We rarely if ever do Christmas gifts, because I HATE commercialism, local or not. But then again I hate commercialism every day of the year. We often buy second hand items for birthday gifts, about 90% of the time.

Our Christmas "gifts" to each other, for as long as I can remember now, have been events rather than items. It's about building relationships and memories for us. It's how we aim to live our whole lives... we will never strive to have the best stuff, or the most stuff, or the biggest etc... we will aim to be a loving supporting close knit family. I'm not saying they can't go together, just that this is where our focus is. Family togetherness IS Christmas for us.