One of my Husband's aunt and uncle invited us to Christmas Dinner this year and said that they would be exchanging gifts... MORE GIFTS!!!! I don't know what were gonna do! We already buy for close to 25 people, now we will be adding 7 more!!! This is just so out of control, we have cut back A LOT on Christmas this year because we just don't have the money. Our house burnt back in May and we finally just moved back in a little over a month and a half ago. I wish they just asked us to dinner.... Why did they have to add the "exchanging gifts" part?
Another reason for learning embroidery and crocheting would be for PRESENTS!!! If I knew these skills, then I could make all the women two crocheted dishcloths and an embroidered flour sack. Then I'd probably still feel guilty about not spending money on them. I feel guilty every year about not spending enough money on peoples gifts for Christmas. I get so stressed every year because of the financial burden of Christmas. We were finally out of the credit card debit, until Christmas arrived! As of right now, we only have put a little over a hundred dollars on our credit card. But, now we have 7 more people added to the list! I'm thinking of getting the females a $5 large glass jar candle at walmart. But what about the men? Any suggestions?
Do any of you have this many people to buy for? How do you make ends meet? What kind of presents do you get? This is our fourth year of buying this many gifts, and it seems like there are more people added to the family every year! We don't even buy for everyone that buys for us. We just can't afford it. It gets us into debt every year. The first year my husband and I were married, I was in high school and did not work and he made a GRAND TOTAL of $11,000 that year. That Christmas we ended up $2,000 in debt! We have cut back on Christmas every year since. Last year I had a limit of spending $15 on each person, and we still wrapped up the credit card debt. This year I set my limit at $10 per person, but I did pretty well this year and re-gifted and spent as little as $2 on some gifts. But we still didn't escape the credit debit! Hopefully next year we won't have to use the credit cards....
The Pleasant Home
1 day ago
2 comments:
Dear SaChay,
Don't worry or feel bad about getting people a really expensive gift for Christmas. It does not have to be much, and it doesn't have to be fancy - just special! Here are a few ideas! (for this year or next)
~Jam or Jelly: Can them in pint jars...tie with a pretty ribbon.
~Cookies in a jar...tie with ribbon!
~If you're part of a food co-op, you can buy beans and put a bean soup mix in a jar with a seasoning packet attatched.
~Whole Wheat Bread
~Hot Chocolate mix
~a packet of charming flower seeds
~potted herbs from Meijers (they're $1.99 here)
It may not solve this years problem:( And sorry, I don't have many guy ideas, only know that they usually like food:)!!!
Just want you to know that we TOTALLY understand your situation about the present thing...in extended family, we're not doing any gift exchanges this year because everyone's just about broke! Hope everything works out for you:)
Many Blessings,
Jenna
Thank you for all the neat Ideas. I'll try to use some of them next year. Maybe even a small, inexpensive basket, with several of these gifts you suggested inside! I think they would be fabulous gifts! Thank you yet again Jenna!
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