Re: Are you a Grinch or an Elf?
Reply #16 –
I feel for you Gozza. It is indeed a very strong reality for me. Maybe because my family came from a different country the family ties are stronger. I don't know I see all my family all the time throughout the year. For example at the start of this month around 30 of us got together for a lunch on a Sunday. My Uncle and Grandma live just around the corner from my parent's house and they're around 24/7. Pretty much all the family live in around a 5 km radius I guess. Maybe it's just a wog thing! 
I guess now I have two kids Christmas has begun all over again as I get to witness my kids' enjoyment which is something even better.
Your surname isn't Barone is it?
My family used to be like that when I was younger, my Grandfather was Irish and my Grandmother Italian. We used to have massive family gatherings around Christmas, Easter and the grandparents birthdays, all good catholic stuff I suppose. But as the "war generations" have started to die off it all seems to have dissipated. Plus the younger generations are far more mobile, the older ones hardly left the state let alone the country and they often inherited the farm or business!
Most of the family that is my generation or younger travel a lot and rarely come together in one place, they have left the farms and small towns because there is no living to be made. They run into each other in bizarre places in an unplanned manor. They have worldly experiences and the old family way is no longer the way things are or have to be done. Partly I blame commercialization, Christmas used to be about thoughtful giving, surprising someone with something they really needed and were not expecting and it may not have been an expensive gift. Sometimes it was just rolling up as a working party at an elderly relatives home.
Now the young-uns publish blogs with gift registries for prospective givers to browse, weddings have been forked up in the very same way! It has all turned full circle from giving to receiving! So I understand why some find it less than enjoyable, but I think you can still find joy if you want to!
On the receiving end, all I want is one good gift from ASADA, just one!
I know some would argue that this is practical... but I hate it. Seems to take something out of the spirit of giving and surprise. Mercenary stuff.
Whenever I receive an invite with this dumb registry stuff, I ignore it and buy some creative gift from a shop no where near Myer... or wherever.
I understand that when older folks are remarrying (plenty around!!) that they don't want gifts just shvarts.