I don't care what the economists say (an economic recovery that started in
November 2001? In what alternate universe?),
In November of '01 the entire country was still in the "we'll show them; bloody, but unbowed" mood, so that Christmas was almost normal; people did things as usual, including spending. As a result, the "economic thermometer" at least didn't go down, thus making the economists think there might be hope of improvement. In '02, several big-time CEOs were exposed for their "creative accounting" and other misdeeds (but none were jailed; isn't life funny). Also, a lot of firms either "restructured" (laid off half their work force, except the CEOs) or went under. But, those which survived, seemed to be over the worst, and on the road to recovery so, by the year's end, there was still a bit of optimism, though more tempered and much less widespread.
Then we went to war... What the *true* "rationale" (excuse) behind that decision was I have no idea -- the only thing all the "systems" seem to have in common is the belief that the less the hoi-polloi *knows*, the better -- though I could *speculate* for hours (when there was not enough bread, there were always "circuses" to distract, because people love to see blood-letting -- that one goes back to Romans... Both the French and the Russian Revolutions worked on the same principle. Hitler's Germany lifted itself from the global Depression faster than any other country, because it revived heavy industry -- for military purposes... Had US deposed Saddam with as little trouble as expected... ) Speculations apart, everyone knows where that war has left us -- in the hole, financially...
The pool of those who can afford Christmas "old style" (ie over the top) is getting smaller and smaller. On the personal level, my observations are these:
In the past, about half of our Christmas gift to the children (3 of them my DH's from his first marriage, and one we have in common) was air-tickets to come and spend it with us. Now, for those who want to come, the tickets are *it*; there may be a token gift on top, but no more than that. For all I know (judging by how my investments are behaving), next year we won't be able to afford even that much. We still try to do "something really nice" for the grandkids (2, out of Severn's first 3, have 5 kids between them; the oldest is childless. The one "in common" is both unmarried and childless) but Severn's coming around to my belief (common in Poland) that Christmas, being "all about the Child", is *for* children, mostly; the rest get a lot of love and kisses, and food... :) Since I've never been full-time employed (and not that often part-time) in the -- almost -- 31yrs I've been in this country, I've stuck with this "principle", and asked all the family to indulge me, which they'd been happy enough to do (excepting Severn; he's a different generation <g>).
So what have your favorite Christmas gifts been, that didn't cost much?
"Not much" is, of course, a relative term especially when multiplied by umpteen, but, here are mine:
1) Books -- both for giving and for receiving. My stepdaughter often gives me 2-3 paperback mysteries (I "inhale" them <g>), my oldest stepson's wifegives me books about China or written by Chinese-Americans (she's Chinese, though born in this country). I wring permission from them to pass the books on to the library if I don't want to keep them. One year they (my stepson is hopeless when it comes to picking gifts; she does most of it) gave me a catalogue from an exhibit in the Boston museum on tiaras -- because they're "lacy".
2) In the past, good quality jigsaw puzzzles were great fun (from my SIL, most often, though a couple from my stepdaughter also). Our big meal is on Christmas Eve -- Polish style (though *not* all 12 dishes, and *not* always meatless; I am, afterall, a scoffing atheist <g>); on Christmas Day, I do not cook, and we "forage". Which meant that Danek and I could get our teeth into the 1000pc puzzle by 10-11 AM and have it finished (or mostly) by 16 or so. Everyone present was invited to participate though most declined -- my American family, with the exception of my son and my stepdaughter does not like to spend much time on the floor :) Once done and then disassembled, the puzzles also go to the library.
3) Music. Used to be records, then tapes, now it's discs. I don't listen much (distracting; I can concentrate on only one thing at a time <g>), but 2-3 yrs ago I requested a disc/tape player for the kitchen. The Christmas tree is in the dining room, next door, so, whoever opens a disc first, puts it on for the rest to enjoy; by the time it ends, someone else is bound to have discovered one in their stash... If we decide to sit in the living room (next foor to the dining room), then we crank up the volume in the kitchen :)
4) Do-dads to *add* to a collection.
I collect perfume bottles, tiny glass animals, and any/every thing to do with either tea or lace (used to collect Easter eggs also, but ran out of space and enthusiasm <g>), as long as it's *small*. So I have many miniature tea-sets, and each was a joy to receive. All paper products (cards, stationery, napking, stickers) with tea-stuff (cups, pots, etc) on them get my pulses racing, and a "portrait" of a teacup (I like teacups better than teapots; I do not, afterall, possess a "spout" myself, even though I "spout" all the time <g>) on a lace doily doubly so. I also like coloured glass (even if not related to any collection) and, last year, my S-DIL gave me a little (ca 2.5") heart: clear glass, with swirls of green, red and white (opaque) "ribbons" inside it. One of my most favourite gifts -- it sits near the lace pillow for me to handle whenever I run into a problem -- but, when I saw similiar ones in the Corning Museum, they turned out to be quite reasonable price-wise.
3 yrs ago, when one of my (step) granddaughters started to collect keychains, I foisted collecting on her two sisters, to keep the sibling rivalry at a low level. Each got a "display medium", and, whenever I go anywhere, I try to find a keychain, a pin, and a magnet from that place. Some years the "haul" is better, some not so good (last year I had nothing, this year New York, Ithaca, and Corning), but such gifts "fit" and don't have to cost an earth (I resisted their mother's suggestion that one of them would like to collect "snow globes" in addition to the pins; those are out of my price range)
5) Unusual Christmas ornaments. I no longer collect them, and have dispersed most of what I used to have among the 3 older ones (am keeping "Danek's portion" until he has a family of his own) now that my tree is "strictly textile, mostly lace". But I used to haul them from all-over -- the straw ones, the wood ones, the coloured foil, the glass -- both for our own tree, and for gifts. And everyone seemed to like them, because they were different. Yesterday, in the grocery store, I ran into an ex-neighbour, whose DH (now deceased) used to do exquisite pettit-point. She said that they used to make personalised ornaments for all nephews/nieces (they had no children of their own) -- he did the embroidery, she did the assemblage -- and all the kids (even 25 yrs later) still treasure those... I didn't have the time, this year, to participate in the ornament exchange, but the last year's was great, as had some others been, and I'll do it again (I hope) next Christmas.
It is my considered opinion that the best gifts (Christmas or otherwise) require a lot of thought *always*, but a lot of money *only* if you're out of ideas, and trying to compensate... :)
----- Tamara P Duvall Lexington, Virginia, USA Formerly of Warsaw, Poland http://lorien.emufarm.org/~tpd/
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