Hello everyone. I have Xmas eve at my grandmas house every year with all my family and have a big get together and then open presents, only from the family... not Santa. This year, my grandma thought, because of the economy, to only buy one present worth $50 or more and try out a Santa exchange. I feel like its breaking tradition... but what do you think?

Nothing wrong with change...but because of the economy and in light of the way things are these days...I would even go with a less costly gift but that is JMO.

I think it's a great idea! As our family grew we drew names for Christmas present exchange and bought for all the grandbabies. As the grandbabies grew up their names were put in the hat also.

We used to do the Christmas Eve at Grandma's. But we are all old now (including Grandma), and there are only the two children (under 20) left. We decided that there was no need for adults to exchange gifts at all anymore. We figured we get the biggest kick out of watching the little ones (2 and 4) dig in and rip up some wrapping paper, so there is no need for us to get gifts for anyone else.

Me, I was happy as a puppy with a slipper. I hate Christmas shopping, never know what to get anyone and no one ever told me "I want this." We are all adults and have what we need, so why have a bunch of extra junk. No I'm happy, I've finally convinced my family to do away with the holiday shopping. We get more (playing) cards in, eat more cookies, and have more time for laughs. I reccommend you all toss the tree and focus on the meal and sharing.

It sounds like a good thing to do these days. We live over 5 hours from the rest of our family so years ago we agreed to only buy for the ones that live here and for them to do the same. It has always worked for us and as my daughter has gotten older she gets the things that she wants as I have the money, so really she has Christmas all year long.

Traditions are often born out of need...might be time for a new tradition

Sounds logical to me. We do a 'pollyanna' for all of the adults and buy strictly for the kids in the family. It makes it so much easier and alot cheaper for everyone. There are 6 kids under 15 yrs old in our family and even for them we don't go crazy buying gifts. I like being able to focus on the kids and only buying for one adult.

Thanks for the ideas! Maybe its time for new things! thanks again!

For some, the whole idea of exchanging presents, mostly because of the economy, just adds a lot of stress! Our family decided to only buy for the little ones who are still too young to understand about "economy". It's freed us up to simply get together, watch the kids have fun, eat a lot and hopefully spend some quality time with each other. For some of us, Thanksgiving and/or Christmas is the only time we're together.