FairWarning - we heart Amzon!
IAG - I love giving gifts, it makes other people happy, and it shows them I care. I don't care if I get any gifts, although it is nice, but I like making other people happy and showing them I care.
I do think the Holiday has lost touch with it's true meaning, but there are also plenty of people out there who haven't. I love the holidays and nothing will ever change that.
That's what I used to think Cami. Trust me, no one enjoyed giving gifts more than me....to anyone...to everyone....I loved Christmas and loved giving gifts , even when I could not afford them. (hated getting them for the most part.) I prefer to give gifts for birthdays however and "just because." I guess I just got burnt out over the years. Because of the age difference with my siblings, my nieces and nephews are all grown up and it just doesn't have the same appeal to me. I think the last Christmas gift I gave was to my boss at a former employer. I gave her a color Nook and $2000 cash....it was more of a Christmas Bonus....even though she was my boss/manager I made 2x what she did and I had a hard time reconciling that. I also always personally funded the department Christmas lunches and gave all the department employees gifts. A year later, said boss (who was also a friend who I had taken to Vegas several times on my dime,) sold me down the river during the merger.
I regret the "gifts" to her over the years.
I regret going into a hallmark store once and buying 20 Christmas themed items to give to persons who would barely make the acquaintance list on my fb now. I'm sure they even wondered why I was giving them gifts...but I was in the SPIRIT. I'm sure those things are long since chucked. I regret that.
I had friends who had a 2nd marriage for both at the court house and could not afford a honeymoon. I gave them airfare and hotel for them and 6 other of our friends. In retrospect that was not sound financially, but he died a few years later of a heart attack and that trip was one of the best for me as far as memories go. I do not regret that.
Anyway...when I find something special that I think a person really could use/want, then it is fun to give...but being pressured to buy extended friends and family gifts because you know they are getting you something is not fun for me. It is stressful. Drawing names is a good alternative for adults if one wants to keep the tradition alive.
I like giving birthday presents to a selected few. Christmas, not so much...but to each his own...at the time I was doing it I had fun I guess.