How much will you spend this Christmas, travel, food, etc...

I should cancel the satelite service. This way my children wouldn't be exposed to all those commercial and want everthing. Man, everything is so expensive.

I told everyone this year since I will be away I will not be buying gifts and nopt to buy us any!

For my kids birthdays I ask parents not to bring gift for my kids instead to make a donation to a charity. My kids get enough stuff for me and their dad everyday.

This is our first Christmas in our new house. There is no travel this year, which is nice. We are putting our tree up next week, but with a toddler (17 months) we're getting a smallish tree (3 - 3.5' tall). I estimate spending $400 total this year on annual picture cards, gifts for family and the tree/decorations. No more than $500. We're not having a large Christmas dinner, as I will be freshly banded.

This yr im looking forward to xmas for a few reasons. We started our own business in Feb and it is doing really well. So for the first time in my life I can afford to give my kids a nice christmas and not have to worry about how im going to pay my bills the next week or depend on my parents for ANYTHING this yr. Also im able to get my parents a nice gift as well . Something I have never been able to do .

And im looking forward to being banded right after christmas .

So its going to be a good christmas.

We are not going anywhere so that wont cost anything . We just bought my husband a new truck , so with that , my surgery and christmas im not going to go overboard with christmas but we will be able to have a good one.

Dinner will probably be at my parents house.

Mindy

We get off lightly at Christmas. Both my husband's family and mine are small, and are mostly comprised of adults who have long ago decided that gift giving no longer made any sense. We are all too old and have everything we want and need.

My husband and I never formally exchange Christmas or birthday presents, either. Surprising each other has sometimes ended up in disasters in the past. Still, we do buy stuff for each other, just not for special occasions, but only when we see the right thing. Buying gifts for people who are close to me is difficult. I find it almost impossible to keep them secret. I want to give them right away. This is why I have to buy my presents at the last minute.

There are a few friends with whom I exchange presents and kids get presents of course.

As for Christmas cooking, well, I get off lightly here as well. Christmas Eve we go to my mother-in-law's house. She is German and the Eve is more important to her than Christmas Day. Christmas Eve is also more important than Christmas Day in France. The day itself is kinda like Boxing Day is here - a day of recovery.

Christmas Day we will spend at a friend's house now that both my mother and my brother are dead (they were the family that lived in Toronto). This friend loves to cook and Christmas Day is important to him. He's a bachelor, his sibs and their families live far away, and so his friends are his family. As it happens he and I exchanged Christmas gifts in October!

Christmas is kind of a melancholy season for me. My kid brother and my mum both died in 2005 and this wasn't good but even before this, Christmas was kinda sad. You see, not only are there are very few children in either my husband's family or mine but many of my generation have moved away from Toronto to live outside Canada. The Christmas gatherings are thinly populated these days. The death of my mother and my brother (who, like me, is childless) just adds to the devastation. (My poor widowed sister-in-law prefers to spend Christmas with her own family.)

My Husband's parents are missing two of their children and both of their grandchildren at Christmas time because they live abroad. Their daughter and her 2 children live in France and their other son lives in Costa Rica.

My surviving brother lives in the States, one niece lives in Australia and the other lives with her daughter in Windsor, Ontario. My nephew lives with his wife and her family in Halifax. I have a cousin who lives in B.C. and one who lives in Ottawa. The Green family is very small!

We are going to have a great Christmas this year, but that's because I shopped early! I've already bought all of the presents for my daughter, my mother, and all of the girls in the family. I only have 6 people to buy for still. But, the mess comes from having 2 adult Boxer's and 7 5 week old puppies! So, we are afraid to put up a Christmas tree or anything. But, the money we get from selling the pups is sure going to come in handy! Our male is a little spastic, to say the least, so we're just going to wrap the presents and put them around the wooden snowman my daughter has. Then, most of my immediate family will go to my brother's for Christmas. He lives in the hill country of Texas, so all love to go there and see the hundreds of deer! Expecting a great Christmas this year! I figured it up and I've spent around $800 so far, but we have a large family and I spend the most on my daughter! What a spoiled brat. LOL

I am almost fisinshed shopping, only a few gifts left to buy. I am having the in-laws over before the holidays to exchange gifts and we will have a big dinner, then we are going to my mom's for Christmas eve. We spend Christmas day at home, my mom and step-dad come over for dessert. I am spent about $600 so far, and still have another $200 or so to go. Plus buying 2 dinners. ~Mandy

I wish I could get my family to be reasonable but NO..... THAT JUST WOULDN'T BE RIGHT. My dream would be to pool our money and make a donation to our local homeless shelter in our families name. So much for give to the unfortunate. So I am stuck getting stuff I don't want which I do give to the Salvation Army (tax deduction tee hee) and buying for adults who have everything they want now. Im with Jack, Bah Humbug.

edie:speechles

Between us, we have 5 children, 5 children in-law, and 14 grandchildren. Don't ask how much Christmas costs around our house.

My take on it is that Christmas presents are for children. Everyone else might just as well trade money.

I'm sitting here doing a reality check because more than likely we'll spend over $2000 just on my parents.

Gifts to ourselves are usually something for the house or some kind of vacation - we don't buy each other "knick knacky" gifts. Occasionally we will buy each other things for our hobbies. I'm really good at surprising DH, but he's horrible at buying for me.

The in-laws are expensive to buy for indirectly, because we have to internationally air mail whatever we buy. Roughly, for about every $120 we spend, we pay $60 - $80 to ship. We've thought about just wiring money or buying int'l gift certificates, but to me that's so impersonal -- just can't do it.

Our family is too big for everyone to buy for everyone. We've tried lots of different solutions (drawing names, only buying for the kids, etc.) and nothing has worked so fudge it, no gifts for anyone.

We don't usually travel at Christmas, but the shear size of my husbands family takes up most of our budget. I would say we would spend just under $2,000 if we are lucky.

Brother/sister in law

mother/father in law

2 sets of aunt/uncle

6 cousins

2 sets of grandmother/grandfather

And we are expected to get seprate gifts for each person, apparently it looks bad if we just give 1 gift for the couple.

Then of course there is my family which is a bit smaller but I ship everything over or do gift cards. And for each other we usually buy 1 big thing we each want and then a lot of smaller things like socks, dvd's and things like that to put around the tree....we also stuff a stocking for our cats :biggrin1:

The best gift my husband and I gave each other was about 6 years ago, we agreed NOT to exchange gifts anymore. It was truly the best thing we ever did for each other. I don't have to spend hours shopping for someone who already has everything and if he doesn't he just goes and gets it. Plus, I don't have to spend hours taking stuff back that either doesn't fit or doesn't suit me, (ok I'm picky). It has made Christmas so very much more enjoyable and less stressful for both of us, after 38 years, it's hard to be surprised, LOL.

I've also found for me, the sooner I start shopping, the more I'll spend.

Happy Shopping Friends!

Hubby and I get something for the house and then something small for each other. This year we got a vcr DVD burner combo for the house and he is getting supplies for painting his garage. I am getting a spa mat for the bath, it does heated bubbles. woohoo!!! Most of out speanding is on the nieces and nephews and of course Abi. I also get small gifts for our pets. ~Mandy

Ooh yes, the pets get gifts. Our dog is spoiled rotten - he's our kid. And my parents have his sister, so it's twice as bad.

And usually the "dogs" (me) get my husband and parents small gifts, and sign their little foot print on the name tag.

I always spend way too much on christmas

I'am the same way with my Bichon Breana. I sign gifts from her to her Antie, Nona,Nono and grandma. They give her gifts back but I know Nona and Nono think it is a little weird.

Yasmina