Holiday Balance and Budgets

By Rebeldad Brian Reid

There's plenty to be crazy about this time of year, what with the eggnog-induced weight gain and the hand-cramping that comes with writing out addresses for holiday cards, but this year I seem to be acutely aware of the year-end financial stresses.

Maybe it's the uncertainty of waiting to see if there'll be a holiday bonus in my stocking, or maybe it's just the cumulative effect of dozens of holiday purchases. I'm just coming off of the sticker shock of cooking at Thanksgiving (there's no such thing as a cheap 20-pound bird), and all of a sudden I'm faced with sixty bucks for a tree (borderline-outrageous for a guy whose childhood Christmas trees grew in his backyard), plus a few dollars on lights at Target, plus the Secret Santa gifts, plus end-of-year tips, plus the family presents and kid presents and Santa presents.

In some ways, it gets worse each year, as the extended family grows. In the last five years, I've added a brother-in-law, a sister-in-law and have a new niece, with at least one more niece/nephew coming by Christmas 2008. Both sides of the family have gone to a gift exchange system -- everyone draws names at Thanksgiving -- taking some of the stress out of trying to grab the perfect gift for every single member of the family. That's helped put more of the emphasis back on family and away from consumption.

But I'd like to be even better at making the holidays more focused on togetherness and less on the wanton spending of money -- after all, the holidays ought not be measured by the pile of wrapping paper on the floor. So I'm curious: How do you all keep the budget-busting holiday excess at bay?

Brian Reid writes about parenting and work-family balance. You can read his blog at rebeldad.com.

By Brian Reid |  December 13, 2007; 7:00 AM ET  | Category:  Conflicts
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