The Grinch who loved Christmas, or, my efforts to go giftless
December 20th, 2010 -- Posted in family | 1 Comment »It wasn’t until this year that I realized you can both simultaneously love Christmas, and in fact the whole holiday season, and still be cynical and annoyed by it. I realized this because I am that person.
That’s right: I’m a Grinch. But I swear it’s for all the right reasons.
The biggest thing for me this year is gift-giving. I didn’t used to want to abolish the gifting tradition - in fact, I would get upset and argue with Ryan about it when he brought it up. He’s long been a proponent of giftless holidays, making the case that the best gift was something unexpected at an unexpected time. I have, however, always been in favor of giving experiences not things, and for many years the two of us have mostly operated under this practice. I can’t remember the last time we exchanged literal, physical gifts for a holiday or birthday, opting instead for trips, theater tickets, museum memberships, and my personal magnum opus gift - the World Class Driving experience.