Gift within your limit on Christmas 2015

Know Your Limit and Gift within It

Regardless of my best intentions, the worry over “Did I buy the right gifts?” “Did I buy enough gifts?” has taken hold.

How did this happen - better still why did it happen?

I have what I am going to call ‘Gift Lottery Fever’.   

Did I get the right gift and the right number of gifts for my: husband, children, friends, grandchildren to love me?   

Is Christmas gift giving is like gambling?   Yes it is and advertisers like the lure of slot machine entice us to buy just one more gift for the big WOW on Christmas morning - encouraging us to spend more than we can afford.

I do not get joy out of deciding what gifts to purchase for others - I find it very stressful. Too many of the gifts that I have given over the years have been received with lack of enthusiasm or with the comment “Did you keep the receipt?” 

This gifting gamble also pulls too many families into debt and comes at the cost of family time as paying off the Christmas debt requires extra hours at work or a second job.

Not participating in Christmas gift giving is not the answer.  Watching those I love open a gift that takes them by surprise and floods them with joy also fill me with joy.   

I also get joy out of getting a gift that reveals the givers understanding of me as person: that they have taken the time to know me.

Where is the answer?   

It may be in writing a gifting family rulebook.  Gifting rules that have been discussed by all members and make sense given the families:

• Income level
• Values
• Needs - as just places to start.

With a family gifting rulebook and agreement that everyone will observe the rules there will be no reason to play the ‘gift giving lottery’ in 2014.

Some of the values that should be discussed and incorporated in a gifting rulebook are:

• a maximum dollar limit per gift and per person
•  maximum number of gifts per person
•  purchased gifts or make gifts
• do all family member get gifts or: 
• Children under age X only and/or 
•  Adults do not get gifts or 
•  Adults draw names 
• What types of gifts are given 
•  Are any gifts purchased for community gift drives

and the list will continue from here based on each families unique make up.

Remove yourself and your family from the ‘gift giving lottery’ establish your family’s limits and gift within them.

Grandma Snyder

©2013 -2015 twosnydergirls