I know what you are saying…it’s November 8th why on earth are you writing about Christmas? There are 2 answers to that question:
- The commercials are starting.
- There are 7 ladies (significant other, mom, grandmother, aunt, cousins, little sister) that I must appease each Christmas.
Don’t get me wrong, I love these women to death. It just annoys me that I have to buy them something to “express my love”. So that I don’t start ranting about them lets get to the main event…3 Reasons I Hate Christmas
1 – The Meaning is Gone
As I understand it, Christmas is the celebration of Jesus’ birthday. Jesus is a Christian figure. People who aren’t Christians don’t go to church, take communion, give confessions, or participate in church league basketball games. So why do they participate in the Christian purchase-a-palooza at the end of the year?
2 – It Sends a Bad Message
About 2 years ago I told an unnamed female in my family that I didn’t plan on buying Christmas gifts. My person is a sweet southern lady, but when those words came out she transformed into a 3 headed best. She chewed my head off for 5 solid minutes before handing me the remains. What I could hear out of the non-mangled ear sounded something like “You must not love us if you won’t buy us anything. People like to get things from people”. I screwed my head back on and walked away. I’m sure she didn’t mean that. Maybe she was drunk?
3 – Waste of Money
Before writing this post I thought long and hard about all the gifts I ever received for Christmas. I’ll readily admit that I was a spoiled little fella. I amassed a mountain of video games, socks, toys, and ugly sweaters. Between the ages of of 5 and 14 I was racking up! On average, I received about $700 in gifts each year. In 10 years that is $7,000.
When I turned 15 all the gifts came to a screeching halt. It was the first time that I was able to sit back and think about Christmas with a clear head. A crazy thing happened, I didn’t feel any less loved or adored. I didn’t even want to jump out of a window. In fact, I felt better because I thought about the money my lower middle class family was saving. Isn’t that a novel thought?
Conclusion
I’m not writing this post as a Christmas rant. The golden glow from my finger tips won’t stop the Christmas freight train. I’m just telling you how I feel. We will collectively sink deeper into debt this year as we credit card swipe our way into the hearts of our loved ones.
After all jewelry, video games, cars, and other insane tomfoolery prove to people you love them, right? When you get the credit card bill in January pull up this post and read it again. It should make you feel better.
P.S. I want Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 ($59.99), DJ Hero ($120.00), and some ultra expensive skinny jeans size XXL ($300.00) for Christmas.
“skinny jeans size XXL” divide by zero much?
The size L and XL wont fit. You ever tried a pair on before?
Junk too big for all that….
I don’t feel bad for not giving gifts, you can call me cheap, you can even call me the Grinch but I really don’t care what anyone thinks. I give my mother, god-mother, father and girlfriend something. The rest of them can kick rocks. I am all for the season and sharing cheer but I don’t do debt for your happiness. I love my family and they love me, but let’s get real…
I enjoy buying my closest loved ones gifts. I don’t buy a lot of gifts just for the sake of it. Also, the spirit of giving should be a year long concept. So if you give all year, what’s the purpose to fighting your way through Walmart to get someone a TV, a magic bullet blender, or DVD just because Christmas is the next upcoming holiday.
The spirit of giving should be replaced with the spirit of “earn your own money and get it yourself”.
That’s pretty harsh for someone who supposedly loves his family. It’s ok, most dudes feel that way. Women are usually the ones who will buy everyone they know gifts.
Love doesn’t equal gifts. Anyone on this planet who needs gifts to feel loved needs to grow up.
It’s sad but buying gifts has often been equated to a way of showing someone you love them. That’s nice and all but it’s your actions that really counts. What good is it if you buy them the world but never really demonstrate your love for them? Now kids don’t understand this concept and all they know is when they get up Christmas morning Santa should’ve left everything on their list under the tree. But as adults, we SHOULD know better. Doesn’t always mean we do though. Smh ….
Kids know the difference if they are trained to know the difference.
Are you going to train your kids to not want toys? What school will they attend? There’s this period called “play time” where they play with toys and chances are, your child will want to play with toys at home.
I’m going to train my kids to not have their hands stuck out all day. They will have toys but I’m not going to buy new widgets, gadgets, and action figures every year.
What a child wants to do and what I child will do in my house are two totally different planets. It’ll be a cold day at the equator when a child determines where my cash goes.
You have no kids. Once you experience parenthood, it will change. Love for your child will force you to always make them happen even if it means buying them whatever they want. You will find yourself frequently getting home and wondering “Why the heck did I buy him/her that?”
Excuse me while I laugh at your apparent lack of a spine. Love for my child will force me to help them grow up. Since your kid is obviously breaking you post your mailing address and I’ll toss you a few bucks.
My, my, my Marcus. Love for your child will force you to help them grow up …but as they do, you will definitely want them to be happy & have the best. No matter what it is or what it takes. This doesn’t mean they’ll be spoiled or have their hand stuck out but I guarantee that you’ll find yourself doing things out of the ordinary or that you declared you’d never do before they arrived. They change your life.
This = win, I agree with Marcus here. I had toys but I knew when we went to the toy store I wasn’t getting a thing. Why? 1) Had something similar at home. 2) Moms didn’t need to spend her money on stuff I didn’t NEED.
Marcus has a spine…what most parents need these days.
I’m sure we have two totally different definitions of having the best. To me having the best as a kid has nothing to do with material items and everything to do with your household surroundings. I’ll go well out of my way to make sure they are clothed, fed, and experience things in life. I could care less about meaningless piles of toys and nonsense. I don’t care if they don’t “fit in” or have all the cool gizmos. It’ll teach them a life lesson about individuality and being their own person.
I am going to spoil the shit out of my nieces and nephews (I don’t plan to have kids) to counter act any good Marcus thinks he’s doing.
You will definitely balance the universe by spoiling your nieces and nephews.
How so? Since you’re dishing the duckies, let me know where you are, I will come to you.