Holiday Gift Giving

I just saw an ad about K-Mart (or some store like that) going back to lay-away this holiday season. In the commercial, there are a few smiling women standing in line with their carts FULL of what looked to me like a whole lot of junk. It seems that at some point, everyone would just say ENOUGH. Not only does our country have enough stuff, many of us have way, way more than enough stuff. I've decided that for the rest of the year (and maybe for the rest of my life) everyone is either going to get a homemade present or a donation to a charity in their honor or a creative service (i.e. hours of babysitting). And this decision is coming from someone (me) who used to love, love, love to buy presents. However, I just don't think I can justify it any longer. So, that is how I am going to attempt to get through the holiday season. The only place I see myself having a hard time following through with this is with the kids that I usually buy for. We'll see how it goes.