I need to rant! This Christmas is the first time in 3.5 years that my family will all be together. I haven’t met one of my nieces, my brother hasn’t met my son, it’s going to be special. Now- let me be really clear- no one in my family is really cash-strapped- we are all in well paid professional jobs with dual income households. If anyone in my family was struggling financially, it would be completely different, but they aren’t. So WHY ON GOD’s GOOD EARTH does everyone seem so hell bent on saving money at every corner? We are doing a secret Santa (we normally buy presents for everyone), and each couple is cooking food for one evening- this evening my brother started arguing about “cost per meal” because the dinner he was cooking was going to cost less than the meal I was cooking (I’m cooking the main Christmas meal). I’m so annoyed and a bit upset because in my family, Christmas has always been about generosity... and it suddenly feels completely different, really tense, and totally unnecessary! I’m not advocating wasteful consumerism, or huge excess, but I don’t want to feel like I’m on rations every time I grab a snack! I feel like I am surrounded by grinches. How can I get through a week of this without losing my Christmas spirit completely? Help.