\n<\/p>\n
Your anonymous correspondent (Letters, 19 December) implies that those who say \u201cShall we just not do presents [for Christmas] this year?\u201d are ungrateful or unappreciative for the things they already have. They have the economic wherewithal to buy what they want, when they want, so the sense of special occasion, and gratitude, is lost.<\/p>\n
However, I\u2019d counter that the reason many people have stopped buying presents for partners is precisely because they do appreciate how lucky they are, and see no need for the performative gift-buying for a person who needs, or wants, very little. Deciding not to add to your possessions for the sake of it isn\u2019t ungrateful, and certainly doesn\u2019t preclude giving gifts to others that are needed, wanted and appreciated. I love the undiluted delight on the face of a person who\u2019s just received the perfect gift, however small. I also know that at 55, with a steady income and an established home, there\u2019s very little practical stuff I need, and relatively few affordable treats I can\u2019t afford at intervals through the year.<\/p>\n
Yes, that means I\u2019m more fortunate than many others, but it doesn\u2019t mean I\u2019m unaware of that fact. I still love to get presents for others, and still love to receive gifts \u2013 but if someone said to me they didn\u2019t want anything, I wouldn\u2019t assume they were unaware of the people who do wait for Christmas and birthdays for the things they need. I\u2019d also point out that very often, the people who say they\u2019re not doing gifts follow that up with, \u201cInstead, we\u2019re donating to\u2026\u201d, thereby contributing towards supporting those who really do need the things we may take for granted at Christmas. I can think of lots of reasons people might not \u201cdo\u201d presents this year, and not one is because a person already has \u201cSeventeen [candles] already, none ever lit\u201d. They may think Christmas has become far too commercialised. They may have less disposable money than other people think. They may say it to spare other people the embarrassment of having to reciprocate with presents they can\u2019t afford. They may be secretly donating to food banks and charities instead. No one should feel obliged to buy presents, and honest conversations need to be had. Have an opinion on anything you\u2019ve read in the Guardian today? Please <\/em><\/strong>email<\/em><\/strong> us your letter and it will be considered for publication in our <\/em><\/strong>letters<\/em><\/strong> section.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Your anonymous correspondent (Letters, 19 December) implies that those who say \u201cShall we just not do presents [for Christmas] this year?\u201d are ungrateful or unappreciative for the things they already have. They have the economic wherewithal to buy what they want, when they want, so the sense of special occasion, and gratitude, is lost. However,<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":38877,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[55],"tags":[9342,254,5136,487],"class_list":{"0":"post-38876","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-social-issues","8":"tag-christmas","9":"tag-give","10":"tag-presents","11":"tag-question"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38876","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=38876"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38876\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/38877"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=38876"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=38876"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=38876"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
Becky Kennedy<\/strong>
Watford, Hertfordshire<\/em><\/p>\n
Laura Matthews<\/strong>
West Wickham, London<\/em><\/p>\n