My JW family, while growing up, had one day of giving gifts every year
That was something we as kids appreciated.
But other wise I think that's just something JW says to cover up their behavior....
They "can give gifts on any day of the year"... But do they?
by Albert Einstein 35 Replies latest jw friends
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Lillith26
I always get into trouble off my family if I forget to call on birthdays and aniversaries etc... but I am the only one in my family that remembers they even exist every other day of the year... I call on a regular basis just to see if everyone is doing alright and offer help and give it when I can, but to be honest, with a few exceptions- the rest of my family are a materialistic bunch of pricks and would prefer I just sent a card or called a few times a year instead of actually caring about them and being there for them ... I dont have a lot of money to buy gifts outside of my own home, all I really have to give is my love and time, and that is what counts isn't it??? well thats what I will teaching my children, your love and time is the most special gift you can give... and that you dont have to wait for a particual day to give!
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Mickey mouse
I think I could count on one finger the number of wrapped presents I received as a child.
That's not to say that I think it's the worst thing in the world not to receive presents. I didn't like my parents lying about it though to make JWs look normal "oh yes, we give presents all year round".
Right.
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WuzLovesDubs
None none and none. I bought stuff for my kids all the time as they were growing up, even when I was a JW until 97. However my husband never bought his own children anything. Hed probably say he didnt need to because they "had everything". And even NON JWS can say they can give gifts all year long and damned if they DONT do exactly that! Its just another JW excuse not to buy anything and be cheap.
The bible talks about gift giving being anonymous. Not that gift giving is bad or commercial or materialistic.
I have a worldly friend who loves to give people things. And its because she is THINKING of them. She gave me a pretty night shirt last week, just because she knew I liked pink!
Now THATS gift giving. I used to buy things for my husband but he hardly ever even looked in my direction, let alone appreciated the thought. It made me very very sad. He'd say well dont SHOP for me then and quit taking everything so personally!
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yknot
We had treasure hunts regularly......the presents were small and cheap (so as not to be tempted by materialism) but they were wrapped.
As for my own children........like many born/raised JWs.... I over compensate greatly. Yes I wrap them too most of the time!
We just cleaned out the Halloween clearance aisles and presented all the dress-up goodies as 'swag bags' for my children's playdate party. Not one JW parent complained, grimaced or condemned the costumes, animal ears, boas, wings, theatre make up, hair color spray or silly string!
Since the 'fall' cookie cutters and other stuff were 90% off I also did 'mom swag bags' ....... again no stumbling.
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Farkel
Dubs are the cheapest, most selfish anal retentive assholes on this planet. I wasn't the only dub kid who received less presents in a whole YEAR than an average kid would get on their birthday, let alone Christmas. They were cheap-ass presents, too. My parents weren't well-off, but they weren/t that poor, either.
A lot of dubs are so cheap that they leave Watchtowers for "tips" at restaurants they visit while at assemblies. Ditto with handouts at Halloween. They are disgusting little cult creatures.
Farkel
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yknot
Actually last nights SM strongly reminded only giving literature out to 'interested ones' and not to just pass them out randomly without prior conversation to discern if the person is 'righthearted'.
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WTWizard
I have seen this trend. One family I had the misfortune of having "close association" with is a prime example. Around 1991, I had the misfortune of spending Christmas Eve there--they had two children with very few toys. About all I could find was a Nintendo system with maybe 4 games (those things come with a free game, or did when they were new), a Merlin (those toy phones that have numbered keys that play games), something that loosely resembled a "Magic" window, and a toy stove set. And, it was not much different in 1994. They were cutting back on material things so they could all pio-sneer. Other families I have seen had little or no evidence of having gift days, either.
Once, I pulled a stunt of getting some items to another family (one that had real money issues) that I cared about (and, hence, the witlesses wanted me to have nothing to do with). I went out and bought about $150 worth of toys and goodies that they would enjoy, and wrapped them in plain white paper. These came in a grocery bag. I could tell that this was a rare occurrence there--almost like having Santa stopping by in early October. This kind of events are, from what I have seen in the congregations, extremely rare--and if Brother Hounder finds out about them, he will put a stop to it so the money could go into the Worldwide Pedophile Defense Fund.
This has been the case each and every time I attempted to pull a Santa. Once I went to a Grand Boasting Session and saw a family of 3, sharing a crap binoculars (it came from a Happy Meal). It was like that was all they had--and I spent $10 on something they would really enjoy (and Brother Hounder was not allowed to see it). Another time, it was a Walkman along with tapes I made from various CDs I had on hand, along with a generous pack of batteries (they came in packs of 48 back then). I am sure that Brother Hounder would have either told me that the money should have gone into the Worldwide Pedophile Defense Fund, or would have made me give the same thing to runts that would have for sure busted them up in 5 minutes (plus would have created additional problems, as their father wanted everything I did to be what he told me to).
Giving gifts any day? Only if you sneak them past Brother Hounder. I have seen how rare it actually was--and, on the occasions when I played Santa, it was obvious that it was all too rare.
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Tea drinker
A relative of mine once took several bags of presents to a family that had two little girls. Upon reaching the door she was told that the children were just going to bed. One of the little girls joyfully cried out "presents" when she saw my relative but she was told to go back upstairs. The mother took the bags without so much as a smile or a thank you.
What really hurt my relative was that she did not even receive a card, a note or even a verbal "thanks" even though this family sat behind our row regularly at the Kingdom Hall.
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wantstoleave
Well, I've never even been to or had a baby shower myself and I have 2 kids, so I haven't even enjoyed receiving gifts on that sort of occasion. Didn't have a bridal shower either Noone ever organised it.
However, like some others on here, my parents made a deal of celebrating their wedding anniversary. I can only remember it happening from when I was about 16 though. Not sure what happened before then, definitely no gift giving. In fact, I think it only became a gift exchange once I was working Anyway, they would buy us kids gifts, and we would buy them some. Still, their worldly family never once bought them gifts or acknowledged their anniversary. The moment they became witnesses, it was like their worldly family stopped giving gifts altogether
Other than that, we never got wrapped presents growing up. Sure we'd occasionally get a new toy (very rarely as my parents were/are quite poor), maybe once a year if we were lucky. But we were trained to say to everyone 'we can get presents any time of year'. Never really happened though. Mostly probably because my parents had little money.
Now that I have kids, my parents buy them gifts all the time. At least once a week! Have never been wrapped though. I also buy my kids things regularly, as much as my budget allows.