Quote Originally Posted by Gunny View Post
I can't even imagine being a kid now. I want this. I want that. Brand name this. Brand name that. I was happy to get whatever I got. Because I saw them as gifts, not as "you owe me". Honestly I don't like Christmas. Look at who is in this thread. We're all in our 50s and remember when it meant more than getting something. Just another tradition lost. And now they fight over what to call it.

I loved my great grandma's peach cobbler and running around barefoot. When Christmas was a separate holiday you anticipated instead of spending half the year saving for it.. They trainroll Thanksgiving to get to Christmas now. The meaning has been lost to money.
I had pretty materialistic Christmases, from my parents and what done for my own kids. We got 'lots.' As you noted, most of the 'stuff' wasn't the memory makers, it was the wrappings, the time spent with family, and traditions-including church and doing for others over the season and during the year.

My grandchildren are very young, my daughter's is pretty much on the way towards the same as her mom and myself had. Including the new addition of a 'giving' advent calendar.

My grandson is being raised Jewish, along with parents that believe in giving of themselves and what they have.

Christmas alone isn't enough, not the stuff for certain. It's the values that are held that make for the special feelings of gifts, be they an Xbox or a peach cobbler. The recipient knows that they are special to the giver.