Do your parents still buy you Christmas gifts?

You should ask her for a message board filter. Something you can run all your new topic ideas by.

 

I already have a couple of those, some posters would tell you - my subscriptions to the New York Times and the New Yorker. And Slate.

 

I've wondered about the possible new topic of "Am I A Dick?"

Kind of a philosophical topic...

 

My mom suggested that we forego the adult gifts this year. Just stuff for the kids. It was borne of financial concerns, and we were all fine with it. We'll get together. Share a meal and some cheer. Enjoy each other. That's gift enough.

I won't go into detail here, but other things have come up to make it seem insignificant. I'm so not worried about presents this year.

 

As soon as we had kids and they got to be school-age, my father called and proposed the same idea. I don't think it was out of financial concerns, but he said, "You know, when we want something we get it. You do the same. We'll buy stuff for the kids, but let's skip the adult exchange." We did that, and it soon spread to all of the adult siblings in the family. Has taken some stress out of the holidays.

But if he wanted to exchange presents, I would still participate.

 

On adults ending gift giving, my wife has a large family. She has eight siblings. We had a tradition where we did an exchange with all the siblings and spouses. We'd draw names so we each gave a gift to one family member. We had a $50 limit or something like that. For awhile it was OK and everyone would get a decent gift but it started evolving into everyone just got a $50 gift certificate or even cash. So it was like exchanging $50 for $50 and we stopped because it was obviously pointless and not incredibly thoughtful. Still do the cousin exchange for the kids.

 

My siblings and I and our spouses -- nine people in all -- ended the gift exchange this year. None of us needed or wanted some $25 gift that was more of a pain to get in the mail than it was worth to the person receiving it. Instead, we gave that money, and a little more, to a young mom we've gotten to know over the years. She was able to buy all that stuff she had put on layaway a few months ago. (Layaway: still a thing.) So now her kids have luxuries like mittens and stuff. Maybe even an actual gift too. Makes way more sense to us and helped her through a tough time.

 

That's cool. We did something with a family at my kid's school. You can do it anonymously or not, we chose anonymous and they give you a list and you're supposed to spend $50 per kid. My wife is so good at shopping and finding discounts that we're able to get them a ton of stuff for that amount. We wanted our boys to understand that not everybody is as lucky as they are.

 

I've been asking my mom for a midget named Rufus -- and matching ponies for Rufus and me -- for years. To no avail.

She works in retail, and starts demanding a list around late August. I resist, though I know resistance is futile. The hard part is shopping for my parents, but I think I did ok this year.

 

With my wife's family each adult draws a name and we only have to buy a gift for that person. It keeps things manageable.

 

If this really bothers you, don't worry. Soon enough, it won't be a problem anymore.