Christmas 2019 Goals, Traditions and Changes

It is that time of year again folks. The time of year when most of us begin to stress over the upcoming Christmas holidays. Many people will now begin their speedy trip into a financial slump and credit card debt just to pull off what they feel is the perfect Christmas.

Believe me, you are not alone on this one. Despite knowing that Christmas comes every year on the same day, many of us fail to prepare financially for it ahead of time.

Instead, they rack up credit card debt, let their monthly bills go, and even take out loans just to get through December. This year my family and I have decided to scale it back some.

In the past, my family had always gone way overboard. There were no limits. I was still spending at least $300 apiece on my grown children's gifts, plus hundreds on my grandchildren. Factor in the extended family get-togethers which also included gifts for all the nieces and nephews, plus food for both Christmas dinners added up to a rather sickening amount of cash.

While it is a nice gesture and if you can afford it easily more power to you. But, if you are doing this and you can't afford it expect a whole lot of stress, worry and aggravation for months to come in the New Year.

My kids and I sat one day and talked this over. Again they are all grown and living on their own. They have families of their own, houses and bills to contend with too. So my daughter stated, "I do not need a whole Santa Claus Christmas from you. I am an adult, I have my own job."

There it was, it was me. I think it was I had been doing Christmas this way for my kids when they were young that I just did not want to let it go as they were adults.

So, we decided there would be a monetary limit and a one gift per person exchange. We also decided that we would stop buying for all the extended family. A nice meal and get together was all that was really necessary to enjoy the holiday.

Now on Christmas with my immediate family, I will being only be buying 8 gifts for adults. Plus my grandchildren. I refuse to be limited on that. After all I am a Grandma.

When I run the numbers for Christmas, instead of spending thousands I will be backing that down to hundreds. Will it change our holiday? No, we will enjoy the gifts we have, the dinner together and the love we share as a family.

For some, this still might sound overindulgent to many on a more limited budget. But, you need to tailor the gift exchange amounts to what your family can handle comfortably. It is different for everyone.

We also have a few plans for some of the extra money we will be saving. We will adopt a family for the holiday. We will also be giving more to our favorite charities which include the children's hospital and the humane society.

To us it is also about what you can give to help others in need. I believe it is also a great lesson for the littles to learn in our family at a young age.

We also have a few Christmas traditions that we enjoy as a family that does not cost us anything. We go yearly to a walk through Christmas display at a local park.

There is also the Christmas parade in our town that we enjoy. Taking the kids to see Santa. Getting together to fill out Christmas cards we purchase at a dollar store and deliver them to the local retirement homes for the elderly residents.

These are just a few of our family Christmas traditions. We all need to remember what the season is really all about, and it is not about what you get, but just how much you can give.

Happy Holidays everyone.