Rich was sitting in his apartment last night stuffing envelopes for some of the people that work in his building and he had an epiphany. There is a lot of backwards gift giving going on. We tell our friends and family that we can’t afford to spend too much but then we give tips to all these people that we don’t “care about” nearly as much as the other people in our life.
Think about it. You give something to your postal worker, something to your hairdresser, another few bucks to the garbage men, some cash to the maintenance guy in your building, the supervisor, and the doorman. All of a sudden you find yourself skimping on the people you really care about in your life. Is this because people aren’t realizing they’re doing it? Is giving all these extra gifts to the people in our life we don’t “care about” as much as others just a reality we have to accept?
There are two groups of holiday people, “Family and Friends” and “Friends and Family”. Those who tend to say “Family and Friends” put their family first on their best gifts list, while the others put their friends first on their best gifts list.
Which phrase do you use?
I make it easy… NO gifts hahaha, no really…. I’m in the line of thinking gifts are for little kids unless you are in a relationship then it’s a whole different story. I know this year I’m concentrating on my nephew and niece.
People get too caught up on doing things just because everyone else does, this includes tipping. I only tip if I get exceptional service, if the waitstaff have done a bang up job and I would like to thank them for it. Christmas is the same way, people give presents not because they WANT to but because they feel they HAVE to. This goes against what Christmas is supposed to be about (and I’m not religious at all). I give presents to my family, and sometimes I give my baking as presents to a few friends, but I do not have oodles of $ and I refuse to go in debt just because it’s what society is doing. I would much rather go and spend money on food or a sweater and give it to a homeless person. I would get a better feeling. It’s the holidays it’s not about making yourself look good!
Elizabeth in New Brunswick Canada