Wow! Where has this year gone? Thanksgiving is over and Christmas is rapidly approaching. The time of year when consumers seem to throw their budgets to the wind and spend, spend, spend. Why is it that we try hard to live within our means most of the year, but it is acceptable to buy outlandishly expensive gifts for ourselves and others over the holidays? Then it takes months to dig out of the hole again. I believe the statistic is that it takes the average consumer three months to come back to even after all of the gift giving of the holidays.
Our family has decided to curb this trend in our own households to giving mostly to the children, who Christmas is for anyways. I’m not talking about the religious side of the “reason for the season”, which is fine to focus on if that is your preference. I’m referring to the general public who has taken the simple giving and exchanging of gifts and turned it into a virtual bonanza for the retail outlets.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for stimulating the economy, but is it really stimulated if most have to cut back and do without for the following three to four months after the gift giving season? I don’t think so.
I don’t know about everyone else, but for us gifts started at a reasonable price so you could remember everyone that you loved, or wanted to show appreciation for at the end of the year. Then someone would want to outdo the others and get a more expensive item, consequently you felt obligated to raise the standard of your gift the next year, and so on. You can see where this quickly headed. Yes, you guessed it, hock up to your eyebrows to not look like the cheapskate of the bunch.
I have no idea why, but it occurred to us all, almost simultaneously that this was not a healthy cycle and we have in the last few years scaled everything back to a more reasonable level. Now we give with the idea that it is mostly for the kids, not the adults. But at the same time if you feel compelled to buy a special something for a person that you want to, it is with the idea that the recipient is not obligated to have to get you something back. Now isn’t that much simpler and less complicated? It takes the stress out of having to “keep up with the Jones’s”.
I am actually looking forward to this time of year for the first time in a few years because I can make fudge, and cookies for some and buy gifts for the kids without the stresses of “having” to get a present for everyone I have ever known, worked for, or liked in the past five years.
A Gift that is Never Out Of Style
One item that is still reasonably affordable and that virtually everyone enjoys is a good book. If you are undecided about a few on your list, I have included links for you to browse. Since I am an author and have a couple books out, with more to be released next year, let me tell you about my series.
Fire and Ice, the Secret Vampire Society volume 1, and Vampire Slayers volume 2, are both getting excellent reviews by book review companies and the book reading public. Vampires are very popular in fiction right now, and the media. I realize that there are a lot of vampire books available for sale right now. How do you distinguish the good from the not so good? Reviews are an excellent way. Realistically you will never get everyone to like your book, it’s a percentages game. The more people who read it and give their opinion, the easier it is for someone to decide whether they would like to purchase a certain novel. Mine are running at about 80% like, to 20% not so much, which is great. Even Stephanie Meyers, who has been an absolute phenomenon in the book buying public the last few years with her book sales has had her share of “haters”.
If you enjoy a good vampire romance series with suspense and some horror, I think you will enjoy my books. They are written in a PG 13 format to make them available to a wider audience, (I have a lot of teens that enjoy my books), even though they are written about adults with adult suspense and action. I have good reviews from people in the teen category, to adult moms, and grandmas, to men who have read my books and loved them.
Check out the links included here, I don’t think you will be disappointed. And rest assured that I am not done with this series yet. The characters aren’t finished telling their stories.
new review for VAmpire Slayers, volume 2
http://www.silverthornpress.com/id76.html
facebook fanpage
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/pages/Fire-and-Ice-Secret-Society-Vampire-Books/93157146546?ref=ts
Ha – you go on the assumption and premise that people do know how to watch their spending. It is crazy the anxiety I see people in during this time of year trying to make sure that they get something for everyone on their list – especially when they try to buy off their kids. Just seems so silly. I like your approach this year and I bet it will make for a lot less stress too!
BTW, best of luck with the books.
Yes it is silly. I enjoy the holidays so much more now that I don’t stress about it.
Thanks for the encouragement on my books. Sales are steadily increasing.