My children will not have the same Christmas they had last year...........

The economy is horrible right now and I know exactly what you mean. This year I am getting my mother a couple of things for her bakery business. Then I'm going to get a few things for my two younger sisters and for my brother. Seeing as how I am a college student and am not working I am going to try and get as many sales as possible. I'm already going to start ordering a few of the things already. But I'm more likely to wait until Black Friday and Cyber Monday and see what I can do. I wish you and your family the best this Christmas and I heard that they are going to send another check this year so hopefully we get this one in time for Christmas. Good luck and God Bless you.

Our family Christmas has always been more about giving than receiving, and I don't think that will change in any way. We will all make time to be with each other - brothers, sisters, cousins, aunts, grandparents. Our biggest gifts this year are the additions of several new members of the family - a new baby (my grand-niece) and three fiances (two for my children and one for my brother's son).

yes, thats why our christmas will be after christmas. So i can get things for half off. I cannot afford a regular christmas this year. My boys are grown though so it doesnt matter as if they were little.

yes of course, there is a financial crisis all over the world. But this doesn't affect the essence of christmas, as long as we understand that christmas is not all about buying gifts, and the likes. We will still have the same christmas every year. The gifts are just an add on to the celebration :)

In spite of what people say it is about the gifts. People spend billions of dollars and countless hours around getting and giving gifts. I am probably only one of a handful who does not give gifts anymore. I slowly weaned off the tradition over the years. I am on disability and really have no extra money so people seem to understand but it works for me. I still mark the occasion with minimal decoration, but most of the cards and gifts are gone, only a family Christmas dinner remains.

christmas is not about money or how many food that you will serve in the table, how many gifts that you will give to your children. its about you celebrate the christmas togehter. that's the essence. tnx. happy lotting and merry christmas to your family

We are in the same boat. We usually have the Chritmas Shopping done by now. This year we have hardly anything. My wife asked the kids if they would like to be given $40 each to spend on the after Christmas sales and they all said that would be a good gift. Then they could buy what they wanted (It is so hard to buy for teenagers anyway). Well, Yesterday Jenny said that she would like us to give $20 of her money to Salvation Army to help needy kids out. What a sweet child she is. Even though we are broke she still would rather someone else who is in need get something then for herself to get something.

Hi Linda, Just because you are unable to get the usual materials things for your children there is no reason why they still can't have the most fantastic time. Remember our needs are always met though not necessarily our wants. I am fairly lucky in that I started Christmas shopping, food and presents in Septemeber as I do every year as this is just after my eldests birthday. I have cut back but it will still be the best Christmas ever as we will all be together and it is rare thee days I get all three children under the same roof at one time. I always disguise pressies and they never know what it will be they are getting. My younger son I fill a ;arger cardboard box will balloons and inside hide a few small gifts for hime to find, he has more fun with this than his main pressie. Your children are old enough to understand and will appreciate the financial situation is affecting many. Huggles. Ellie :D

I can completely understand that. I honestly believe Christmas isn't all about the gifts. If you are all together, healthy and happy, then count your blessings and enjoy the day. Things will be tight for us this year too. Thankfully my kids are young, 3 and 1, so they don't really expect big expensive gifts (not yet anyway LOL). My son will be thrilled with some new hot wheels and some new DVDs, which is about what we can afford this year. My little girl doesn't even understand Christmas yet, so I will probably buy her some clothing that she needs and her first baby doll. The hubby and I aren't exchanging gifts. I think things are hard for most this year. If your kids are older, I am sure if you explain the situation, they will understand and be appreciative of what you can afford to give them. I hope you and yours have a wonderful holiday season. God Bless you all.

I started putting a bit away from after last christmas because I really struggled last year to get the money for christmas and I did not want to go through that again. So luckily for me although I was not able to put as much away as I would have liked I had still managed to get enough together to still get the kids what they wanted. I am really thankful that I did it and I am going to do it again for next year too.

When my kids were young, I thought it was all about the presents for them, but then I started to realize that it was not, when we fell on hard times. There have been ups and downs in the economy for as long as I remember and this will not be the last time. We decided that they only got a few things for Christmas but we "adopted" a family every year, went out and bought things for them, a poor family, whom we would never meet, through the Salvation Army. We would by some toys on their list, hats, gloves, scarves, pajamas, socks, a sweat suit, and some food and goodies. For the parents we also bought hat, gloves, scarf and a gift card that could be used at any grocery store. We would also go and help fill up the Toys for Tots boxes where I worked. A friend of mine, every holiday, including Christmas, would spend the day at a homeless shelter. They bought one gift for the whole family to enjoy and spent the rest for little gifts at the homeless shelter, helped cook and serve food and share their love there. I think that the best gift that you can give your children are not things but experiences, like above, that will make them feel good about themselves and make them realize that it is the giving, and not the receiving. God will always give you more, in other ways, than you give out.

Even though I have always been in a position to give my son whatever he wanted, whenever he wanted it, I did not always respond just because he asked for something. I have always taught him that though we are financially alot better off than a lot of people, that you don't get their by just blowing the money. I volunteer for several organizations that support homeless and hungry people. I take him along and to show that in the blink of an eye that we could be in this same situation. And that even though these people that we help are a little less fortunate than we are, they are still human and deserve a helping hand. I've taught him to donate and to share what he has. And at a very you age he understands the concept. He just asked a couple of weeks ago if we could get him "old" winter clothes ready for donation. We haven't been effected by the economy enough to make a difference in our lives and I realize that we are blessed. For us this holiday season will be the same. We will share gifts and we will volunteer for those less fortunate.

I truly understand because I was feeling the same way. I told my 16 year old whatever she receives, she needs to be thankful for it. My 2 year old does not know anything about Christmas yet and hopefully by the time that he does, things will have gotten much, much better. I am not sure that I am going to be able to buy alot of additional gifts for friends and family but I really hope that things begin to look better for each and every one of us.

Ours will be different as well. We are cutting back on our buying big time and will be doing family gifts, instead of individual gifts for all the Aunts, Uncles and cousins. We also are cutting back on the amount we spend on the kids and the number of gifts they are getting from us. We have always done Stocking stuffers and will continue with that but instead of the three gifts under the tree, there will only be one from us and one from Santa. It's not about the gifts anyways, it's all about being with Family and the meaning of Christmas anyways.

For my family it is not going to be any different from other years. We are not going to let the economy get us down through this time of year. However Christmas is not all about the gifts. Yes they are nice but in reality it's nicer to be around the family and close friends for the holidays. I am actually looking forward to my fiance coming home for 2 weeks over the holidays than getting any gifts. I don't care about them I just want to have my fiance around and him taking a little breather from work.

Hi linda! I think that everyone everywhere is going to be suffering this Christmas! I don't think that there is anyone that isn't affected. I do hope that your children can try to understand. I know that it is very difficult for children to really understand why they can't have exactly what they want since they don't really understand the value of money and what things cost. It is very difficult to explain these things to children. Hell, it is hard for some adults to understand! I don't really have anyone to buy gifts for except my boyfriend and he doesn't understand and he knows my situation! lol