And yes, it was the holidays, not only Christmas. But anyway if you are here at dailykos you already know that.
So, on to my story. Well the first part involves my friends. Most of my friends are progressive and a few are non-political. So with my friends we basically all agreed not to buy presents. Perhaps not even a completely political screw the corporate terrorists decision. Maybe more of a the Bushco rethug government pretty much assures that if you are in your 20's you can't afford anything without getting yourself further in debt decision.
Of course with family it gets more interesting....
Trying to explain the buy nothing concepts to my parents was an interesting experience. So here is what I did. Not sure if it counts as buy nothing or not, but it has got to be better than doing the whole retail crap thing. I sent them a home made card with home made tickets that they can later redeem for me paying (cash of course) for them to see the Butterfly Pavilion in Colorado where I live, but they don't. I also included a ticket for me to take them out to dinner. I plan to take them to a local restaurant.
So because they are IOU's I technically spend nothing during the holiday season. By the way my parents loved it and they loved the idea that it would involve spending time together when they come to Colorado to visit.
And in case you are wondering what I got from my parents, they paid for this months payment on my student loans so no extra money spend their either.
So if you didn't this year, next year get creative.