"Besides, We Give Gifts Throughout the Year!"

by Swan 32 Replies latest jw experiences

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  concerned mama

  My daughter's ex boyfriend told me that same line about giving gift throughout the year. His parents gave him clothes for school and new sports equipment when he needed it, or a bonus to go with the really great report card. I am a "normal" (thank you, Minimus) person and I give things like that to my kids, too. They get special extra things on their birthdays or Christmas, and having to wait for them makes these gifts even more special. Anticipation is part of the fun. My kids give me and their Dad, and each other gifts on birthdays and Christmas, and really enjoy looking for just the right present, that is just right for that person (and that will fit in in their budget). Because remember, it isn't just kids getting gifts, it is for them to learn to GIVE gifts.

  So I pinned the ex-bf down on when was the last time he GAVE a gift to a family member........and I don't mean something expensive, he is a teen after all. He may have given his Mom something once a long time ago, didn't think he had ever given anything to his Dad, and knew for a fact that he had NEVER given anything to his brother. So much for giving gifts throughout the year. It is pure BS. This JW boy loved getting things himself, but really didn't have any joy in giving and really didn't know how.
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  maybesbabies

  We'd occasionally get some new toys, when my parents could afford it, but it wasn't very often. So, my sister R~, my bestfriend, and I started what we called "friend day". The third Friday of every month was "friend day", and we would make (or, rarely, buy) presents for each other, usually depending on what we needed or what had happened that month. For example, I had an old disgusting pillow that I slept on, so my best friend sewed me a beautiful big blue fluffy pillow with my name on it!!! It was awesome. We would go to a thriftstore in our neighborhood that had this "dollar a bag" sale, and whatever you could stuff into a brown paper bag, you got for a dollar. So we used that to make clothes and such for each other.
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  doodle-v

  ppppppth!!!

  The only time i can remember getting wrapped gifts was when i graduated from highschool, and when i got baptised. That was it. My parents bought us what we needed and from time to time we got extra stuff, when they could afford it. I do remember hearing that excuse in the Watchtower and of course at demonstrations at assemblies and talks at the meetings. My best friends' family would have a "family day" and buy each other wrapped gifts once a year. Our family tried that but we never kept it up. To this day I get all excited when someone gives me a wrapped gift, and I really enjoy wrapping up gifts for people because I rarely did it when i was a dub.

  Doodle-V
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  Eyebrow2

  We parents were so damn poor...and had so many kids my dad was RELIEVED that my mom was a JW hahaah...

  We sometimes got gifts...my mom tried to do a toy party for a few years..in January...when all the toys were on sale..and she did wrap them.

  It was fun...I never really felt deprived as far as gifts go...I did think it was stupid that some kids I knew had to wait until Xmas to get a new pair of boots or coat because their parents could not afford much. But I DO hate that reasoning...just say, hey we don't do it because we don't celebrate XMAS..end of story...there is no need to justify it if you truly believe it.
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  Thirdson

  I knew plenty of JW kids who never got any presents at all. To them the "giving gifts throughout the year" was one big lie. In my family we did get gifts. We usually had a "winter" present to compensate for Christmas, and sometimes a summer present. We were given pocket money and the ability to spend it how we liked. I never got a wrapped present though until my wedding. We were not well off but we had all the necessities and some. We also had a vacation each year and it wasn't camping at the District Assembly. (Except one year where we spent 3 nights, Wednesday to Friday, out of 14 in Ballarat, Victoria...that was bad but the rest of our road trip was fun).

  Thirdson
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  drwtsn32

  When I was growing up my parents sometimes threw a "family party." These were great!! But I only remember it happening three or four times.

  I think I need to celebrade Christmas every day during this coming December to make up for lost time. Honey? You hear that? Buy me lots of toys!
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  Fe2O3Girl

  My parents gave me gifts throughout the year, and, yes, they were beautifully wrapped by my dad.
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  BluesBrother

  That tired old excuse always made me wince , because I knew that it was not really true.

  As a kid I did not mind missing Christmas & Birthday. Hey, I was indoctrinated and I really thought that it was the right thing to do, and I have never been a particularly material person .

  I am as guilty as the next dub, I must confess.They can just be forgotten No doubt because we were not trained as kids to buy presents . Although it is clear from this thread that families varied a lot and some really tried to make up the loss.

  Since gaining mental freedom I can see now that Christmas is not the sad affair to just get tipsy and regret it all year , that we were always told it was.Families do get together and with reall warmth and appreciation (sometimes)

  Up untill 1926 the WTS celebrated Christmas , did that mean that C.T.Russell and those around him had blocked the Holy Spirit because of keeping a pagan holiday?
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  yxl1

  Yeah I heard that bullsh*t. When mum was studying, she told us that we were no longer going to celebrate xmas/bdays, but we would recieve gifts "throughout the year". 17 years later and I'm still waiting ...
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  unique1

  i got a new ten speed one year on my parents anniversary. Shortly after I turned 13 my mother gave me a birthstone ring. Since I was born in April, my birthstone was a diamond, so that was cool, it was extremely small, but hey it was still a diamond. When my grandmother died, my mother took Grandma's pins she had earned from years of service with a company, had them melted down and formed into a necklace with several rubies, pearls and 2 diamonds from the pins. That was quite the surprize.

  I know Christmas sucked for us JW kids, but it was nice to be surprized. My hubby who grew up Baptist, had no idea what it was like to be surprized with a gift, because his parents had never SURPRIZED him with anything. Being suprized is a cool feeling. I am glad I got to expereince that even if I didn't get to celebrate Christmas or my Birthday. I hope to give my kids, if I ever have any, surprize gifts so they will know the feeling.