<p>The economy sucks. We&#39;re all stressed out about it - I know I am. But I&#39;m so not stressed out about Christmas. </p><p>Am I the only one who doesn&#39;t mind that Christmas is less about giving that big &quot;must-have&quot; gift this year? I find it liberating. </p><p>I love everything about the Christmas season, except for the whole pressure to shop thing.</p><p>Now, even a cursory glance at this blog will make it obvious that I have no problems with shopping or with owning nice things, but I do have a problem with this pressure to buy, buy, buy in the name of what is, to me, a religious holiday. It just seems wrong. I prefer to do my shopping when the mood strikes, which to be honest, is often. It&#39;s just that I don&#39;t need Macy&#39;s telling me that I have to fight the crowds to buy more stuff in time to make the tree look like the one at the mall.</p><p>Of course, it&#39;s easy for me to say this because for Latin people Christmas is a time about not working, partying with your family and getting drunk (oh, and going to midnight Mass on Christmas Eve - the only time I happily go to church because I find singing &quot;Silent Night&quot; by candlelight soothing and magical.)</p><p>I much prefer the simple gifts. I know it&#39;s a cliche, but it&#39;s true. I also don&#39;t like the sights of crazed children opening gift after gift on Christmas morning. I do like the way a child&#39;s face lights up when they get that one thing they always wanted. I know that children love presents, but I don&#39;t go overboard on Christmas. I don&#39;t think my kids will be deprived if they don&#39;t have the latest electronic gizmo. Sure, I listen extra carefully this time of the year and try to figure out what it is that they really want and make sure it&#39;s under the tree. They&#39;re kids, after all. Usually what they want is something very simple - or so ridiculously impossible that you can&#39;t do anything about it. </p><p>This year, all my three year old wants is a Spiderman DVD and to meet Barack Obama. I can&#39;t give him everything (unless one of you has excellent connections and wants to perform a Christmas miracle of presidential proportions), but I can look for a DVD. So now I&#39;m on a quest to find something age appropriate. NOT EASY. But also? Not expensive.</p><p>I didn&#39;t write this to criticize people who like to give and receive a lot of gifts - I&#39;m just sharing how I do it. (We do the big gifts on birthdays. Birthdays are where we go all out.) I just hope that everyone that celebrates the holidays stops to enjoy them. (I mean all of them, not just mine.) </p><p>It&#39;s not just about the presents. It&#39;s about the cookies and the booze too.</p>
