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Lionel Cironneau / AP
There's something fishy about this. Maybe Santa got lost on his way from the North Pole?
When Emily Russell's two young sons wake up on Christmas morning, they'll find that Santa left them a note instead of the videogames they requested.
"Hey, I couldn't get by your house last night," Russell, a single mother from Kernersville, N.C., plans to write to her sons and sign Santa's name. "Your mom is going to take you to the store when she can."
Live Poll
Do you think it's acceptable to postpone Christmas?
Some people have always postponed Christmas celebrations because their jobs don't pause for the holiday. But in the weak economy, folks are delaying Christmas for another reason: money.
Deloitte's annual holiday survey for the first time asked shoppers whether they planned to wait until January to do the bulk of their shopping for Christmas. Six percent of the more than 5,000 respondents said they did.
The strategy can pay off. After Christmas, retailers offer discounts of up to 75 percent on a wider variety of items than they do in the weeks leading up to the holiday.
It's something cost-conscious shoppers have gotten hip to. Retail sales during the seven days after Christmas rose year-over-year in three of the past five years, according to research firm ShopperTrak. And last year, year-over-year online spending grew by 22 percent on Dec. 26 and 56 percent on Dec. 27, according to computer giant IBM's retail consulting arm.
Elaine Wu and her husband plan to wait until the day after Christmas to shop because they've agreed not to spend more than $150 for each other — a difficult task given they like to splurge on upscale Marc Jacobs handbags and Armani shoes.
Wu says she's also waiting until after Christmas to shop for some of her friends. Real friends, she figures, wouldn't want her to go through the headache of shopping in the pre-Christmas madness anyway.
"Just because it's a day late doesn't mean it's going to be any less special or didn't come from the same sentiment," says Wu, 36, a marketing manager for the startup website BlogHer in Silicon Valley. "It just means that it's going to save us 60 percent."
Postponing Christmas Day, originally a Christian holiday to celebrate the birth of Christ, is almost unheard of in some circles. About 95 percent of Americans celebrate Christmas — including 80 percent of non-Christians, according to Gallup polls.
But Bruce David Forbes, author of "Christmas: A Candid History," says those who delay Christmas festivities can take some comfort in the fact that Dec. 25 isn't the date of the birth of Christ.
When Christians started celebrating his birth in the 300s after the Roman emperor Constantine converted to that religion, they didn't know the birthdate, so it appears that they picked a day to coincide with Romans' midwinter celebrations of their own gods. Meanwhile, Christians in more eastern countries, like Turkey and Greece, were already celebrating on Jan. 6.
So, Forbes, who teaches religious studies at Morningside College in Sioux City, Iowa, says if you're celebrating anywhere between Dec. 25 and Jan. 6, "you're not even doing it late."
That may be a relief to Mujtaba Al-Qudaihi who will spend Dec. 25 watching a movie, catching up on reading or killing time on the Internet. His real Christmas celebration — which includes his dad dressing up as Santa and the extended family exchanging gifts and eating a big meal — will happen a few days later.
That's because it's cheaper for Al-Qudaihi and other relatives to fly to his parents' home in Indianapolis after Christmas. Besides, Al-Qudaihi figures that the prices on gifts he plans to buy will be much cheaper after Christmas.
"Nothing changes," says Al-Qudaihi, 27, who works in information-technology consulting for a public university. "Just the date."
Danielle McCurley of Lacey, Wash., also is planning to postpone Christmas a couple days. She wants to wait until her financial aid check for her school tuition arrives so she can spend the extra money on gifts.
In normal years, McCurley would have finished her Christmas shopping weeks ago. But this year is different: After losing her job as a home health aide, McCurley, 32, returned to school to study social work this fall. Adding to that, her husband, Mario, was out of work for a year and a half, though he recently found a job as a security guard.
McCurley, who has three children ages 4, 5 and 11, thinks her youngest two won't really notice. Her oldest will, but she already bought his present: a secondhand netbook that she got for a third of the original price at $100. And she figures her mom, her three brothers and her husband won't really mind the late presents.
"They're adults," McCurley says. "I don't think they'll be too upset."
Meanwhile, Russell, the North Carolinian mom, isn't sure how her sons, ages 8 and 10, will react when they learn Christmas will come late for them.
Postponing the celebration is the only way Russell, a customer service worker, can manage to afford Christmas this year because she had to take two weeks off without pay recently when her youngest had his tonsils removed. She figures if she waits until after Christmas to go shopping, she'll be able to scrounge up money to buy each boy a video game, a board game and one piece of clothing.
"It might be a little upsetting to start with," says Russell, 41. "I'll tell them, 'I'm sorry Santa didn't come by today. Maybe he'll come by next week.'"
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For older kids and friends I think it's a great idea to post pone and save more on what you want to purchase. For smaller kids that still believe in Santa, I think people should try and keep the tradition.
Any who, to each their own.
Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas!
Last year, things were really tight for us, and most of my boys' (then 4 and almost 1) christmas came from the dollar store. I didn't spend much more than $20 for the both of them, and most of that was a $7 train my oldest specifically asked for. For older kids that are not expecting Santa, go ahead a wait. For little ones, at least go and get a couple of cheap toys for them to open.
In my family everyone gets one gift from each person. I grew up with 2 siblings and 2 parents so I would have 4 presents from each. We never had Santa Claus, as my parents didn't believe in lying to their children(senseless). We were told that, it would have created even more LIES...we never had a chimney.....annual Christmas(adult) party that went well into the night. My kids have no Santa and I'm honest when letting them know that there is no Santa Claus and to feel sorry for their friends who parents lie to them. I have also taught them that the person to inform them that their parents lied to them should be their parents. So far only one slip up with my 4 year old, his teacher then told the little girl that my son was a LIAR...Santa Claus is real. Can you imagine what that does to a young child who is raised to be truthful? Needless to say there was disciplinary action taken against his teacher and she is no longer in his class.
Monae,
I also think that you should tell your kids about every dishonest thing that you have ever done. Dont leave anything out even if it is going to make you look bad. I hope that you guys dont celebrate christmas because of religion either, because you know you cannot prove god so it is a lie to say that there is one. To tell your kids to feel sorry for kids whose parents lie to them is BS, because im sure that you have also not told the whole truth to your kids about everything.
You know people, Christmas isn't just about presents. Try spending Christmas with your family in the exact same fashion as you would Thanksgiving. Or go volunteer at a soup kitchen or something. You'll be more likely to get into the true spirit of Christmas then.
Oh, and Monae, Santa was real. His name was Bishop Nicholas, of Demere, Turkey. He has a real tomb that you can go and visit. Look it up.
Monae, to deliberately place that knowledge in the hands of a 4 year old and expect him not to repeat it, I can only assume you are taking out all the anger you feel about your own parents and feel you are evening the score. And to get his teacher professionally reprimanded for trying to diffuse a PRE-K situation that YOU caused is revolting. How arrogant of you to tell your kids to pity others who for a least a short time in their lives have something fun and magical to look forward to. You are the one who should be pitied.
Monae75, your parents didn't want to lie to you about Santa because it would mean the cheap bastards would have to spring for more gifts, so they came up with the one gift from each person rule. Glad you crushed your kids childhood like that though, you can't have them going around enjoying all the Christmas cheer.
Monae - I find posts like yours to be nothing but mean-spirited, cold-hearted bitchiness masquerading as self-righteous "truth." Telling your kids that other people's parents "lie" to them, and that they should feel sorry for those kids is total BS & frankly, I think you sound mentally ill. There is a very big difference between sharing traditions with your kids and harmless cultural stories that have been passed down for years and lying. And it's sad, beyond sad, that you can't see the difference. I only hope your kids don't grow up with psychological issues because of the cold, mean and sterile environment you insist on raising them in.
And you should be very careful about riding around on that super-high horse of yours - the higher horse, the farther and harder the fall.
Bishop Nicholas did not live in the North Pole, nor did he fly around the world with FLYING reindeer in less than 24 hours giving people presents. Now, you show me a hundreds of year old man flying around with reindeer I'll accept your story. If a person died and are in a tomb unless they a 'Jesus' how are they still giving out presents? I have not lied to my children, if they ASK me a question I will tell them the complete truth. My parents told me I will do the same, no need to volunteer info though. What anger would I have against my parents? Neither of my parents believed in Santa Claus, their parents didn't believe in Santa Claus. Cheap parents who paid for 3 children to attended Catholic school and paid for all of our college straight from pocket...ummmm ok. I'll ask you please....when my children ask about Santa Claus what should I say that isn't a lie? He does not exist(even Bishop Nicholas is dead), there is no such thing as flying reindeer...are reindeer even in the North Pole? There is no such thing as a 'workshop' with 'elves' making 'free toys'. How, would this man get into my home since we have no chimney? How would this man get past our dogs? Why would this man give my neighbors thousands of dollars worth of toys while we give 1 gift each of something needed. How do I explain the toy drives we participate in yearly for poor children...why collect toys if Santa will give them toys? How do I explain these things without lying?
Grilledcheese mean? Telling my children the truth...Santa is not part of my upbringing so how is it my culture? It was never passed down from anywhere. I'm not on a high horse please
Monae,
The magic of Santa Claus is the added generosity that people feel at this time of year. There might not be a man flying around on a sleigh, but the good will and hope that this time of year brings is an important thing to believe in. I pity you and your kids, hopefully they will be better than you, and at least give their children the magic of believing in the good in people, instead of being bitter dried up excuse for human beings!!!!!!!!!
@Monae75: So, when do you plan on telling your kids that the Catholic religion is a lie based on a mistranlation? You say you tell your kids that Santa isn't real because you don't want to lie to them, but then you turn around and tell them a fictional tale (the bible) is true?
I think it's more wrong to spend your entire life thinking god is real, than it is to spend the innocence of your life believing Santa is real.
I never said my children were Catholic, because they aren't. I never said my children where being raised Christian, because they aren't. My family(not that it matters) are Deist(I can't disprove a god....but s/he certainly doesn't deal with us). We like decoration the tree and admiring lights around the neighborhood and shops. We give gifts because that is a tradition I was raised with.
Monae - wow. certainly glad I didnt grow up that way.
I would have missed the christmas that my dad (then only my mothers boyfriend) made us an entire fireplace/chimney out of cardboard...complete with fire and logs, so that santa would have a place to come down and deliver our presents...and the magical feeling we all got on christmas morning when we woke up and saw it.
or the time he cut down tiny tops of pine tree's and put them in our rooms while we slept, complete with a small string of lights and bag of chocolates under the tree - from "santa" of course...and how magical it felt waking up and seeing a glowing, tiny little tree waiting just for me...
or all the years we woke up, ran from our rooms down the stairs to stare in amazement at the filled stockings and tree overflowing with presents, and wondering what on earth santa got us that year.
Lies? If thats how you want to view that...be my guest.
It was simply magic, and christmas cheer...and I wouldnt trade it for anything in the world.
And not having experienced that Monae, you cant possibly know what you've missed...and so are your children.
It's one thing when kids cant have a proper christmas because their parents suck at life.
it's quite another when their parents are just ebenezer scrooges.
I couldn't agree more Monae. Even though Bishop Nicholas was real, he's long since dead and won't be visiting your living room anytime soon. I don't believe in telling the lies of Christmas myself. It's about being together with your family and friends, and enjoying their companionship and love, and about giving back to your community - it's not about the gifts at all. And it certainly isn't about a baby that wasn't actually born on this date. There have been mid-winter festivities for thousands of years before Christ came along. It was just convenient for Christianity to select that date for his birthday so they could more easily persuade Pagans to convert. I feel sorry for the kids who parents lie to them about it being Jesus' birthday.
Thanks for your focus on the materialistic side of Christmas Jessica. It just reinforces for me that the day ain't about the presents. You can create the 'magic' of Christmas without telling the lies of Santa Claus - and it doesn't make me a Scrooge if I don't tell them the lies.
Monae - you have some valid points.
If you werent raised with it, it's not your culture/tradition.
I get that totally.
As for your kids questions...have they no creativity, no imagination?
perhaps, they should be allowed to develop one?
Jessica, I'm happy you were about to have that special magic times with your father. He sounds like someone who wanted to have his children celebrate the way he was brought up in. It sound Enchanted and Magical things little me loved...simply lovely:). I just can't look my children in the eye and lie to them and go through what my friends have gone through by having to add a lie on top of another lie. That is how I and my husband feel, if you people commenting and reading the comments can come up with a way to give my possible future children Santa Claus without having to lie to them I AM ALL FOR IT. Just to be clear, I don't want to lie to my children...and that is the ONLY reason there is no Santa Claus. Jessica my kids have the craziest imaginations around.....I love the stories they come up and their little plays are adorable. The difference is they know 'real' from 'fake'
Monae, don't be deliberately dense! You just made an unnecessary ass of yourself. Did I say he lives on the north pole and still flies around the world in a sleigh with 8 tiny reindeer? NO! Like an ass you put words in my mouth! I didn't have time to post the full history of Bishop Nicholas! YES he has a REAL tomb with a PHYSICAL body in it that you can look up and even buy a plane ticket to go travel and visit it! I never said anything about the f*cking north pole you prick!
My point is he WAS real. He's a man who'se legend grew to be bigger than him, and if you want your kids to know the truth, then TELL THEM THE TRUE STORY OF BISHOP NICHOLAS! Tell them about the man who WROTE THE NICENE CREED! Tell them about his penchant for secret gift giving, and his renown amongst sailors. Tell them about the man who persecuted the Aryan cult.
If you want to tell your kids the truth then tell them the truth, and not this lie that the man never existed.
The crap about reindeer and elves and the north pole, was just crap tacked onto his legend as his story spread to other countries after his death.
Wow why are you calling me names, I NEVER called you or anyone any name. You took my comment totally left field. They know who Bishop Nicolas is my 6 year old goes to Catholic school and my parents are Catholic. The North pole and reindeer references were to be applied to Santa Claus who is a totally fictitious person. My point was which I think went over your head is neither of those individuals will be knocking on my door to be let in to put presents under our tree. So I will not tell/lie and say that some stranger will wake me and/or my husband to unlock the door to let them in. Nor, will I tell them that a dead person will rise from the grave to so the same. I'm sorry you are so upset that I don't believe in lying to my children. I guess you will hate that they don't have an Easter Bunny or a Tooth Fairy. But they do know the Resurrection story. To call me a donkey and a male sex organ was totally uncalled for and I am reporting your comment. You should check my OTHER posts that actually address it Bishop Nicolas
Why did I call you names? Because you responded to my post by putting words in my mouth. Which is rude, and prompts ordinary human beings like me who have real emotions to get offended and respond in kind. Because normal people are typically rude to people who are rude to them first. Or did you deliberately ignore that part of my post?
And, no I didn't misinterpret your post. When you say things like:
How the f*ck else am I supposed to interpret that post other than YOU taking MY post out of context and putting words in MY MOUTH by implying I thought that St. Nick was flying around the world delivering presents? How is that part of your post, which I just quoted above not an act of asshattery? What you said took my post out of context, it was unnecessarily rude, mean, and unkind. So, like an ordinary human being with feelings I responded by getting angry and calling you what you're acting like: an ass.
AGAIN you're being an ass and putting words in MY mouth. AGAIN, I'm not upset about you not lieing to your kids, I'm upset about you putting words in my mouth just to be argumentative. At no point in any of my posts have I asked you to lie to your kids! On the contrary I have implied, if you have reading comprehension skills, that you should tell them the truth by telling them the real stories of where these fairy tales come from. But, since you're hell bent on arguing with people no matter what their position is, you'll probably deliberately ignore all the legitimate points I've made in this post and only focus on the fact that I called you an ass.
Tis the season to be jolly.
Very wise move, especially due to the fact that Dec 25th is not the actual date of birth of Christ; it has become a commercialized celebration day of his birth.
How true what you said IC. The fact that 80% of non-Christians celebrate Christmas says more about the day than anything else. Additionally, it means it is sad that businesses and governments prohibit their people from saying Merry Christmas to customers when even non-Christians do their best to have a merry Christmas. Merry Christmas basically means, "Have a nice day and have fun being a consumer. Buy lots of presents." Much easier to just say Merry Christmas.
For my family, we will celebrate it on that day with some gifts I'm sure, but we likely will buy a few belated gifts after. Merry Christmas to all, and happy Festivus to the rest of us.
You do not know when he was born and neither does anyone else.
Actually, Richard, it should read "Postponing Christmas Day, originally the date of the Roman winter solstice festival and later co-opted by Christians for the celebration of Jesus Christ's birth."
They've had all year to prepare for this and didn't. For younger children this could be devastating. There's also ridicule from other kids to worry about.
My kids are older so we're going shopping after Christmas and they're picking out what they want. They asked for this last year so we're trying it out. They'll have a few little surprises on Christmas morning but that's it.
This is news??? This is when the gift exchanges SHOULD take place ... on Epiphany NOT Christmas Day. No gift giving took place until 12 days AFTER Christmas Day with the coming of the Magi who brought gifts to the baby Jesus. This is not news but more historically accurate to exchange gifts later on Epiphany
The author needs to recheck history. Christmas was not originally a Christian Holiday. It was a Pagan holiday. Many polytheistic religions had winter celebrations around this time. It is these religions where we got the yule log and Christmas tree. The Christians took the holiday in order to more easily convert Pagans.
Same thing goes for Easter. Many Pagan religions had fertility holidays around spring because that's when it was time to plant crops.
Exactly. "Christmas" was always a pagan celebration of the Winter Solstice. It was the early christians who co-opted it and used it as a way to control the uneducated masses. Much like Fox News does today.
If people would actually sit down and study the bible's telling of Jesus' birth, they'll find that all of the evidence points to the fact that he was most likely born anywhere from the middle to the end of March. Many biblical scholars are in agreement on this. Take for example Joseph and Mary traveling to Bethlehem. They were going there in order to pay their taxes and be counted in the census, which had to be completed by the beginning of April because that was also the start of the New Year in those days. And shepherds tending their sheep? There were many lambs in those flocks as well. Now ewes don't give birth in December, they give birth in the spring.
Re- read San. The author clearly says this about half waythru the story.
It's generally accepted that the Good Lord was born in the late winter. My Orthodox relatives celebrate Christmas in January (because of the Western and Eastern Churches are on different calendars).
Easter is the MAJOR Christian Holiday and is bigger than Christmas. Christmas was celebrated by the Church to combat a heresy that Christ was only God and not Human. So it wasn't a way of controlling the uneducated masses.
I think this woman can run out and get like a $20 board game and another small item for her kids. You don't have to go hog wild. People celebrated Christmas through the Depression. What is important is the lesson you teach your children: that Christmas is the Birth of Christ.
In certain parts of Europe, gift giving isn't done on Christmas but on St. Nicholas Day... like Dec. 12th. Other parts have it in January for the Epiphany with the three kings. Gosh, be creative.
I mean, what is more important? Presents or the Birth of Christ? That's what it comes down to.
Why all the arguing about the "real" date of Jesus' birth? Obviously a majority of Americans celebrate Christmas on Dec 25 and this story is about families who want to save money. Nobody was objecting to the date, or moving the date to be historically accurate. Kids know about Christmas day, they eagerly await Santa Claus during a certain period of time. There is going to be disappointment. Make your biblical arguments if you want, but my suspicion is that some of you arguing are not even Christians, and just like to argue.
Gave yourself away Uranus by calling Fox viewers the uneducated masses. Well, at least "masses" was correct, given their viewership. Speaking here as a Fox viewer with a 3.97 GPA.
Then you should be smart enough to see through their lies.
I thought I heard watching the history channel that Christ was actually born in August. Obviously, I could be very wrong about this, but I really thought it was late summer he was born, not winter time.
Someone correct me please with the right info if I'm wrong.
Or, they could just spend at least part of Christmas day volunteering at a shelter, serving Christmas lunch to the homeless. Much more meaningful than anything you can buy at a store, on sale or not.
@Ron--Yes, the writer does mention about halfway through the article that the holiday has pagan roots. However, he incorrectly identifies those roots as Roman. The traditional pagan holiday that was usurped by the influx of Christianity was the Germanic pagan winter holiday of Yule and was celebrated by Germanic/Celtic pagan tribes, certainly not by Romans...
Ehh, if you do your research on the birth of Christ the actual date is somewhere between the month of December and January from what I've read. It's whats in the heart of the believer.
DisabledVet 68August 20, I think. The Chinese wrote down the date the star of Bethlehem first appeared in the sky.
Actually, the truth is Christmas hasn't been a pagan holiday for many centuries. For atheists now to claim it as so is just plain riduculous. Obviously, they didn't care about celebrating it for the centuries beforehand, so I can only guess why they keep wanting to repeat it as a pagan holiday now.
Thank you MSNBC for continuing your Christian bashing every day of the year!( and yes, MSNBC has proven themselves once again to be the most liberal idiots around!)
I am sorry, but parents have ALL YEAR to plan for Christmas. Buying a few small gifts here and there throughout the year, starting a Christmas savings account, using store layaway programs, all enable folks to budget for the holidays. And really...Christmas isn't delayed. December 25th will still be Christmas whether there are 50 presents under the tree, or none. Setting unrealistic expectations for your kids if you can't afford it just leads to dissapointment. The season is NOT about how many gifts you can get your kids. How 'bout taking them down to the local soup kitchen or shelter and volunteering of your time to help those in need. That is what Christmas is all about. That will be the best gift you can give your kids...not some overpriced video game or toy. If you raise your kids to believe that Christmas is all about how many gifts they get and whether Santa came - then man, I feel sorry for your kids. And in turn, their kids. This articla just sickens me.
I agree and disagree. For instance, they're sometimes spend all year scraping together for things like Football or other programs that require money.
Personally I start shopping in October. A lot of times things aren't marked up for Christmas yet. I'm for shopping throughout the year but again, not a lot of parents can. Sometimes a 'holiday bonus' is what pays for the holidays.
Or maybe 3 kids + health care aide + going back to school to become a low wage social worker + spending that "extra" student loan money on gifts + being married to an unemployable man = financial epic fail?
Which translates to "You love me 60% less than I thought you did".
Or maybe- it means you can get almost twice as much for the amout you budgeted. Not that I give a bleep how much a person spends, especially if the gift shows how well they know me. A box of my favorite chocolates would be better appreciated than some expensive item that I'd never use.
Are there anymore Newsviners out there with a stick up their ass who can't get a joke?
Why not just buy one or two little gifts for the kids to open on time then manage the rest after. It is possible to do both.
My sister's family last Christmas ran into a problem. His unemployment check was late and wouldn't be in until after Christmas, and the hospital she worked at postponed her paycheck because of the holidays. They were asking my mother who is disabled to borrow money from her so they could get gifts for their kids for Christmas 2 days before. My wife and I were visiting for that Christmas and we had just received a large check from my wife's family for the holidays we'd intended to spend on bills. We passed it on to my sister instead.
She has 3 sons, their ages are 16, 12, and 6. The youngest is severely autistic, and really isn't aware of Christmas. The middle boy is pretty understanding. The oldest though, as much as I love him, his other grandparents put their family into constant competitive mode. They spoil the hell out of him and put him at odds with his step-father and the rest of the family all the time. My sister doesn't want to 'ruin Christmas' by having it late even if it can't be afforded.
Personally, it's about giving for me and my wife. We've been lucky enough to be able to afford at least 2 gifts for everyone most years and we never expect anything back. We're both awkward about receiving gifts as it is. It's even hard for us sometimes to exchange for our anniversary or for birthdays.
Ignoring the religious connotations of the holiday, it is about giving and celebrating love. If it has to be held off for finical reasons, then so be it. For the smaller kids, if you can, then explain that Santa wanted to make it an extra special day, and he needed a bit more time to make it perfect. For older kids who perhaps have a different view on Santa, explain the truth of it.
To me, that's what Christmas is really about. You and your wife are really good people. Thank you for sharing this story!
Here's a piece of advice that I learned through my older child. I thought I would have to get him all the stuff we'd see in commercials because he would always say, "I want that for Christmas" whenever we saw it. About a week before Christmas, I asked him what did he want and said we'd make a list. It only contained 7 items and none of what we had seen in commercials. I ended up spending less than $70 for all of the gifts he wanted and he was a happy boy Christmas morning. Same thing happened this year with my second child who's 7. If you sit your kids down about 24 hours after they've seen their last tv toy commercial and without the interference of any other advertisement (catalog, sales fliers, etc.) and ask them what they want for Christmas, you'll probably be surprised that they don't want too much and will actually want stuff that's more meaningful than what's advertised.
Really great point. Kids are impulsive and drawn to the shiny thing that has been put in front of them, but that doesn't mean they are actually attached to getting it. When I was little my sister and I would flip through the toy section of the Service Merchandise catalog ('memba them?) and write our lists for Santa.
BIG mistake!! Our lists were enormous and filled with things that, until that moment in time, we had never even heard of--and there was no way for Santa to know which items we *really* wanted.
We do it with ourselves all the time. Window shop, get lots of ideas, go home and chew on them, then pick 1 or 2 things that really stick for us.
It would break my heart and the hearts of my children if I had to postpone Christmas. So every year I hit up the after christmas sales and set the things I buy back for a year, then If I am lucky and there's a bonus at work for the holiday, or family and friends give gift cards and the like. I have all that extra to spend.
We were kinda religious when we first had our kids, and would budget about 100 dollars each, it was much easier when they were younger. We always taught them it is more important to give than receive, and the amount spent or number of gifts didn't matter, it is the love behind it. As they got older we became more religious, and it has evolved into Jesus' birthday, and each kid gets three gifts just like Jesus did ( according to the Epiphany tale of the three Magi ). Still budget 100 or 150 each, depending on the year. We also buy for siblings/nieces/nephews and parents, but we agreed years ago: one gift each, no more than 50 bucks. My wife has gone to the after christmas sales for years, trying to anticipate what would be good to give the next year. Sometimes we use these for birthday gifts through the year, and if the intended recipient no longer seems appropriate we give it to someone else or donate it to church for the less well off. It takes planning, patience and love, but we're happy with how it turns out. Now, getting back to the article: there have been a few years when due to travel and work schedules we celebrated a day or two laters; once even three weeks later. Everyone still had fun and felt loved. While it is my natural inclination to celebrate on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, as long as you communciate it early and often, no one gets bent out of shape celebrating at a different date.
Wow. Postpone Christmas because you couldn't get presents? If that's why you celebrate Christmas then why bother with Christmas?
I can see an IOU under the tree, but this is the Lord's birth. Perhaps she couldn't get a simpler present and just say they will get another in January? Maybe get them a board game that you can all enjoy for $20 than a $350 x-box. Or better yet, give them the IOU and work at a homeless shelter to show what Christmas really is.
Kids don't care what they get. But giving them the sense of the Lord is more important. Peace, love, and a service to others is way better than a video game. It also lasts a lifetime.
Boy, I feel horrible with my post above as I thought it was a little harsh. It's true...if they do it between Dec 25 through Jan 6, they're safe. They could start a new tradition.
That being said, many churches give out gift cards to parents who can't afford Christmas presents. We used to have a "giving Tree" to buy the presents but many people were returning junk. So now we just send back $25 to $50 gift cards. So, that could be another avenue.
It is the day chosen to celebrate Jesus' birth! Not his actual birthday!
Why didn't the NC mom go and put her kids on the Salvation Army Angel Tree. I live in New Bern, NC I bought my Angel tree kid 4 PS2 Video games with an 8GB Memory Card a remote contol car and a hand held video game and a pair of PJ's Jeans Sweater Jacket socks and shoes, I also donated 2 gifts to Toys for Tots and I send Can Goods in with my 6 year old for the food pantry. I know it is too late now but EVEN if she contacted them RIGHT NOW she might still be able to have a few things under the tree for the boys. In 2005 I had to do it because I had my child and didn't work for a few months until I could go back to my job (I was a temp at the time) it came in real handy for the kids and that is what the community is for....it is also why I give back now too...
Also for the NC Mom goto a web site called www.half.com I get all my PS2 games there they are used but they are WAY cheeper then anywhere else even GAMESTOP. I bought 4 with a 8gb card for around $25 you can't beat the price. I got clothes at walmart on Thanksgiving night and saved a bundle Jeans for $8 bucks, you can be fruggle but still get what they want....
Well, at least she's not writing them a note saying they've been naughty...
I think that either way a person goes, whoever wrote this article should be mindful of children on school computers when they title their stories...there is surely a title they could have used that wouldn't freak out some poor kid seeing this right on the front page of msnbc's website.
Remember what the real presents are in life: The people who you love and love you in return.
Everything else is just stuff.
Sorry, but this woman is just going to spring it upon her children on Christmas morning with a note? I think that's wrong. There are many local organizations that exist to ensure that things like this don't happen. If she had thought ahead, she could register her kids to at least get a couple of freebie toys under the tree, and a talk beforehand of what's going on would do wonders. Kids aren't idiots, they would understand if warned ahead of time. Or get the word out to family members to see if they could help out a little with the situation. Those kids are going to be humiliated and devastated.
if one can't "afford" gifts, then don't give any.
I love how they go from the single mother who has to pretend Santa missed their house to be able to buy her kids a couple of video games, directly to some 1%'ers who are struggling to find 'upscale splurges' such as Armani shoes.
I'm sure they wear these fancy shoes when they go to work the day after Xmas and lay off the aforementioned single mother because they need a higher stock price in order to pay for next year's Xmas 'upscale splurges' This country is pretty messed up.