Chanukah Presents
Last year, after a gang of ungrateful kids kept asking for more presents and complaining about some of the gifts they got, we told them we were done with Chanukah presents.
And now, a year later, we have told grandparents, aunts, and uncles that we are not accepting Chanukah Presents for my kids.
Which is fine. We certainly don't need any more toys or games in the house. No one liked that they couldn't buy our kids gifts, but they are respecting our wishes.
But I feel bad for the boys. They will show up to school every morning, and hear about some of the great gifts their friends got.
Veev and I have a different attitude about this whole thing. To me, it was always a one year punishment, to teach them what happens when you complain about presents, and when you think the whole point of Chanukah is presents.
To Veev, though, it is a complete termination of presents. She doesn't want to give them any Chanukah presents ever again, because that is not what Chanukah is about.
But that is next year's fight. This year, there will be no presents.
And now, a year later, we have told grandparents, aunts, and uncles that we are not accepting Chanukah Presents for my kids.
Which is fine. We certainly don't need any more toys or games in the house. No one liked that they couldn't buy our kids gifts, but they are respecting our wishes.
But I feel bad for the boys. They will show up to school every morning, and hear about some of the great gifts their friends got.
Veev and I have a different attitude about this whole thing. To me, it was always a one year punishment, to teach them what happens when you complain about presents, and when you think the whole point of Chanukah is presents.
To Veev, though, it is a complete termination of presents. She doesn't want to give them any Chanukah presents ever again, because that is not what Chanukah is about.
But that is next year's fight. This year, there will be no presents.
posted by Air Time at 10:48 AM
22 Comments:
wow. You guys are tough.
And I thought I had it bad whan my parents didn't believe in 8 days of presents, or that those presents I DID get were little cheap t'chotchkes. But at least I got something.
Yeah, it sounds pretty tough. But we can't back down off of it. We have never backed off a threatened punishment, and so our kids know that if we say we are going to do something, we mean it.
It helps keep them in line.
Do you think they remembered from last year? If you wouldn't have mentioned it, they wouldn't have known that they weren't getting the threatened punishment.
Also, uncles (at least not some of them) weren't asked not to send presents.
We didnt have to worry about all the uncles.
Air,
Dont sweat it. It will only take thousands of dollars of good thereapy for them to get over a chanukah of no presents.
SAK
next year in dibland, so no fear.
no one there is really a giver.
yeah. You could say that since they were so good this year, you SUSPENDED their punishment by one year.
Either way you're paying for therapy.
I would save the presents and give them on the last night of chanuka. Not giving any presents at all is really harsh.
They'll defnitely get the point if nothing seems forthcoming. Then, if they seem sufficicently contrite, I'd make a big "we forgive you since you learned your lesson" party at the very end.
People, people. Sometimes the best lessons are the hardest for the mom and dad.
Well, you're not the one who isn't getting presents this Chanukah. I still remember the year my parents decided i was too old for toys and got me some books and a passport bank account with $5 as the first deposit. I still remember that as the year that Chanukah ceased being wonderful. And that was WITH gifts...
interesting dillemma.
please keep us posted about what happens next channuka.
if you dont get blown up on a bus in the meantime.
Anon: can you be ANY more tactless??
Moron.
he's a jackass. I try to ignore him.
Is Veev getting the slurpee braclet for chanuka?
"Just Passing Through said...
Anon: can you be ANY more tactless??"
Tactless!!?? Is that the nastiest adjective you can come up with?
tactless
moron
jackass.
there is no reason for this debasing invective. anon serves a valuable function.
in fact, those on buses in israel get blown up.
there are people who like to do to israeli buses what i do to tuna fish cans.
why not talk about what is really going on?
let us face our future in the zionist entity, and not run from it!
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
1) Seems like all the Anons are tactless, moronic jackasses
2) Chuck was deprived as a youth and now intends to deprive his children, too. You suck, chuck.
We have always given our kids presents, but i don't think Chuck is wrong. Presents on Chanukah comes striaght from Christmas.
maybe christmas presents came from chanuka gelt? you think?
B.K. Swartz, an anthropology professor, says Romans gave gives during their 12 days of Christmas during the fourth century.
Post-Medieval gift giving was rationalized as part of Christmas in post-Medieval times by the Catholic church on the basis that of the gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh were gifts given to Christ by Magi.
Gifts came to America in the 1820s. Prior to that, the poor would demand food and money from the rich during the holiday period. Clement C. Moore's poem, "A Visit from St. Nicholas," is credited with encouraging parents to buy gifts for their children.
Amazingly, not one Chanukah Gelt reference in the whole thing.
anti-semites I tell you.
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