Advent Calendar

Happy December 1. We all can start working on the Advent Calendar now. My niece got me a Buy 1 Get 1 Free chocolate Advent calendar on Black Friday. She kept one and gave the other to me. Such a sweet girl. She once wanted all my family to exchange gifts on Christmas. This Sunday I will light my first Advent candle.

There is a reason we don't exchange gifts. I have a cheap brother who doesn't want to buy anything for anybody and only does it out of obligation. Then one (I have 2) sister who wanted extragent gifts nobody in family can afford. One year she demanded we all buy her a $400 mixer she wanted, so $100 from each sibling (3) and our parents (1). Then she got mad we refused to do that. For my part, I didn't have $100 to give her and gave her a $20 gift card to the store she wanted the buy the mixer from. Later she asked us not to buy her anything cause she hated our cheap gifts and then got mad she she received no presents to unwrap on Christmas Day (she unwrapped the cat's present). Then more arguments when she gave us a list of things to buy her children and threw a hissy fit if we decided to buy something else. My argument was "It's my money and I will decide how I spend it on gifts". Then the climax of this fighting. I lost my job and announced no presents that year (I made the same announcement this year in light of my pending bankruptcy filing). Family threw a conniption fit cause what will they say to their children (Your children hate my cheap gifts not on their wish list so I doubt they will feel unloved from it). Brother was happy not to buy presents for any of us even though he makes the most money and not dependent on our mother for rent money, gas, and food. I affirmed that I announced that "I" am broke and our mother should not be responsible for buying gifts for me to hand out to others. They can do whatever they want. My sister put my name on a couple gifts she bought so my niece and nephew didn't know about my announcement until years later when it got brought in a conversation. Thereafter, we just bought gifts for the nieces and nephew plus our parents, then added great-nieces, but not exchange gifts between us siblings.