People Feel Bad For Frugal Mom’s Kids After She Decides None Of Them Are Getting Christmas Presents
What works for one family might not work for another.
Antoni Shkraba / Pexels The holidays are a joyful time, but they can also come with unwanted stress, especially for families who are struggling to make ends meet. While Christmas often includes being bombarded with messages about rampant consumerism, the true meaning of the season lies elsewhere, as one mom discovered by putting a freeze on her family’s spending.
Her decision was met with a fair amount of backlash, even though she has a valid reason for not buying gifts.
People felt bad for the frugal mom’s kids after she announced they were not getting Christmas presents.
Keala, a mom from Colorado, explained why her family is skipping presents this season, sharing that she and her husband decided to go “on a spending fast,” which means they’ll only buy necessary items for the foreseeable future.
She described the process they went through to reign in their finances, saying, “We had to sit down and make a list of what is a want, what is a need, let’s agree to it, and let’s agree to only spend money on things we need, not what we want.”
She acknowledged that “this is kind of a weird time to do it because it’s Christmastime.” As a result, they decided to not buy any gifts, “not for our kids, not for ourselves, not for our family — Nobody.”
She shared that her kids have come around to the idea of a gift-free Christmas and that not buying gifts has been “so freeing.”
Photo: Roman Odintsov / Pexels
“I will never buy Christmas gifts, probably ever again,” she revealed.
She also shared that they’re planning something special for their kids, but they’ll have to wait until summer to receive it. As Keala explained, not spending money on Christmas gifts allowed them to save up for a vacation. She said, “We’re telling our kids [that] the Christmas gift is that we’re gonna go on this family trip.”
While forgoing Christmas gifts was the right thing for her family, that didn’t stop strangers on the internet from expressing their distaste. Keala made a follow-up post in response to comments she received about how cruel and unfair the decision to not give her kids gifts was.
She shared that there was no reason to feel bad for her kids because the lesson they learned by not getting gifts at Christmas was a gift in itself.
“You don’t have to feel bad for my kids,” she explained. “They’re teenagers, they’re older, so they understand. They’re not disappointed about Santa not bringing them anything. They’re gonna be okay.”
She reiterated the reason why they were on a spending freeze: To save up money to travel, which was her kids’ idea in the first place.
“They asked to go on a really cool vacation this summer; they have this dream of where they want to go,” Keala explained. Yet their dream vacation comes with a certain amount of sacrifice, she shared, because “based on how we were currently spending money, we could not afford it.”
Keala described the conversation she and her husband had with their kids around the issue of budgeting for their trip, saying, “We’re gonna have to make some major changes to how we spend money so that we can afford it, ‘cause we’re not just gonna put it on a credit card.”
Photo: Tima Miroshnichenko / Pexels
One budgeting technique they decided to implement was to only spend money on necessary items. “We all had to agree on what a need is versus what a want is,” she said, “And on the list of wants is Christmas gifts.”
“The beautiful, sweet lesson in all this that we get to share together is [that] experiences and time together are so valued, more than stuff, more than things,” she said. “They’re gonna remember this trip way more than they’re gonna remember what they got for Christmas this year.”
“They get to learn, and we get to learn, this lesson and practice this muscle of doing the uncomfortable thing now for the benefit of something down the road,” she added.
Photo: Thirdman / Pexels
She shared that their goal of traveling was worth forgoing material things, saying, “We’re gonna have to do some hard things now, like not [spending] money on things for Christmas so we can afford this trip.”
“Don’t feel bad for my kids,” Keala reiterated. “It was kind of their idea and they’re on board. They’re older and it’s all good.”
“This is just what my family is doing. If that’s not good for your family, you don’t have to do it. I’m not out here preaching, I am just here to share my experience of going on a spending fast during Christmas time and what it’s done for our family, and so far, it’s been a really good thing.”
As Keala clearly noted, what works for one family might not work for another. Her explanation for not buying gifts captures an essential truth of the holiday season: Time spent together is worth its weight in gold.
Alexandra Blogier is a writer on YourTango's news and entertainment team. She covers parenting, pop culture , and all things to do with the entertainment industry.