Poll: What is your Xmas Gift Giving Stance?

[Vine Abider]

Having so much fun with the last poll I thought to do another!  I could have come up with several other options, but was limited in the number.  

If your approach is not on there, then please give the one closest to it . . . or leave a comment explaining your approach to Xmas gift giving.

Thanks, Merry Christmas, Incarnation Day, Happy Festivus, or whatever! 

[Marathoner]

I didn't see an option that fits me, brother. Much like kindness and love, giving to our neighbor is not limited to a specific time nor place. It's similar to the Sabbath: the Lord is my rest at all times, never limited to one particular day. I am with Him always, and He is with me always; nothing can separate me from the Lord.

I say nothing with regard to what others do for truly, who am I to judge? Let us examine ourselves instead of picking at others, which is most assuredly what the Lord teaches us to do. 

My "personal" reasons for initially avoiding all holidays lost it's validity a very long time ago. I got over that because the Lord helped me focus upon serving others and being a testimony. The inverse narcissism of severe depression (it is indeed inverse narcissism!) eventually disappeared because I wasn't gazing at myself. Praise the Lord!

There's nothing wrong with remembering and sharing testimony, for that is how the Lord uses me to reach the suffering and walk beside those who find themselves under the power of this flesh. An example speaks more loudly than promises. 

[Vine Abider]

Boy, I thought this topic would really be a popular "Christianity Lite" one . . . (maybe just too many like it have been done) 

[BornAgain490]

For me, it's tradition.  Though I do less gifting than I once did.

I have a lot of atheist/agnostic family members who celebrate Christmas, some of whom will even attend mass out of tradition.  I view that as a flicker of hope. 

So, for the past few years now, I send Christmas cards with Christian tracts inside.  This year I've included in each envelope Tom Hammond's "Solving the God Puzzle", praying they read it and that the Holy Spirit convicts them of their need to receive Jesus as their Savior. 

[walla299]

I don't have a issue with gift giving over the Christmas holiday season because it does reflect God's generosity to us in providing His plan of salvation: Jesus Christ. I do not care for the over commercialization that's happened to the holidays though.

Our family stopped sending physical gifts years ago for two very practical reasons: shipping costs & difficulty finding/figuring out the right gift. This is because we have family members on three continents and can rarely gather all in one location. Shipping something overseas from the US can cost more than the gift itself - so we just send money. Then the one getting the gift can buy what they need or want. As a kid there was little worse worse than getting clothes you've outgrown, etc. before you could ever wear them. (Unless it was something that fit but was hideous!)

[missmuffet]

I don't get into the gift giving at Christmas.

[Marathoner]

1 hour ago, walla299 said:

Unless it was something that fit but was hideous!

The best kind of clothing to give. 

Edited December 15, 2024 by Marathoner

[missmuffet]

25 minutes ago, Marathoner said:

The best kind of clothing to give. 

One Christmas my then boyfriend and I got matching jump suits. Hated them.

[AnOrangeCat]

I'm really on board with Paul in Romans 14 about this sort of thing. To paraphrase, don't get into disputes about holy days. Let everyone be convinced in their own mind and do it with thanksgiving and without causing each other to stumble.

For me personally I don't really do it anymore, but it's largely for practical/personal reasons. Local friends aren't a thing for me, the relationship between me and the few family members I still associate with is more like a business transaction, and with finances being what they are for me for the foreseeable future I'd be hard pressed to reciprocate with more than one or two people. I could see myself getting more into the gift giving under different circumstances, but I've reached the point in my life where a new kitchen appliance is probably the most exciting thing anyone could get for me.

[Neighbor]

I can do without the commercial Christ-mas. For it is a generic "Happy Holidays" and not much of a celebratory marveling of my Lord's sacrifice made for me individually.

That said; I also  do enjoy sharing of some green ( US Dollars) with a very few immediate family members- because God has granted me that ability.  Praise God!

Other than that:  I can do without Christmas card exchanges especially those  internet ones as  I don't even open them for concern they may  be a scam. I always enjoyed family dinners, but that is near impossible these days as everyone is scattered - on this side or the other of the grass.

In some ways I think it might be better to be a memory than to be the one remembering, but that is life all good things come at the balance of those things not so easy to endure. Fondest memories come at the price that they are -memories. 

 I do find much hope in the generosity of love being extended to so many right now towards all those that have been hit so hard in the USA by  some extraordinary  storms that have had an affect similar to an indiscriminate war. There is determined cheer in the midst of so much loss.

I think much of it, though not all is based on faith in Christ Jesus, and the hope certain that is His gospel. Much like the very early church that shared sacrificially with those  at the church at Jerusalem, even the many that today have so very little themselves are cheerfully sharing with those that now have nearly nothing.

Imagine such generosity,- giving sacrificially without borrowing with a credit card.

I am blessed to have a spouse that endures my old age. I am blessed to  have a small extended family unit too. I am blessed, yes blessed to be USA American born and raised, free from the extremes that much of the world suffers, free because of the determination of so many that came before me to make this land a haven, not heaven, but a haven on earth.

So "Christ-mas", no matter how celebrated, is a gift received, a gift from God in his mercy, received in such deep appreciation.