I don’t buy my husband Christmas gifts and he does not buy me Christmas gifts. I know many of you are thinking “that’s strange” and others are thinking “I wish I could get away with not giving my spouse a present.” About 8 years ago we decided together to stop the madness. Christmas was suppose to be fun not full of stressing about “did I get the right present.”
David and I are both very contented people. We don’t feel the need to continue to fill our lives with things. We also don’t feel the need to give each other a gift because it is a national or world wide holiday. David and I love each other very much and we do not have to give each other the perfect gift at Christmas to prove our love for one another.
We are also very spontaneous people. There are times that for no reason what so ever David will bring me a gift. It may be something small that he saw me debating about or it could be something larger that I had said, “that would be nice to have.” I do the same thing for him throughout the year. The point is that we reduce our stress at Christmas time by not falling into the trap of having to get one another a gift just so that we will have something to open on December 25th.
We get it, this will not work for all couples but it works for us and we are both glad that it does work.
*****The text below was originally posted in December of 2012 and sums why we decided to stop buying for each other and what we do instead.
Early in our marriage David and I would go out and shop for weeks in order to find the perfect Christmas gifts for each other. Sometimes the gifts we gave were a hit and sometimes the gifts were a big disappointment. 
This cycle went on for years. Each Christmas I would find myself stressing about what to get David. The stress of finding the perfect gift sucked the joy and fun right out of the Christmas season.
About 6 years ago we made the decision not to buy gifts for each other at Christmas. That first Christmas it was a little strange to not have a gift to open, but the next year it seemed normal. I can not tell you what a relief it is to not feel the stress and pressure of trying to find the perfect gift for David. I love my husband but he is IMPOSSIBLE to buy for.
Instead of buying for each other, we decided to take the money and buy gifts for children in our community. David and I have so much fun picking names off angel trees and then shopping for gifts for children. It is our chance to bring a smile and a little bit of happiness into the life of a child. It is our chance to be “Santa” to someone. It is also another way that we use to teach our children that Christmas in not about receiving gifts.
People sometimes can not believe that we don’t exchange gifts with each other. Some people think we are crazy to not want to give each other gifts. We think it is a great idea and it helps relive stress for both of us. David and I are givers in our hearts and the best gift we can give to each other is to give to others.
Photo by Donna