Christmas 08 and The Economy

For me Christmas is a religious celebration. I come from a working family. When I was a young boy I still remember Christmas periods when my father was unemployed and they few money we had at that time was spent more wisely rather than on Christmas presents. I got some presents by my uncles and aunts which I really appreciated as a young boy. To answer your question yes, the fear of credit crunch made me think about spending and yes I did spend less this Christmas. However I try to give meaningful gifts to those who are going to receive them.

For my kids,tenagers too, I bought things from an outlet store , that has usually very great products and great discounts too. For my friend(women ones), I used some Oley coupons and bought gifts for much cheaper,Also Pantene and Garnier Fructis have lots of sales. For my husband, I cooked a nice meal and we share it under candle lights.

Growing up, my grandmother would usually buy two or three gifts for each grandchild. We were very spoiled by her, now she doesn't give us anything for Christmas because she can't afford to. My grandfather, her husband, on the other hand has always saved, and never spoiled us so much. The gifts he gives are from the heart. In the past few years my husband and I have only given a few people gifts at Christmas, we either had no money, or we're living on one income, or when we had two incomes, we only bought for a few people. This Christmas I am not sure if we'll buy for anyone besides his parents and grandparents. We are going on a vacation most likely, though may change, but if we do go on the vacation we plan to give money to his parents who are paying for the vacation, or to take them out to eat while on vacation. I am actually glad we don't spend all that much because when we do have children, I hope we won't dote on them with so many gifts like my grandmother did for us.

Hi, I belive this is just a passing phase and things would be normal for even better, and it would be soon. Bodhi