It's giving a little

Ah, bit of pressure lifted off of me...the traditional unifriends get-together is now only a "usual suspects" get-together.

Shame on you if you saw that coming.

It's a long awaited celebration of Latina and her man's engagement, at the very least. Plus, it buys me some time to neglect some of my friends' projects and just work on those that I have to hand out right away. I knew I should've planned it better! The first one completed was for one of the ones who can't make it on Sunday. Gah.

For now, tradition has been pushed aside. Perhaps it'll become a coffee tradition. And this is Calgary! It scares me to think how this would all play out if we lived in New York. I don't think I'd ever see my friends.

Well actually, that's not true, 'cuz it's not work that's really keeping us apart. It's family obligations.

And you have to love your family. Love them! They are the only ones who will be there forever for you.

Which brings me to something that puzzles me. I know this will make me look materialistic...but it just bothers me a whole lot. It's things like this:

B-Girl, and she's a great girl...awfully sweet. She's been going with her guy for over 2(?) years now. She got him a Playstation 2 for Christmas. He's playing with it right now.

But she dare not let her little brothers find out what her boy got for Christmas. He's cool with the little guys, but she just doesn't want them finding out where boy got the PS2.

And now she's breaking down the finances and she's figured that she has enough to get her little brothers each a present around the 20 dollar range. Keep in mind she loves her brothers a lot, this isn't 'cuz she's being stingy on them or doesn't think they deserve a nice gift.

I'm sorry, but 20 dollars when you spent 280 on your boyfriend? If you made each dollar represent how much you care for these people you're telling me you value your family 14 times less than this guy who just entered into your life 2 years ago?

I have nothing against her guy, he's a great guy and I'm happy for the two of them. But did he really need that big of a present to know that she loved him? If she loves everyone in her life the way she says she does wouldn't it be better to get them all presents of comparable value? Seeing as her siblings are younger, they'll probably (if they ever find out) take her actions as a cuss.

I don't need my (hypothetical) boyfriend to buy me that leather coat that I've always wanted. No, don't spend all that money on me. It's such a waste. And if I find out that you chintzed out some other loved ones just to spend that much more on me...I'd die of guilt.

And so in that respect I despise the whole commercialness of Christmas. Daisy thought that everybody should forego the whole Christmas shopping notion, take all that money that they would have spent on others, and save it for a trip (or something equally big) that they would enjoy. I wouldn't go so far as to agree to that, 'cuz I DO enjoy picking out that special present for each one of my loved ones. But if you really care about people in your lives, you kind of have to have it all balanced out value-wise in my opinion. Or else there's a chance that others' feelings will get hurt.

Again, I know it sounds materialistic, but when the inequalities are huge like that it can't help but sting a little. Imagine your parents gave your sister a new car for Christmas....and they gave you a sweater. Honestly, what would you think of that?

Tangent: I'm glad my little projects were just afterthoughts and not the main presents. I still love shopping, no matter what I say. AND I stayed on my budget, now aren't you proud of me?

Next week are the huge sluggers of presents: the family and the best friend.