We go through an interesting process each Christmas. Each member of the family puts together an email of gifts that they might like. We have been downsizing the prices of the items on the list for a couple of year now.
What is really important is getting together and enjoying each other's company, not how much loot you haul back home. We have found that it is lot more fun opening a bunch of stocking presents than it is a couple of bigger presents. The biggest challenge each year is getting that email our of everyone. We have one member whose list is still missing. I actually had fun thinking of the things that I want while trying to have them be relatively inexpensive.
We have a couple of presents that get re-gifted each year. I also tried to broaden the kids horizons a little by sometimes slipping some potted meat or other Boy Scout emergency food into their stockings. Seeing their faces when they come upon a can of Spam is a favorite part of the holidays for me.
The older you get, the more you understand that the relationships you build do not need material gifts to keep them going. What they need is time, effort, and your full attention when you get together.
I like to think that life is more about whom I care about than what is the latest item that everyone is trying to buy. There was a very sad story in the Raleigh News & Observer about a death related to the theft of two new Sony Playstations. How did we get the point that people are stealing games and being killed for it?
You just have to hope that you can keep family out of the craziness.
