Yesterday I experienced my first present-less Christmas with one side of extended family. I think we did okay. It didn't make a ton of sense to me that some of my cousins (whose parent had the idea not to give gifts) had tons of presents to talk about from earlier that day and then it was our extended family that had to go without gifts at all, but I think I'm over it. I'm currently typing on my best gift this year, so I really can't complain.
Overall, it was nice not to have to hurry over dinner to get to something more important, and God blessed us all with good attitudes about the stupid games we played well into the night. We also talked a little about where the money went that we gave to a charity rather than to each other and it was great to have everyone interested in that.
I'm not convinced that no gifts at all is the absolute best way to go all the time. I think that there are meaningful ways to deal with the tradition of gift giving, even when you might not know the person that you have to give one to very well. But it's true that it does become quite meaningless when gifts are given only because it is required and they're generic because the person is not known. But maybe that depends on what I get on Friday. Just kidding.
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