When Did We Become So Greedy ?
Since I have a rather nasty cold, I spent the morning reading. This time of the year I like to read my copy of Little House Christmas Treasury. All the Little House Christmas stories together in one small book. I was so struck with how little made people happy in those days. Even after Laura was grown, a Christmas gift of popcorn balls made with boiled molasses and put in little pink netting bags was a treat. Imagine today if you were happy with a popcorn ball ? I know I would not be, I would be thinking about how stingy or cheap my family was. So how did we become so greedy for gifts at Christmas ? I know all the answers about life after world war II etc, but we have come a long way since even the 1960's in what is put under the Christmas tree. Gifts for children that are hundreds of dollars. Commercials on television show us wives getting fancy cars or diamonds. I suspect my daughters when they were small, although not very materialistic, would have been a bit unhappy with just a candy stick, hand knit mittens and a rag doll on Christmas morning. We seem to expect to receive more for gifts than say a hundred years ago. We also feel obligated to give more, often times more than people can afford.
I saw a woman shopping this past week, a cart full of things, presents, wrapping paper etc. She was just ahead of me in line. When it came time to pay, she pulled out a credit card, it was denied. She was not the least bit flustered by that, and just pulled out another, same denial came. She pulled out a third card, a fourth card until the the 5th card worked. She had exceeded her spending limit on 4 cards, laughed about it, joked with the cashier. Her total was around $300. Would the receivers of those gifts find joy if they knew it cost her so much more than she really had ? Do children today understand the concept of asking for more than their parents SHOULD spend ?
I thought about my own Christmas list, you know the gift ideas that people ask for. Was the list more about the things I want, more than thinking about the gift giver ? Perhaps.
People spend way more than they can afford at times, maybe if we all just asked for a stick of candy, a popcorn ball, life would be easier for everyone.
Comments
Popcorn is not a treat - b/c we have it all the time.
If you don't have much to begin with - ANYTHING extra seems like a treasure.
We do not spend hundreds of dollars on presents for the kids. My dh and I do not spend a lot on each other - sometimes we just put the money we would have spent on gifts for each other, into our family travel account...
It's hard to find presents for someone who has everything and has the ability to go and buy things for themselves.
The credit card story you witnessed, probably isn't all that rare this time of year. How scary of a situation to be in that that many of your cards are filled up - and yet you don't put the stuff back, realizing this is way out of hand - but to keep going through the credit cards.
We use credit cards - but pay them off in full at the end of the month. We don't use them b/c we don't have money - we use them for convenience and also for the "cashback" or other credit card giveaways.
Good to meet you. Merelyme is a sweetie.
I am lucky with Christmas because I live ion SSI (not even disability) so everyone know it i not possible to spend money on presents - and they also know how uncomfortable I would feel with the imbalance of spending on them for me. So my Christmas present is usually a group pooling of funds for airfair for me to visit wherever they are gathering, because I am the one far away. My present to them is just being there and loving them. And I have no children, but a nephew I cherish time with.
I can't go this year, but I will survive 2008 for the next.
I hope you cherish yours.
Thank you very much for visiting my blog.
Take care,
+PHc
This year she got a tin of cookies.
Yesterday my husband and I spoke in length about Christmas gifts this year and next year everyone will received homemade quilted table toppers.
Things are given from our hands and our hearts. I cannot control the "receiver's" heart, I can only lead by example.
We have drastically cut back since sending our 2 teenagers to private Christian school {a huge expense} and just plain living expenses...
Anyway, we haven't bought alot this Christmas and it's going to be even more so next year...
I am truly amazed that parents were letting the children dictate what and how much they were getting...
Ugh!
The one thing that will remain the same will be our family Christmas dinner. We will share the simple yet delicious traditional favorites. There will not be the usual amount of baked goods this year. This has gotten to be less and less for years now anyway. We have one favorite that we can all enjoy...and not a huge amount of it!
Just think of all the hours and money spent on gifts, food, travel, shipping, wrapping, extra energy expenses...for some folks this is just too much that overloads them with fatigue, emotional,physical and financial. They are on overload during the holidays and again in January when greeting cards are replaced with bills! Even greeting cards are too much for some folks! I realize that not all people connect the above to Christmas stress, and if they did, would they feel free (motivated) enough to change the situation?
Frankly, I think we forget that Christmas is about celebrating a birthday, and, the birthday IS NOT OURS! So why all the gifting? Santa? Retailers?
I believe that teaching our children how great the cost of excess really is, especially for those who can not afforded it (financially or physically), is one of the greatest life lessons we can gift our children with.
Change is good, Tina Leigh! Be brave. Declare this the year to begin the no giving or receiving of Christmas gifts this year. See what happens. You may hear a huge sigh of relief for miles around, LOL. People are just afraid to change.
Sorry to go on, but it's hard to read about such pain and not respond. I wish you a merry Christmas. May your popcorn balls be yummy! :)