Really, leaving aside my dark patch of the present, what the hell is the hoo haa, agony, & sheer distress, of people doing “Christmas Shopping’.
This year, due to various financial necessities & ‘reasons’ as Thirdcat might say, we decided to do the “Secret Santa’ thing.
This entails each person listing up to 3 choices of what they may like to receive. A monetry limit was set between blah blah & hah blah. Some drawees, decided they needed to spend the Hah blah amount.
Unfortunately, seeing we are a small family group, we all worked out who got who. I am appalled at who got my choices, which, though very moderate, &, I felt reasonable to any budget, are proving to be a little ‘off beat’. I know the person concerned is trying to do the ‘right thing’. But the agony it is causing is not worth it.
If I had my ‘druthers’ as the Americans say, I would opt for us all to just buy a gift for a needy child to gift to a tree, & leave it at that. After all, we all have enough ‘things’ to last a lifetime. We are not wanting for any creature comfort, so anything outside that, has to be just surplus to our needs, in fact, an utter indulgence!
The butterflies are quite happy with our Buddleia shrub, though I have yet to capture any sitting on the flowers.
My vegetable garden endeavours all ended in disaster, & I may in fact, be lucky to pick a tomato or two when they ripen… always supposing they will get that far.
The Ivy Geranium seem almost indestructable & I still have some Oregano.
The Basil tends to come & go, due to lack of water. The Thyme, which is one of my favourites is trying to strike up random plants from a shrub I had for many months.
If you look really closely here, you may see tomatoes, but they will amount to very little, I fear.
I have strawberries the size of less than my small fingernail, …sweet, but useless really.
The Radishes I planted looked so good when they sprouted, but are being eaten by snails--- where the f are the lizards I see lazing about the garden??? I thought they loved to eat them??
I thought to buy one of those snail bait thingies, where the dogs are protected, because they are too heavy to overturn & it is a bait motel, where the snails & slugs enter to gorge & thence die. At 30% discount to leave a cost of $30 each I decided I will troll garage sales for large, heavy, ugly, ashtrays!
This morning I went to collect SG to take him for the Bus stop to school. He was delighted to find a pink feather for his sister –“She loves Pink!” I am not sure, but I think he wrecked it, so no more was said.
We were so proud of him, he got the Class Award this year, & has a love medal as a prize.
18 comments:
Oh Meggie I am so glad I am not alone in this Christmas angst thing and I am determined that this year when writing my thank you letters I will suggest that we all give whatever we might have spent on prezzies to charity thus saving some of the aggro of shopping for trifles nobody wants and spending huge amounts on postage of said rubbish!! Bah humbug eh?!! How lovely to see your plants though - it really does lift the spirits doesn't it?
J
I am with you an the shopping. We draw names among our immediate family so I have to get one gift and now the teen aged grandchildren get cash. The ones in Australia also get cash because I no longer want to spend $30 to send a $20 gift. Buying one gift is not too stressful.
I hear ya Meggie. I don't have a problem with my side of the family 'cause we understand each others hobbies, but with the in-laws it's a different story. After years of getting each other unsuccessful gifts, we've devolved (if there is such a word) to exchanging gift cards. I hate it -- what's the point - it's so darn impersonal! "Here's a giftcard to Store A for X dollars and thank you for my giftcard to Store B for X dollars." What the heck? Why don't we just skip it and call it even?
Thanks for opening that old wound this morning LOL!!!
This seems to be such a common complaint! Our family has never over indulged in spending on Christmas presents but it still has had moments of anxiety. Years, actually. I find it heartbreaking to know that something I so carefully chose was not appreciated, and I feel guilty for receiving a useless present that someone spent money on.
Still, I love finding a little something for someone at a craft market and am always happy if my pressie includes food.
I hear you on this one Meggie.
My byword this year has been simplicity, both in gift choosing and decorating. It's all done and I'm ready for the 25th, and I didn't break the bank.
Next year will be even simpler. We didn't have all this faffing about when we were kids and we had great times and were happy with what we got.
I'm not buying into it anymore, it was my own fault I did in the first place.
We live and learn.
hugs
xx
Well done little grand son. I am sure your helpful guidance has helped shape him into a kind sensible younf lad.
The tomatoes look promising inmy opinion - keep at it.
I didn't know Hamilton had no Hospice.
I haven't even begun to think of Christmas shopping yet. My next step will be thinking about it. And the final step will be actually doing it. Frankly, I hate them all. I haven't a clue what I want, so how can I consider what somebody else wants?
Meggie, do you have a terracotta pot with a hole in the bottom? You could use turned upside down that for snail bait, you could push it down into the soil and the slugs can get in through the hole.
I'm with you on the "Bah Humbug" Christmas!
meggie - your photos are wonderful as usual. I really like your idea of getting a gift for a needy child rather than getting for family members who don't need anything else. I think I will share that with my family and see what we can do for those less fortunate this year!
I finally convinced my in-laws that Christmas is for children. My sister-in-law hough it was unfair to her daughter who is childless, so I told her it would be better if we simply exchanged cards. She was happy, I'm sure, since I have 11 grandchildren and she only has 2......
It's so easy to get caught up in the whirlwind of rushed this time of year, isn't it? Take care of you, please! xx
Why in the world did we let ourselves get caught up in this commercial mess? If we don't play we are called "Scrooge"... The world tries to guilt us into participating... I remember the year my father-in-law finally quit. He told all of us that he was not doing Christmas. We still gave him gifts and he accepted them and thanked us. But when he stopped .. he stopped... Brave man, huh!! I've told mama that she should stop. I wish it really would go back to Christmas being JUST for children.
I've got one daughter whose Xmas list always seems over the top and the other daughter who hardly ever wants anything!
Your garden is looking colourful!
I feel much the same way as you regarding present exchanges. We're adults, and once we reach a certain age, we have all we need. (Most of us, anyhow.) If there's something we really, really want or need, we'll either go buy it or save for it. Gift exchanges unfortunately have a way of disintegrating into a matter of obligation and consumption rather than mutual delight.
I'd far rather concentrate on other traditions and Christmas for the children. The things which warm my heart now are baking, decorating, contributing to the unfortunate, and awful old Christmas movies.
Still, one does want to give something to the parents, even though they're of a "certain age". My current approach is to think of things which can be consumed. I sent several pounds of decent coffee to my father, and an assortment of dried fruit to my mother. I hope these things will be consumed and enjoyed. If not, well, perhaps next Christmas I'll ship each of them a case of toilet paper.
Nice thought to buy a gift for needy child Here in Christchurch there are several trees were you can put a gift and the people here are usually very good with that.
I just give my kids money so they can buy their own These teens are not easily happy anyway
Wish you a merry christmas
Me too about the Christmas shopping thing...seems like it all about $, and so I am trimming down this year and making a few things.
Earlier this year I sent out this video to illustrate how the current administration is masquerading as a leadership team different from the previous one. The video documents how the choice between Democrat and Republican is really no choice at all. Recent history has confirmed the message of this video. Here we are almost a year after Bush left office and we see that really only the rhetoric has changed. The same program of economic, military, and civil rights disintegration remains in full effect. The sequel to this video is now available to shed more light on this false choice of governance. This sequel exposes: 1) how mega banks like Goldman Sachs created this financial crisis to then introduce their solution: a government hand-out of trillions of dollars to them; 2) how this same scheme is being set up again on a global scale through the development of a cap-and-trade derivatives market; 3) how Obama is simply managing this economic disintegration program that was furthered by Bush (and his predecessors) going back as far as Carter; 4) how Obama's actions have been just as unconstitutional as Bush's and how our country is being pushed deeper into an oppressive surveillance society. The sooner we acknowledge this false choice of governance we are given, the better the chances are that we can produce a real choice that represents us, not the institutionalized power structure pillaging us. If you would like to learn more about the timely issues raised in these videos please visit this alternative news website, where these videos were produced.
Thank goodness we've calmed down the gifting in our family. It was a gradual process. We keep things really simple nowadays. The grandboys still get fun things, and there is a household gift for each family. That's it. All of the grandboys love to read.
Post a Comment