Christmas Plans 2008

[techieMoe]

With most of us broke this holiday season, my family has decided that instead of buying a bunch of gifts for each other we're going to make food and baked goods and get together on Christmas to eat it all. I think overall it will be a nice Christmas in spite (or perhaps because) of the lack of material gifts. What are your plans for this holiday season? Are you having to make changes due to the economic stresses this year?

[rokytnji]

You betcha Moe. I am leaving for Phoenix Dec 8 to cover Thanksgiving and Christmas for my Mom and Sis. Don't know if lil brother can make it. Work constraints limit showing up on the day of holidays, so gotta make do with what I got.

[MikeTbob]

With most of us broke this holiday season, my family has decided that instead of buying a bunch of gifts for each other we're going to make food and baked goods and get together on Christmas to eat it all. I think overall it will be a nice Christmas in spite (or perhaps because) of the lack of material gifts. What are your plans for this holiday season? Are you having to make changes due to the economic stresses this year?

Hey! We're in the same boat!
Our families decided that gifts would be minimal and the food will be bountiful! Man, I love food, it's one size fits all.

[fingal]

We're keeping it very simple. A few gifts and a family dinner. We've had to do Christmas this way for a few years due to my dad's illness.

To be honest, it's fine that way. Simple is good at this time of year... It keeps stress levels down, and I'm happy with any kind of gift these days.

[daark.child]

We are going to spend Christmas day with my inlaws (they came to ours last year). We are also keeping it simple this year because everyone (including us ) seems to be broke.

[bigtomrodney]

I tried to get a kristkindl kind of thing going in my house. I figured if we're all going to take it easy spending-wise it'd be nice to get one good, thoughtful present from one of us rather than everyone trying to squeeze lots of token presents as it were out of their budgets.

I know the whole "thought that counts" thing is important and I do feel the same way but I find that argument doesn't really hold true if the thought is simply "here's your budget-dictated present, which may or may not be something you want".

Unfortunately they didn't go for that one so the pressure's back on and it'll be jumpers and dvds all around. The funny thing is that I'm the biggest earner in the family and generally buy the more expensive presents. Not to impress anyone just that I'd try to get something that I know they want but wouldn't ask for. Well they had their chance

Giving is more important that receiving, but giving something that they want is the most important.

[Freston]

It really strikes me to read that the economy is affecting the holiday season in some places. I know some people who have lost lots of money, but for us, the average Joe's, life goes on as normal.

No, it's not that we here remain unaffected. But it's more on a 'higher scale'. My company is loosing money on long term real estate projects, which will affect the departments later on, in the budgets over 2009. And there will be budget cuts, definitely. Which on term will probably result in shrinkage of the workforce. But it's not so far that I have to alter my holiday plans

Me? I'm working! It pays almost double, and I hate the holidays. If I had my way, I'd work each and every one of them. But other people hate holidays as well, so we have to share them equally between ourselves. The keyword here is share

[questio verum]

My plans for the season are to survive it. Travel plans have been cancelled. Gift-giving between adults in my family has been suspended this year. Kids only, this time. That part I actually like. I hate the gifting process. Hell, just give me a hug or a big old sloppy kiss, tell me you've missed me over the past year, let's sneak outside for a ciggy and a shot of uncle John's applejack, and call it a holiday. Spending time with family and friends is really the only thing that matters to me.

This will be about the lowest-key holiday season ever in memory. Everyone I talk to locally, both rich and poor, are totally stressed over the economy. Every day brings more bad news. More failed banks, more failed corporations, more massive layoffs, another load piled on the central government, state governments on the verge of bankruptcy. The rest of the world not much better. Yeah, it's not a pretty picture. But on the upside, hard times build character. So we should have a new crop of characters, real soon. Feliz Navidad, ya'll!

p.s. Drunk Santa says *burp!*

[Artesia]

Since Christmas is during the week and most of my family has to work, we're doing it the weekend before. We've always been pretty frugal about it so we're not really changing much.

However, I get two weeks off at the end of the year, and I usually do a road trip. I'm not sure how it's going to go this year. Even though I've got cheap travel down to an art (sleep in my truck, etc), I don't think I'll be putting on 5,000 miles like I've been dreaming about.