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While Christmas shopping last year I became pretty irritated that I didn't have very much money to spend on gifts. I promised myself that I would save at least $20 from every paycheck so that I would have lots of money to spend next Christmas. Well here it is December and I didn't save any money through the year! I did manage to save some through the past couple weeks, but it isn't as much as I would like to spend this year. Oh well, there's always next year!

I drew pictures for my grandparents last year, and my "little" family (parents, brother, and me) never does anything really big - just a meal together or a rented movie. I wish that more people would go back to what really matters at Christmas - just being together. Maybe I'm a little cynical because I have such a huge family (30 or so on Mom's side, 17 on Dad's side) and the emphasis on gifts is so stressful and expensive - it becomes such a burden. Especially now that some of the grandkids (myself included) are going to college, or finished and paying it off. It just makes me sad.