Re-Thinking Christmas

The commercial store-bought Christmas is dying.
The recent downsizing of the economy has brought a new reality to the middle class that will probably never go back to where it once was. Poor folks have always known that if you can't afford it, you can't buy it, whereas middle class folks have lived a life of buy today and pay tomorrow. If you were fairly affluent, with a stable job and a modest home, there always seemed to be a better tomorrow on the horizon. Now that notion is beginning to crumble. A stable, long-term job is fragile and can disappear at any moment. Jobs tend to migrate to certain areas of the country, where the business climate is friendly. Other areas suffer (just look at Detroit!). Owning a home is both a blessing and a burden, and you may never re-coup what you paid for it. Borrowing money is almost impossible if you have a family, only poor people who've never applied for credit can get it---even though they can't afford the credit they qualify for! What have we done as a nation to stumble to this point? When the economy was rumbling along and things were booming, we weren't looking at the bottom line, saving for hard times that inevitably always come. We didn't do it as a nation, certainly. Many businesses and local governments did not save either, along with most of the population. Many people are broke and uncertain of their futures. Many people are looking to change their lives. Pay off credit debt. Save more money. Eat better, exercise more. Take better care of the things you own, as well as your personal relationships. Consume less.
And that's where the commercial store-bought Christmas comes in to play. Since the end of the recession in the 1930's, the Christmas season has always been a boon to retailers throughout the country. Many stores would not make a profit until December every year. Imagine an economic plan today where you tell a banker that your business model will loose money for about 320 days, but make a gigantic comeback in the last 32 days! Imagine the laughter! But, for years that was acceptable business practice for retailers and banks, because there was always progress and economic growth. After World War 2, the American economy exploded. Throughout the 50's and 60's, factories turned out more products than Americans and the world could buy with cash. We needed more people to buy more stuff. Hence, the beginning of the credit card! An amazing tool for buying more stuff than you previously could afford or need! Buying on Layaway was always options for poor families, but not quick enough. The credit card was perfect; buy now but pay later. Christmas shopping gradually became a season of excessive credit card use and over-buying. My wife and I used to charge 3, 4 or 5 thousand dollars a year buying Christmas toys for my kids, along with personalized gifts for every person we could think of in our immediate families. It would take us a year or more to pay off, before we would do it all over again next year! We would literally open gifts for 2 hours with our boys, if not longer. We would fill 3-4 giant lawn and leaf trash bags with boxes and wrapping paper. There would be so many toys around the house, it became difficult to walk without stepping on something (typically breaking said toy in the process!). It was really crazy, excessive and yes, even ridiculous.
But now Donna and I are re-thinking Christmas.
We think that it's more about enjoying the rare company of our grown sons, and their girlfriends if they choose to bring them. It's more about talking with my sister and brothers, and enjoying laughs with my cousins, aunts and uncles, more about seeing the wonder of Christmas through the eyes of the younger children in the family. It's more about cooking dinner with my mother, and wishing my father was still around, filming everything with his video camera.
I was recently grumbling about the fact that I had a beautiful Christmas tree with no money for gifts to put under it. Donna and I came up with the idea of giving each other gifts of things we would like to buy each other out of magazines or catalogs, and cut that image out, wrapping each item in its own box under the tree. On Christmas day we will exchange gifts, that I'm sure would make Tom Cruise's Christmas pale by comparison! There will be lots of laughs and surprises, and hopefully, memories that we will always look back on and treasure. I can't remember too many gifts that I received at Christmas, but I think I would always remember the year that Donna gave me a Ford F-350 Super Cab Truck with 4 wheel Drive, and a giant plow (hint hint!) I hope she likes the surprise I'm getting her from her favorite jewelry store! (The only problem with cut out Christmas presents is you can't return them! LOL)
So that's how we're rethinking Christmas in our house this year. We recommend that other people do it as well. We don't want to go into 12 months of debt for 1 day anymore. There's nothing that Donna and I need. We have love, and that trumps everything!
Merry Christmas to All!
Love, Rick and Donna