Tuesday 4 - Gifts
This week's 'Tuesday 4' is all about gifts.
1. Whether it's Christmas, Chanukah or a birthday party nice gifts can be hard to pick out. Is there a safe go to gift you think will fit anyone? I now only give gifts to the under 18s in my family and they prefer to receive vouchers or cash. I don't like that it requires no thought on my part, but it is what they want and certainly makes gifting much easier ... just not as much fun!
2. Is wrapping a gift a necessary part of the excitement of giving and receiving? Yes, I think the wrapping plays an important role in the gift giving process. It was something I loved doing and now miss.
3. What gifts given to you did you love the most? Memories from my childhood include the year we were given our own bicycles and spent most of Christmas Day outside riding up and down the street. As an adult, the gift that stands out was an Olympus SLR camera from Ced. I think he was fed up with me borrowing his!
4. In the O. Henry book The Gift of the Magi, a man sells his pocket watch to buy some beautiful hair combs for his wife's long hair but she has sold her hair to buy him a platinum pocket watch chain.
Have you ever saved long and hard to buy someone a special gift? Would you be okay with a holiday that didn't include gifts? Would friends and family understand? Yes, my family would understand. We no longer exchange gifts between adults in the family, a decision reached by the majority though my own preference was to continue exchanging gifts. I still exchange gifts with some friends and with others I join in with Secret Santa type of gift giving.
I've never had to save to buy a gift (apart from the usual monthly budgeting) but used to put in a lot of thought and effort to buy the 'perfect' gift for Ced (my late partner).
Many thanks to Annie for organising this.
I have to admit, I dearly love both buying and receiving gifts. Nothing too extravagant, just thoughtful little things really.
ReplyDeletexx
I've often said I like Thanksgiving more because there's all the great foods & decorating but no gift giving pressure of Christmas. I agree with you about giving vouchers or cash but at least they can be wrapped in some fun ways. We once got a gift of money & the person gave it in bags of pennies rather than a few paper bills in an envelope. Took us months to wrap the pennies! It was funny only in the first 50 rolls!
ReplyDeleteI have decided to simplify this year, as I usually go overboard for gifts for my immediate family. I am thinking about double-wrapping them this year though. I will miss that I have not been out and about to spot that "perfect gift" for friends and family, but there have been a few things pop up in the ads on the Internet that actually are quite near perfect for a couple of family members.
ReplyDeleteWe began cutting back on Christmas gifts years ago. People don't really need anything and are getting rid of stuff they already have. A Christmas without gifts to unwrap wouldn't be a disaster, no, there's more to it than that of course. I'd miss having a bit to unwrap, though ;)
ReplyDeleteWe still exchange gifts but on a smaller scale. The ladies in my family do a jingle gift exchange and it is tons of fun! I hope you can stop by:
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Colletta
Suggestions for adults to stop gift giving are always met with down cast faces. People love to give gifts I think. Thanks so much for joining in!
ReplyDeleteI like giving gifts, so I always give something to family, friends, and neighbors at Christmas or New Year. Usually, it is homemade jam or some small item.
ReplyDelete#1 is so sad and it is that way with the younger kids in my family too. I don't like it. Loved your answers! Have a nice week.
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