How do you avoid the Tempation of Christ(mas)?

[joshuagraham]

I was listening to the Dave Ramsey Show, and he was mentioning how Christmas is a very difficult time for spendaholics. Since a lot of us here are spendaholics, I was wondering how everyone here handles it. As for me, since I am lazy, self-centered and contemptuous and cynical of general consumer spending - i.e., the general stuff that folks buy for Christmas (my weakness is the kind of stuff that folks don't buy for Christmas , similar to a man who needs to have a bigger & better bass boat, etc., but could virtually care less about spending on clothes, furniture, etc.) - Christmas is not a concern for me.

[pamkev]

I have a budget and envelopes and a list. Spending a set amount on each and if it happens to be on sale ( which I look for) it's money left over . The cheap me is if it costs 50 to start with and on sale for 30 I'm 20 dollars to the good. That is how I am doing it this year and the bigger it's all paid for in cash.

Pam

[angel7821]

I have never been one to fall into the trap of how much can I spend for Christmas. I look for things on sale and will buy year round so I am not left at the last minute for gifts I might need. It is not about how much money is spent on gifts. Too many people have forgotten the true meaning of what Christmas is all about. Jesus is the reason for the season!

[tobee43]

we give gas cards, grocery cards, clothing cards etc. each family gets the exact amount...(except the grandkids...waited far too long for them, but they are very small and really are happy with anything from the dollar store, although truthfully i don't do that).

for us christmas is not a religious holiday....we have everything from jews to hindu and catholics, christians, in our family so we just celebrate the "holidays".

angel7821 we have the what we refer to as our "second" kids that live next door and they are devout christians, especially their 7 year old. it was so funny since i decorate to hilt. so this little 7 year old comes up to me and says nana (we are like their grand parents they don't have) i just love your house so full of beautiful decorations but there is something so important missing!!! i said baby what is that?? she said i don't see jesus anywhere in your house!!!!!! i thought best she know now. i had to say there are many faiths and some do not believe that way. she then turned to me and said nana it's time or YOU to go to my church!! LOL!! i will always remember that. so sweet.

[TheBajan]

We participate in a gift exchange where everyone follows a pre-determined spending limit. It's a lot of fun and it takes the pressure off of feeling like you have to buy gifts for everyone. Of course, this still doesn't eliminate the temptation to overspend on the grand kids. I deal with this by remembering the examples of my parents and my husbands mom when our kids were growing up. His mom is on a fixed income and always got each of the grand kids the same gift to not play favorites. It was usually something under $10 and pretty corny. While the kids may or may not have ever cared about the gift, they absolutely adored her. It didn't matter what she got them, they knew they were loved and they loved her for it. That helps me to keep things in perspective.

[Sammie]

This year has been a particularly hard on us because of the down sizing of my husbands position at work. I am the one that feels exceptionally guilty because I was the one that made the Christmas presents special for our 3 kids and then, when they came along a host of grandchildren. A $5,000 Christmas was not out of the norm. I find myself almost apologizing that there isn't a lot for them. I have envelopes with money in each for all the grandchildren & gc's to a restaurant for the adult kids and spouses. Since we have told no one that we are in BK I am the one that feels embarrassed, which I know is ridiculous, but still feel that way. My friends all want to go out to fancy restaurants in exchange for gifts & I make up excuses why we can't go. I know that we will get through this & will be with the ones we love for Christmas and that is the most important thing. Thank you for everyone on this forum for helping me keep my life in perspective. sammie