DH has a big family who go a bit mad with Christmas presents, I have one sibling. We have two sons who are 20 and 22, I have 7 nieces and nephews who are a similar age. We spoke to the family about scaling it back at bit this year. It's not really a monetary thing (although we are not exactly well off), it's just that we get so much stuff that it gets a bit ridiculous, and I hardly see my adult nieces and nephews these days.
So everyone said, yes, let's cut back a bit, the kids are all grown up now, we don't need all these presents. So I chose a few thoughtful family presents that were much smaller than usual.
We went to swap presents on Christmas Eve and there were huge bags to collect from DHs brother and sister. Oh it looks more than it is they all said.
We open them on Christmas Day and they have bought exactly the same amount as usual, in fact my brother seems to have spent more than ever and has given the boys expensive gifts!
I know it's not supposed to be about trying to match the value of presents that you give and receive, but I feel really mean and stingy now. DH says to forget about it, we all agreed that we would scale back on presents, if they decided not to, then that's up to them.
This has taken a bit of the shine off my Christmas this year, do I just need to get a grip and forget about it?