]

I prefer hand-made (from the heart) things. That is also what I prefer to give. Some relitives look down their noses on that and brag on the costs of what they recived/gave. To me the true meaning of CHristmas is what you can do for someone else; not what you get. Spend some time helping a food kitchen or building a house in my name and I am happy. Pass along the spirt of giving as a chrismas gift. Stop worring that so-andso got the latest x-box or what ever and you got clothes.

Learning to give will give you a gift that no one else can give to you. I call it the 'warm, fuzzies' but it is an inner peace and contentment of knowing you did something that someone else really needed and is thankfull for. Try it some time.

[Volunteer]

To get my kids in the "holiday spirit" every year, they go through their toy boxes and closets and pick out all the stuff they do not play with or no longer want. They pack it up and we head to the nearest Salvation Army to donate all their unwanted games, toys, clothes, etc.

 

We do this every year not only to make room for the new gifts but to also teach them that they too ought to give to those who need. It helps them to know that they do not have to hold on to material things and they look forward to the "cleaning of the closets" as a chance to make another kid happy during the holiday season.

 

[Gold Winger]

" I don't want "gift cards"...because usually I forget I have them and they expire."

 

Not any more, by law gift cards for which the merchant has taken money cannot expire. Gift cards which are given by the merchant as part of a promotion may expire.

 

I too am tired of the frantic search for gifts. A friend gave me a gift card for Starbucks last year. I really hate Starbucks coffee. The friend's mom gave me a tin of homemade pizelles and biscotti. I really liked that.

 

Of course, parents today go frantic buying their kids "gifts" for Christmas. It seems like too many parents think that if the kid ever mentioned it, he should get it no matter the cost. Church? No time for that on Christmas day.

 

I could rant for hours but I have to get up early tomorrow.

 

 

[Eamonn]

While I'm not proud to admit it, I have over the years allowed myself to be a victim of the "Pressure"? That has made me buy into the hype of it all.

Yes I have stood outside Toys-R-Us in the rain trying to get the Pokmon cards. I did visit every toy store in seven counties before I got found the Game Boy, the year that the Game Boy warehouse in New Jersey burnt down. I have "Up-Graded the game systems. - Why?

Looking back I'm not really sure why.

I think I'm very fortunate that I have been able to afford this stuff and buying it never caused any financial hardship.

Last week I was talking with a single mother who just started where I work. She doesn't earn that much -Less than $40,000 a year. She has two little girls, one 7 years old and one 10 years old. This Lady was complaining about how she was going to pay for all the stuff she had to buy the girls for Christmas. (She did say what. But I only remember that there was a lap-top and a Wi game system on the list.) She went on to say that she owed over $18,000 on her credit cards. I know when she started work she bought a new Jeep, which she is making payments on.

I can't imagine what she goes through each month trying to make ends meet and make all these payments.

I think she needs to get some help in order to slow down, but she seems to think that this is just the way things are done.

I couldn't help thinking of a jacket that I have in my cupboard. It is a double breasted school blazer that my mother bought me for school when I was 12. (Part of the uniform I needed for school.) The jacket is still too big for me! I remember hearing my Mother tell me that I'd grow into it! It was my Christmas present that year. My parents were fairly well off, but they became that way by being very frugal. At times both HWMBO and OJ inform me that I'm cheap!

Maybe I am? But spending money you don't have on anything that isn't going to make money just seems very daffy to me.

Eamonn.

[scoutldr]

"Not any more, by law gift cards for which the merchant has taken money cannot expire. Gift cards which are given by the merchant as part of a promotion may expire."

 

I'd like to know the source of that info. Merchants around here, particularly restaurants (inlcuding my son's) are still putting expiration dates on their gift certificates (some as short as 6 months).