Christmas gift exchanges - pointless and troublesome?

[Scepcop]

Do any of you think that Christmas gift exchanges are pointless and troublesome? I know when you're a kid, it's like the highlight of your life, but now that you are a practical rational adult, doesn't it seem more trouble than it's worth - just to follow some dumb tradition everyone else is following, that was obviously created for commercial purposes?

I mean, you go out and spend hundreds of dollars on gifts, and others do the same for you. And then when you get your gifts, they may not even be what you want or need, so you end up having to find a place in your home to put them. Isn't that dumb? I mean, if you needed something, you'd go out and buy it yourself right? Why play this guessing game of exchanging gifts, just to end up with useless junk that you don't need with no place to put it? lol

Yet because everyone's family and friends are doing it, they feel obligated to submit to the pressure to do the same, even though deep down they probably don't want to. It's like that every year. Why doesn't someone break the cycle?

Christmas is overrated anyway. Most family gatherings (especially in the US) are composed of people who don't even really care about each other, acting polite just for the sake of the holiday season. It's so fake.

Have any of your families broken the chain and decided not to exchange gifts with others? Isn't it a waste of time and money, and unnecessary and troublesome as well?

My parents used to exchange gifts with others a few times back in the 80's, but eventually they and their friends and relatives realized it was pointless and stopped. My dad always said every Christmas: "If my friends get me a Christmas gift, then I have to go out and get them one too. What a hassle! That's why we don't do that anymore."

I think when you have little kids, the gifts thing is a huge thing to them, so the parents agree to it for their sake. But once the kids are grown up, then the whole thing is no longer necessary. Gifts don't bring joy to adults. They only bring joy to the pocketbooks of those producing and selling them commercially.

[ProfWag]

[Craig Browning]

[derrida]

Scepcop talking about rationality.. that´s funny..

well i might be an atheist, but i enjoy this season
i love also giving gifts to the people i love.
i love walking malls.. looking for the perfect gift..

all right all that was bullshit..
i havent bought a present for my girl and i trying to hypnotize myself into driving to christmas crowded places... god damn!!

[ProfWag]

[Scepcop]

ProfWag,
Are you defending the hassle of spending hundreds of dollars every year on gifts just because it's a tradition? Wise people realized long ago that it wasn't worth the trouble to exchange gifts just to have a lot of useless junk to store. Come on now. This is a no brainer. Why didn't you at least agree with that?

Is it because you want to disagree with me on everything? Or because you believe that a custom should always be followed, even if it's purely commercial? Sheesh. You are no freethinker at all. You don't even see the obvious.

[Arouet]

[NinjaPuppy]

I do Yule and will occasionally will put up a Christmas tree because I like the way they smell. I don't do the gift buying/giving thing at all unless I wind up in some sort of dumbass gift exchange. I hate those things. I prefer doing something like a cookie exchange, complete with the recipes and spend Christmas morning volunteering at a local event for families with children who have next to nothing then over to a local shelter to help serve dinner.

[Arouet]

Just spent over $500 today xmas shopping - mainly for the kids though rumour has it that Santa is bringing me Batman Arkham City this year! (if I've been a good boy that is!). And he's bringing my wife Gears of War 3. I think Santa is a bit of a geek!

[NinjaPuppy]

[Arouet]

Haha, my nieces and nephews are all at video game age now - makes it easy to buy - tons of $20 games out there!

[Craig Browning]

[ProfWag]

[ProfWag]

[Craig Browning]

To Shift Gears a Tad. . .

The holidays, at least in the U.S. over the past four or generations, really haven't been the mushy Dickens or Moore type fantasy. It is that time of year when more of us are trying to find a way to NOT be with family or else, in a bitter dispute between whose family will be visited when it comes to the couple with a handful of freshly hatched kids. It is a time for old wounds to be re-opened and long held disputes made difficult.

This is a time of year when the elderly get forgotten and the impoverished left to the whey-side by the bulk of society.

It's no secret that I survive on less than $800.00 a month via SSI. . . I'm one of those terrible mooches according to congress, that simply didn't think ahead and work had enough, etc. So they want to take from me whatever sum they deem right, because I'm a blight and burden to the nation. . . If I need help I must go to a church and ask for it. . . So, in order to have a hot holiday meal I have to listen to a sermon about something I don't believe in first. . . no thanks!

Aside from the fact that such is a huge ploy by the right to force everyone into a single belief in this country, it's simply wrong and unethical. But there is more to the portrait when it comes to the Holiday's and gift exchanges, etc. How, the humble and content within my building, look out for one another. We exchange cookies, breads and other such such things we've made ourselves; we tuck simple cards beneath one another's door with a holiday wish and so much more. . . and frequently in "silence" no one knowing for certain who the "Secret Santa" really is.

Over the past week my Holiday time has been filled with back & forth trips to the hospital as a yet another chronic issue seems to be entering my life -- an enlarged heart or so it seems, we're still in the investigation phase of things but still, it's humorous how the universe times such things. . . it has to be seen as such or else one might go mad and doing something drastic. Especially when the core of your existence is a 12 year old black cat and whomever you can interact with on line.

Yes, I'm frustrated and most certainly juggling some "dark" thoughts. . . not in the serious mode of wanting to surrender, but most certainly pondering what I could have possibly done in this or a previous life time, to know this level of karmic hell. I'm really beginning to think I had to be Hitler or someone worse, though such is merely dark thoughts.

Overcoming Dark Thoughts is the challenge of this season, not just for me but for millions of us that are without, horrified of the idea of being around anything even hinting at "family" (as in direct kin). We overcome the darkness by finding a fellow to cuddle up with beneath a nearby bridge and share an bottle, maybe even a candy bar if we're lucky. . . we overcome it by the exchange of some cookies or simple well wishes given to others with no expectation of reprise. . . we overcome by finding our own ounce or two of humanity within our selves and relishing it because of the hope it delivers to the desperate and displaced.

When the heart & mind are one and we are able to step outside our own angst, this is when we find ourselves in the true spirit of the holidays, doing what has always been done during this season of tithing and grace. We know that the gift of well wishing has nothing to do with price or image and everything to do with heart and positive thought.

Why must we find ourselves in the throws of carnal poverty before we awaken to such treasures and values?

It is however, this fall that grants to most the greatest gift of all; freedom from our selfishness.