I love you enough to spend the very most?

My dear hubby is currently in a gift-giving conundrum. He is clueless (and thus in a panic – in his own phlegmatic way) as to what to get his father and 2 sisters for the upcoming holiday. Of course he ‘has’ to get them something, Why? Weeelllll as almost everyone will tell you, wide-eyed, because it’s christmas. Do they need anything? No. Do they want their son/brother to be upset and fretting over their gift? I doubt it. But he ‘has’ to do this.

How do people get sucked into this? Why is it that people have come to expect so much on the holiday?

One, everyone assumes you celebrate it. I don’t. Yet no one ever asks. I had someone shake her head and *tsk*tsk* at me because I stupidly revealed that. She whined: “but what about your children? They won’t understand why everyone else gets christmas and they don’t”.

Uhm, ‘scuse me. I said *I* don’t celebrate. My kids get one big gift and a very full stocking (in addition to the obscene amount of gifts from their grands). And while I’m at it, how dare you insinuate that my children would be somehow psychologically scarred if they don’t get a ton of poorly made, overpriced, over hyped, and quickly discarded merchandise! WTF?

My children get gifts all year round. If I love you and I see something I want to give you, I get it for ya. I don’t need a special day.

I think that the whole holiday consumer mindset is fueled by several things. There are those who love to shop. They just adore spending money. They run up their family's credit cards with no regard whatsoever. There are those (usually also of the first ilk) who love to show off. They can’t get enough of wrapped gifts (for other people) in their house, of expensive and useless items. Their ego is bolstered by the unsaid brag: “I got you something really really nice, aren’t I fabulous?”

Then, with relatives, I think it’s a ‘if I don’t get you something then you won’t think I love you’. When did love come to be defined by a price? “You cared enough for me to trudge around a crowded mall full of idiot kids and spend money you don’t have? I’m so touched!”

I sincerely don’t think that my hubby’s father and sisters fall into any of these categories!

So what should he do? Good question. If they were my family, I’d say get them each a gorgeous card, hand deliver with a kiss, and be done with it - but that’s just me.

Personally, I suspect he’ll be trudging around a crowded mall here soon.