Gifts have
always been important and a part of Christmas, especially for kids and young
folk ........
But..... as the years pass gifts have become less important
since we generally get what we want (need) as the year passes. We really
do not need anything, nor want much. To us life is a gift, each day we
awake is a wonderful gift of life that many of our family, peers and parents
did not have, some never lived to see the years we have. What we do enjoy
is giving to our family, and see the joy in their lives.
I still love to hear of the gifts received and exchanged. I
enjoy seeing the glisten in an eye when it was 'just what they wanted'. Yep
there were those times in our lives also, and they were great.
We had been married a couple years before I learned that some of
my friends went pretty deep in debt to give gifts to many in their
families. I learned that from a fellow Airman was complaining the
end of January that the credit payments were eating into their normal expense
money. Do you have that problem, he asked.
I said no, we make it a practice not to get anything we can't pay for.
I said no, we make it a practice not to get anything we can't pay for.
(Shirl and Jim displaying her 'Christmas' . Shirl does this each Christmas at different churches)
Sherry worked in a hosiery mill before we were
married. The Mill had a 'Christmas saving plan', they would take $5 (or some amount
agreed on) from her weekly check and save it until Christmas. I am not sure if
they paid interest or not, it was more a favor for the workers.
Corey & Alura
Chase, Maddisson, & Bridger
That practice stuck with her and rubbed off on me and we began
saving from the first of our marriage. At times it was fifty cents, but it was
saved.
Presently Christmas day + a few days are quite different from our
childhoods. Unless it was raining, every kid on the block was out enjoying the
Christmas presents. Scooters, wagons, Skates, air rifles, bikes, balls, jump
ropes, dolls, cowboy cap busters, etc. We were outside.
(This was our last Christmas with the family except Corey & crew)
BTW those Skates were roller skates. Where I came from, NC, in
all my years I saw a pond frozen hard enough you could walk on, ONCE. NO ONE
had ice skates, we just ran from the bank and jump on the Mill Pond and see who could slide
the furthest and still be standing. LOL
Things are different for sure. Many gifts are electronic, and
are indoor actions. There is not a thing wrong with that, we would have
enjoyed those also, if they had existed! LOL
I hope you had a Merry Christmas, WE DID!
Nite Shipslog
The 1942 Chevrolet. There would not be another Chevy until 1946, after WWII
+018.jpg)
+040aa_edited-1.jpg)
10 comments:
It's sad when people go in to debt to keep up with the other people. Ours was nice but simple.
In the "old days" when the kids were younger, I would charge things on the credit card, but always paid it off the next month. I'm wiser now :) It is a joy to see the excitement of a young one getting a gift they didn't expect they would get. Step grand daughter goes grocery shopping with us when we watch her and her brother on Saturdays. We "pay" her $5.00 to help pick things off the shelves and we are teaching her how to pick veggies, etc. (Did I tell you this before, if I did forgive me for mentioning it again). She can either spend the $5.00 at the store or save it (she always spends at least part of it). One Saturday a few weeks ago she fell in love with a backpack that was $19.00. It of course was over the limits of $5.00 and while at times I'll let her go a few dollars over, its not a "given" that I will do so. She was mighty disappointed that she didn't get the backpack that day but totally delightfully surprised when she opened the package that contained the backpack yesterday :)
We had a nice Christmas :)
betty
With recently divorced parents money is tighter than it's ever been. Our grandchildren are learning these lessons too Jack and Betty. And with Grandma and Grandpa being on Social Security it hits close to home for us too.
With an ever increasing family here at my house ,22 grandchildren now, I've found it hard to buy everyone a gift so started making them something instead. This year there was just no time to do that so each of the grandchildren got one small gift from me and the adults got a lottery ticket. The big winner got $3. Ha! We kept it simple but we had a very merry Christmas !
Getting increasingly more difficult to do the ' gift ' thing for each grandchild, (we leave that up to the parents now), we gave each a divided lunch plate or salad bowl full of Gramdma and Grandpa's homemade cookies. I was so surprised as to how much each one of them Loved it. At the farm, my Mama would bake gingerbread boys and girls and pipe each grand and great grand, plus now 3 great, great grandchild's name on them. They would then be strung across the mantel of the fireplace. Each child would delight in finding their very own cookie. 42 was a whole lot of cookies. We Did have a wonderful Christmas remembering the reason for the season first before one other gift was torn into. Glad you had a wonderful one as well.
love from up north where the winds blow in a cold 2 degrees. It's a cuddle me, hot chocolate day.
We stopped gifting the adults in the family. It became just a money swap. However, we still buy for the little ones. And my daugter of course still gets spoiled each Christmas. speaking of roller skates....Mine had metal wheels. :)
Blogging soon
Lisa
How right you are! (... as usual. hee-hee.)
I remember my mother talking about how, as a child, she and her brother received but one gift each at Christmas.
That - and their imaginations, took them miles and miles!
You can't buy the gifts i cherish with a credit card.
It is clear to everyone who regularly reads this blog that Sherry is the greatest gift to you, every day(nearly ;0).
We don't charge anything anymore except for meals out on Amazon, paid off each month in which we get points and order gifts for free. We pay cash for gifts but...George sells vacation days as he gets a lot of days and they allow it to rollover. We budget for it. And we really don't shop a lot all year long but get our clothes and desires for each other at this time. We also give practical - for example - we give each other food items - but perhaps a little more gourmet than we normally would by. Good coffee, good wine, spices, calendars, and all sorts of practical. But our Christmas looks huge as we have a large family - we buy lots of little things so the wrapping is fun for them. Somehow we manage to make it all work and it becomes magical. We love to shop early and try to find things specific to each person. But most of all when Christmas gets here it's just fun watching the people you love squeal with glee and enjoy being with them. Ok I like to open too. We have a big time. I could think up some big gifts to wish for: camera, diamond ring, lol - but happy with coffee, wine, and a can of nuts. lol
Post a Comment