Skip to main content

A new Christmas tradition

Image
By
What do you do when the extended family gets together for Christmas. Does everyone buy everyone presents? Do you just get presents for the kids? We did the Christmas Draw.

Christmas Draw

When a family gets large, buying everyone a gift gets expensive. To be frank, the amount of thought that goes into each gift shrinks. Enter the Christmas Draw.

Each person drew a relative's name from a hat. All gifts were from "The Family" so you didn't know who got it for you. Everyone had a meaningful gift to open but it wasn't super-materialistic or super-expensive.

But what to get?

Over the years, it became trickier. Especially if you only saw your niece / uncle / cousin once or twice a year. Gift cards became increasingly popular when the buyer had no ideas.

One Christmas at least 3 people opened a gift card for a particular hardware chain. At least one person both gave and received one of these.

Stats show that 30% of these cards are never used - they're lost or expire. So it's really a present for the company, not the loved one.

Also, living in a rich western country we have all we need. Probably more than we need. So what is the point of driving around town purchasing near identical gift cards to swap with each other?

In the final year of "the draw" my aunt (who knows me rather well) made half of my gift a donation to a developing country overseas. Well done by her. That gift will bring much more joy than many gifts that go unused.

It was these kind of thoughts that led my uncle to suggest a new Christmas tradition.

What we do now

Here's what we do now - in my uncle's words:

This is what I thought about gifts... making a donation rather than purchasing a gift. My suggestion is...
  • We each choose a charity that has some significance to us.
  • We each individually (or as a couple if you prefer) make a donation to your chosen charity, of any amount that you choose.
  • On Saturday night, we take time during dinner to each tell the group what charity we chose and why we chose it... we don’t share the amount of our donation.
 I think it's fantastic. Apart from being much less materialistic, it helps out those who are really in need - which is surely more what Christmas is about.

- - - - -

Post-Christmas update:

So how did it go? Refreshing, uplifting and meaningful.

The extended family gathered for a restaurant dinner on Christmas Eve. Between courses we took turns to tell about the cause we donated to, and why it was important to us.

Particularly on Christmas Eve - after all the commercialism of the pre-Christmas period - it was uplifting to hear the range of causes that we had collectively helped. They included the Big Issue, Guide Dogs, cancer foundations (in memory of relatives we have lost), animal welfare, Ozharvest, several mental health organisations, TEAR Australia and AIME.

It was also interesting to hear of the volunteering that some relatives do that I wouldn't have otherwise known about. Overall, it was far more meaningful and much better value for money than previous present-swaps.
Read more about:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

My mug shot

By
This is every mug I own. How many did I buy? Zero. They seem to just appear. I don't even drink tea or coffee. In winter I have might have a hot chocolate or cocoa. So 9 mugs seems like a lot. How does this happen? I reckon most mugs are gifts. There are two reasons for this. 1. It's a safe bet. People need to drink. It's kind of like buying your dad socks for father's day. But the difference is that socks wear out and need replacing. Cups don't. One of these mugs i received as a kid in the 90s. It still works fine. Now it has 8 friends. 2. It's often for what's on the mug. It might be a greeting card-style message, or a sports team logo, or something humorous. It's a good thing that something functional can also provide an inspiring message or pleasant memory as you use it. But the problem comes when we have too much. If I use the cup my sister gave me at Christmas, then I'm not using the 'awesome brother' one she already gave m...
2 comments
Read more

Adam ruins work

By
The TV show Adam Ruins Everything took a look at the workplace - and the 40 hour work week. It confirms my thoughts that the 40-hour work week (or at least it's relevance today) is a figment of our imagination. Very enlightening. Watch it now . The first 7 minutes are the most relevant. There were some astonishing stats coming out of it. For example, we spend only 45% of the work week doing our actual job (not including meetings etc). That's about 18 hours per week. Interestingly, that's what experts predicted. With rises in productivity, the 1950s brought talk of a 4-day work week. By 2030 they reckoned we might work just 15 hours per week. But instead we work longer hours. That results in more mistakes and safety mishaps. It also reduces brain function. We might think that it's being productive but Adam points to countries that have as much prosperity as America while working much shorter hours. A classic case of 'less is more'. PS. for the basis of ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Why millionaires don't "feel" rich

By
We're wealthier than ever - so why don't we feel like it? Australia has gone almost three decades without recession. The stock market recently hit a record high. Our wages are record highs. Home loan rates are at record lows. We live in one of the richest countries in the world at the richest point in history. So what's wrong? Comparison Wealth is relative. So what do we compare to? Where we expect to be? "When your wages growth is only 2 or 3 per cent, you don't feel as well-off as when it's going up 10 per cent. That's that nominal distortion that people often suffer from" , says economist Shane Oliver, and that "expectations have grown a lot faster than reality." We're earning more than last year, but we want even more. So compared to our imaginary situation, we see ourselves as worse off. What we see around us? Shane Oliver again. "If you think about it - Australians today are a lot wealthier. They're living far ric...
4 comments
Read more