Sears just released a new survey about family traditions at the holidays. Its sentiment was really sweet, which is why I’m highlighting some of its findings in this blog posting:
- During challenging economic times, 90 percent of Americans become more focused on celebrating family traditions as well as creating new ones
- 18 percent of Americans plan to develop new traditions, such as using a grab bag or secret Santa approach to gift giving (I would love it if my family embraced this idea.)
- 25 percent are buying an artificial tree rather than a real one. (We made this decision two years ago when we came to realize how much money a live tree costs. Plus, if your town doesn’t have a Christmas tree recycling program–and you have no place to mulch the tree–it just ends up in a landfill.)
- 43 percent are asking their guests to bring food to the festivities so costs are shared (love the potluck approach)
- 63 percent are setting spending limits on gift giving.
What about you? What kind of traditions are you creating or keeping this holiday season?
READ LEAH ON HOME GOES STRONG
A new tradition I started last year is to give hand-made gifts to everyone on our family’s list. I knit (not all that well, but I’m getting better) so I made watch caps for the men and boys (this year I think it’s going to be fingerless gloves), scarves for the women (I have several things planned – don’t want to let the secret out), and knitted market bags for other family members and a few friends. Home made challah bread, spiced nuts and cookies round out the list. It’s time consuming but worth the effort.
My boyfriend and I decided that rather than get each other Christmas and birthday gifts (both our birthdays are in November and December), we would pool our money and use it to do something together instead, like take a cooking class or wine tasting class. I like this because instead of having more STUFF, you have more quality time together.
I like this idea a lot –the gift of an experience and a memory instead of stuff. Cool. Any chance you could talk my husband into giving me the gift of taking balroom dancing lessons with me?