I'm already getting depressed about Christmas shopping. I've spent nearly $170 so far and feel as though I've barely made a dent. We have 11 people to buy for, and I calculated that even if we spend what sounds like a reasonable amount on each of them--$50--that it adds up to $550, which just seems ridiculous. I'm really trying to be a smart shopper, too--I'm buying books from Amazon Marketplace folks, and looking for sales and specials, but it's not doing much good.
Then there are plane tickets (appx. $1000), rental car, and possibly a hotel because we're not sure we want to stay at my parents' house, where it's noisy and crowded and the T.V. is ALWAYS going, despite the fact that we live halfway across the country and they never see us.
Then there's the way my mom shops for Christmas gifts. She sets a limit for each of us and then just buys "stuff" until she reaches that limit. If she goes over on one of us she raises the limits on the others of us. She honestly thinks we compare and care about how much stuff we get. Talk about reducing the holiday season to a purely pecuniary event (and reducing her daughters to preteens, maturity-wise). We have tried to talk her into toning things down for years now. I don't think it'll ever happen.
I've really begun to hate this holiday.
I should probably delete this post.
Bah.
the season of spending is upon us
November 14th, 2005 at 10:47 pm
November 15th, 2005 at 12:29 am 1132014552
Also, we've used aromatherapy to help calm things down over the holidays...
November 15th, 2005 at 12:54 am 1132016043
Good luck!
November 15th, 2005 at 06:55 am 1132037756
November 15th, 2005 at 03:22 pm 1132068153