Christmas Gift Pressure



I made this collage for my brother, John. After
inquiring how long I was planning on leaving
several stacks of old photographs on the dining
room floor, my husband said, "It would be a lot
 less work if you just bought him a gift card."
Gee whiz dear, I never even thought of that.

I have a family Christmas get-together next Saturday. I’m looking forward to it except the whole gift thing. My family is quite the loving hodgepodge. Many kids, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, spouses, ex-spouses, boyfriends, girlfriends, half-siblings, and step-siblings are all part of the annual family gathering.  We don’t draw names and I’m never really certain who will be there and who won’t. In the past, we’ve done the “steal the gift” activity. And on top of that, some people always manage to give everyone at the party a gift. Talk about pressure. I vowed this year, like I do every year, not to cave to the stress of trying to give everyone a gift at the gathering. No one expects it; at least that’s what they say. But when someone gives your child a present and you don’t give their child a present, it doesn’t go over very well. I used to keep a bag of wrapped “just in case gifts.” So far, this year I haven’t quite pulled that together yet. I did manage to create a collage for each of my siblings for their gifts.