Hello together,

Last Sunday it was mainly about whether you can get through the Christmas season without the stress of gifts.

From my point of view, this is possible without any problems, at least among adults with a few agreements. I'm more excited about a nice evening with relaxed family or friends than about unpacking the third Amazon voucher.

I can't really live with getting extra crumbs at Christmas, which Maybe I don't want.

Children, on the other hand, love cremation

And by that I don't mean the scratchy self-knitted sweater by Grandma, which also falls under my rubble, but ever:

• completely useless
• only for a short time more usable
• possibly carcinogenic
• and for that pig-adventurer

the stuff is, the higher the chance of the coveted "the best gift of all time" – jubilation.

Honestly, I believe that these are exactly the criteria for designing new toys among the big players in the industry.

At the same time, this stuff also lands in the corner on time at the latest new year and is never touched again until it ends up in the basement at some point.

Useful and durable gifts, on the other hand, such as:

• Clothing, Bicycle, Books, Board Games

regularly only a friendly "thank you" to the shrug of the shoulders and are in extreme cases with "what am I supposed to do with it" looks.

Where is the problem? Children are children!

Naturally. And if the little Fritz-Holger from Mum and Dad wants to have the "Star Slime" smelling of chemical weapons for 19.99 €.

That's a once-in-a-half-time schasm. It's just played until New Year, then the stuff is broken and good. I can live with that.

But why the hell is there something similarly meaningless on top of grandmas + grandpas, aunts, uncles and the rest of the family?

At patchwork families in the second generation there are then partly 8 grandparents and correspondingly many extra relatives.

That's just 20 gifts quickly. Too much for a child!

Don't you think so? Then, after the gift-graborgy (also called gift- orgy) hideall the toys and your child only gets the ones he can remember.

The result will surprise you!

So don't give anything to the children?

And it is not only in the family that you give:

• At Christmas markets or in the shopping centre
• in school/Kita
• in a sports club
• on TV

you can see laughing children picking up their presents from Santa Claus as a matter of course.

Santa Claus is just everywhere. "Who has the longest (wish list)" is already played in primary school.

So there are still children left to come up with logical arguments

"Fritz-Holger, Santa Claus at Grandma's will bring you nothing this year, because you already have everything in abundance." Sounds more like a sentence that the great Fritz-Holger will tell his psychologist many years later than after a tried-and-tested remedy, the following generation to renounce consumption.

In any case, one does not want to destroy the children's Christmas, but simply try to put it behind them without all this consumer terror.

In short: It is simply not possible and probably not a good idea to completely withhold the gifts from the children at Christmas.

Hopeless location?

So is there nothing left for us but the children's will to let the raging consumption approach us and our purses, so that it may take us and our savings with them?

No!

There are certainly ways to reconcile Christmas and consumer renunciation, at least in part.

The most important prerequisite here is of course:

All donors must also agree.

If Grandma doesn't want to have her gift for Fritz-Holger dictated to you, you have to accept that.

But next year I would give her a collection of 100 individually packaged 1€ items with the whole family. Including name plates to whom she owes it. And then insist on a thank you card.

Dear Tobias, thank you for: the egg peeler, the energy drink, the corneal rasp, the 12-piece brush set, the earsticks…

Perhaps she will be able to understand the whole thing a little better.

In the next article I would like to show some concrete ideas and possibilities.

 

These were confusing writings of my thoughts on the second Advent. I wish you all a happy Sunday.

What criteria do you use to select gifts? Do you give the whole family?