I like spending money on my family and see their faces when they open their presents but if there were no presents I would still want to celebrate and spend time with them' It is nice to give but how would you feel if you suddenly could not afford to give out presents. Would you cancel Christmas completely?
We don't really celebrate Christmas, so I might not be the right person to respond to this question, but I always think Christmas or any festivals are not about gifts or spending, it's about family gathering. Like you said, spending time together is important. Though we don't really celebrate Christmas, ever since I became a mom, I always like to do some activities with my children during this holiday, such as storytelling, craft making, drawing, etc. I also like to make some small toys/gifts for them, either with knitting, crocheting or sewing. Kids are also happy when they receive small toys. I think there are many ways to celebrate Christmas, even in frugal way. I have read from other blogs how they celebrate Christmas frugally, so I think if someone really need ideas about this, they can search on the Internet.
Christmas is not about giving gifts, inviting people to dine with you and decotrating your house. Of course, these are some of the common practices during the Christmas, however, in order to celebrate Christmas, you could do without giving gifts, not inviting people and do doing lavish decoration. A quite dinner with yor family and a visit to a church can be a wonderful way to celebrate Christmas.
No I'd celebrate Christmas every year. There are ways to get help and you can check it at benefits.gov, so you'll be able to have Christmas maybe not as elaborate as you could if money was not really a worry, but you should be able to celebrate somehow. Walmart, CVS, supermarkets and other stores has all kinds of sales, special prices and you can find good prices for everything. Check online for all stores you're interested in online for their weekly sales. Thrift stores has sales too like Saver's...just sign on at their store for free card and give them your email too for notification of their special and sales. Churches are always open for Christmas blessing prayers and they usually have some sort of rummage sale at churches Christmas season too for great things and bargains. If you're retiring age get your Social Security which is increasing next year 2% too, so you'll always have money every month. Another store that has good food prices is Target. Have a wonderful holiday season.
I agree with you that Christmas is not about spending as long as it is all about showing love and spending it with those we care about. The essence of Christmas is enjoying it with those that are close to us in love and happiness and not all about the money.
In our culture, particularly the Catholics here, celebrate Christmas no matter what is on the dining table. We have a saying that Christmas Eve gives hope to everyone as long as you celebrate that night and the next day is Christmas Day. Our dining table has the frugal food for Christmas eve with the menudo, a pork dish, bread and hot cocoa. That's all we have for the holy night.
If there is no money that won't stop me from celebrating Christmas. Though as expected I won.t be happy not able to buy gifts for others during the season I will be hopeful that next time things would turn better. Apart from money another very important aspect of the celebration is spending time with family. I will make sure I spend the maximum time at home with family and loved ones, enjoy the best we can together.
We spend time together as a family and invite some friends and relatives. We don't need to buy gifts but we can still do it. So it is possible to celebrate Christmas if you don't have money. You can decide to take a long walk with your family and take cute pictures together with your phones. You can have your favorite meal too. You can also visit others and spend time with them without worrying about what gifts to buy.
It could still be celebrated even with no Christmas presents. The presence of every member of the family is the best present which a Christmas may share. With some foods prepared, they could eat together, have fun together. Money or material things could hamper or stop everyone from celebrating Christmas. Or if you insist of giving gifts, you could recycle your old presents and give them to your family members.
Yes, it's not to be argued that Christmas seasons is a period of giving gifts because surely it's a time of giving and receiving gifts as well. But that doesn't mean that one cannot have a good Christmas celebration without gifts. If the gifts are available, it's good but if they aren't, there is no need to cry over it, just a nice get together eating and chatting will be enough. So I will definitely spend my Christmas with family and friends this way should there be no money for gifts but I always pray and work hard for money to be available.
Sadly, the Christmas season has become more of a commercial celebration than an actual holy day. Many people who celebrate Christmas are not even Christians, and have no faith in the religion at all. Originally, people celebrated Christmas in rememberance of the birth of Jesus Christ, even though he was not actually born on that day. It was a religious celebration and not a commercial one, so it was celebrated by everyone who believed in that religion, regardless of how much money they had. Now, it seems like Christmas is just kind of a family holiday and exchange of gifts with each other, with no actual resemblance to how the season used to be celebrated at all. In fact, it has often been reposed to rename the holiday and call it something like “winter festival” or some other generic name, which would encourage the spending money for gifts and totally eliminate the religious aspect of Christmas.
Yes, it's not to be argued that Christmas seasons is a period of giving gifts because surely it's a time of giving and receiving gifts as well. But that doesn't mean that one cannot have a good Christmas celebration without gifts. If the gifts are available, it's good but if they aren't, there is no need to cry over it, just a nice get together eating and chatting will be enough. So I will definitely spend my Christmas with family and friends this way should there be no money for gifts but I always pray and work hard for money to be available. I would suggest that you don't always take what you read on the internet hook, line and sinker because most times people tend to over exaggerate and not truthful with what they write and upload online. Although there might be some elements of truth in those things but not all content are genuine. What you do is pick the part that would suit you well and discard the rest.
I totally agree with you on this, it's exactly my point and stand with the question this thread asked about spending Christmas without any money for gifts. Yes, it's true the gifts matter but without them, it should shouldn't put a stop to the celebration because even if it's not available today, it's definitely going to be available next season's Christmas celebrations.
Sometimes those expensive Christmas gifts get in the way of the fun on Christmas eve, I think-and besides everybody can do a bit of holiday decorating-you could always buy cheap presents and have more fun anyways. Also this year we had a nice fire out back in the fire pit with the temperature here, only dropping into the 40s on Christmas eve. You could buy some cheaper wine and have a few glasses or more-while enjoying the fire as well. I think by keeping Christmas, old fashion and simple, is something that could become tradition with families and you could look back on your simple celebration with fond memories as well.
Hi littlewitch66, First and foremost, let me greet you a Merry Christmas to you and to your family! Since I was a kid I used to celebrate Christmas every year. I had also experience Christmas without money when I had 4 years financial crisis due to wrong decisions. In that 4 years, I did not give gifts to my family and friends but I still celebrate Christmas by going to church for 9 days straight and we call it "Misa de Gallo or Simbang Gabi" here in the Philippines. Giving gifts is really an overwhelming feeling especially to children because their happiness when they received gifts are priceless. But there are other ways to celebrate Christmas without money or without food to prepare. I think going to church and remembering the birth of our savior Jesus Christ is the most important during Christmas days but if you have money to share by giving gifts well, that's awesome.
I don't celebrate Christmas but can relate it with other festivals. Nowadays, festivals have become more commercial and each festival is associated with just shopping, spending money on gifts and expensive foods when the actual meaning of festivals is to be thankful for the gift of life and having loved ones close around us. For those who really want to celebrate something, money should be a deterrent but they can celebrate any festival by just being with each other, sharing what they have and creating good memories.
Though it's hard to imagine Christmas without a wide array of food and presents, I agree you can celebrate Christmas without money. Christmas is really all about creating great memories and quality time with cherished friends and family.
I am not a christian but celebrate Christmas every year. I don't spend money directly for celebrating it but I really love visiting my friends with gifts in a traditional way. I have been doing it right from my childhood days and they also treat me as their family members and not to mention that I join them in Christmas Eve dinner and they in turn take special care to prepare a few vegetarian dishes for us. Yes, I think I will still celebrate Christmas even if I have no money.
