Unpopular opinion: I’m an adult, please don’t buy me Christmas presents

It’s that dreaded time of year again.

Christmas is less than a fortnight away, and instead of relishing in the extra hours of daylight or winding down after a hard year, the unorganised amongst us are scrambling to get to the shops to buy everything and anything.

Contrary to what you may already be assuming about me, I’m no grinch (promise). I mean, I’ll never be convinced that mince pies have a place at the Christmas table, but I love seeing all my nearest and dearest wearing paper hats and swapping terribly unfunny jokes.

My beef is actually with Christmas presents and the expectation that we have to show our love for people by exchanging unnecessary objects in December.

And let me clarify at this point, that I’m talking about adults giving gifts to other adults – let’s not bring kids into this debate.

At the risk of coming across as ungrateful, very few of the gifts we receive at this time of year are things we actually need, and many of them end up in landfill – or worse, at the pound – in a matter of months.

Unless you have the luxury of not working (whether that’s paid or unpaid) then I’m sure you haven’t had the time to buy every person special to you a gift that truly represents how much they mean to you. If I’m wrong, congratulations, you’re a better person than I am.

Many of us make personal sacrifices and work all year long only to get to December and stress about who we need to buy gifts for, what the hell to get them and how much it’s going to cost us. And god forbid we forget someone!

But you don’t have much to spend much, they say. Just buy something small, it’s the thought that counts! But seriously, what can you buy that’s small that isn’t essentially junk or junk food?

If it really is the thought that counts, why don’t we all sit in a circle and tell the relatives we’ve avoided for a year just how much we love them instead of filling our bins with single-use paper? (By the way, we spend $5.2 million on wrapping paper at Christmas each year, and you know where it all ends up…)

I’m not saying we should stop thinking of people, in fact, loving someone enough to spare them the grief and credit card debt that comes with Christmas shopping is arguably the best kind of gift.

Why don’t we all just give each other a break, forget the gifts and make do with Kmart bon bons and cheap wine?

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