Good Old Christmas... Stress? (How Many People Do You Give Gifts To & How Much Do You Plan to Spend?)

You are wise. I know when my mom gives away almond cakes or spices nuts, people are always happy. A jar of jam as a hostess gift is always well received. I've also never heard someone object to cash lol.

Oh yeah, I forgot about the bread!

I bake sourdough bread, and I almost live on the stuff. I bake 30-ish loaves at a time and freeze it. Most of the year I bake bread maybe once every three months or so.

Somewhere around the first of December I bake bread twice. I give a loaf to everybody at church who has expressed they like my bread. I give a loaf to certain coworkers I respect. And there are other places where bread goes: Last year a friend commissioned 14 loaves to give to her friends (she paid me for them) and another friend wanted 10 loaves as a donation for a fundraiser. I wound up giving out about 60-ish loaves last December (counting the 14 I got paid for.) Then I had to make more bread for me to eat for the next couple months.

Actually the 14 that lady bought almost paid for the flour for all the bread I baked last December... $3 a loaf is standard price when I donate bread for a bake sale.

I've purchased everything I'm getting my parents. Have a few thoughts for my brother, but he says all he wants is help with food and bills. As for his stepkids (teens and preteens) well they can't keep track of money or gift cards so they may just get homemade printouts that say I'll take them shopping (or maybe I'll combine presents so that my brother's present is being able to get stuff for his stepkids, dunno yet).

I won't go into debt for christmas so I set aside a bit of money each month and set a per person budget based on that.

one is either 'in or out', no straddling in this pagan ceremonial, self-gratifying involvement -
knowing or un-knowing or learning, time will always be the 'tell' on each of our actions and why...

I usually get one gift per family member and try my best to spend equal dollar amount for each gift lol or it could be multiple small gifts to match that dollar amount.

We have a different thread for ranting about how holidays are pagan. I started it before Halloween.

Good on you Lynx...
guess we have different takes on the meaning of 'ranting'???

I had to chuckle at your $ choices. Who spends that little?

Have you heard of the 99 cent stores, lol

This thread makes me feel like Ebenezer Scrooge. Because we are similar.

The old CC system allowed 40 answers.

The new system allows the number of answers you see and I maxed it out. Do you write polls here? I hope you will. I really want to see how others work within the limitations.

Also, as you get to know the community here, you'll also come to realize that many on the forum are working with limited finances, and $100 is actually a lot of money to many people here.

It's not really that much when you consider what they spent on the electronic devices they are typing on.

Gifts are 0 on my love language. I tell everyone I don’t need anything and I don’t go shopping for gifts other than my kids. I’m already done with my shopping this year! Very little stress

I do understand what you're saying, Ghoti.

In fact, I think you've inspired a new thread.

Don't worry, I'll give you the credit.

As for myself, I spend less than $100 on Christmas but I had several other years where I spent much more.

I'm trying to be more minimal now, but that's just me, and cutting back on Christmas gifts was also part of my budget for paying off my car.

I LOVE the idea of being minimalist or simplicity. The more stuff we own the more we have to take care of lol. The more simple my life is the more peace I get.

We usually start at about $1,000 through the church for just the shoebox ministry and the under-privileged families. Then we continue on to our own families. For just Sue and me, it isn't very much...… less than a C-note, combined.

I think of the song Mariah Carey... all I want for Christmas is you.... that’s really all I want too and Jesus of course

Well dang it all, the new poll I posted isn't going to be very helpful either, seeing as the range ends with about $1000...

Still, I do understand what you're saying, Ghoti.

It'll be interesting to see how people answer.

I agree. We should travel light in this journey called life, since we can't bring anything if we depart anyway. Living simply and minimally gives you more peace because you won't be keeping up with the joneses anymore. It is very stressful, I don't get why people keep doing it to themselves.