Face-off: the festive vs. the frugal
January 19, 2026 9:15 PM
For students, December and January can without doubt be the most expensive months of the year, at least unless you can close your eyes and pretend that tuition spreads evenly over the term, instead of coming out of your account or loan all at once.
For Dec. and Jan., though, we’re not only paying for half a month of classes (or exams - even better), but a lot of us are still paying for rent, and plane and/or bus tickets to get home to see our families for the holidays.
And it doesn’t even end there.
“Home” for me, also known as where my parents live, is a good six provinces away from Nova Scotia, which means I only get home twice a year.
Which means, in turn, that when I’m home I try to spend time with everyone I know and care for still there.
Usually, because my friends and I are uncreative, or possibly lazy, and would rather chat over beverages than brave the cold for some kind of free activity, this involves meals out multiple times in a very short period of time.
And I haven’t even mentioned the gifts yet. The gifts! Aren’t they what the holidays are all about?
Okay, so I’m being facetious. Obviously the winter holiday season, whatever you call your Big Cold Day, and however you celebrate it, isn’t really about the material things, but about the people: the friends and family who, like you, take a break from normal everyday life to curl up by a fire, to have three-hour chats over coffee, to make a ridiculously elaborate dinner, and then ignore the food because the conversation is too interesting and the wine is flowing freely.
The expense of it is secondary. Right?
Well, yes and no. Being around family is obviously a prerequisite for spending time with them: laying down cash for plane fare is more or less non-negotiable, at least when you live a five-day drive from home, like I do.
Which is why airlines make the excuse of “peak season” to double or triple their fares, making it massively expensive to fly anywhere right at the time of year when flights are most likely to be delayed or cancelled because of weather (That bit is just pure diabolical genius, actually).
And chatting with friends over a beverage or two - another priority this time of year - requires either scouring the house (and no one, no one wants to do that) or going out somewhere.
Where, invariably, the pretty drink with whipped cream in the red cup costs five bucks, and the pretty drink with the twist in the martini glass costs ten (note: I’m not being particularly practical here, just realistic).
The seasonal specials, gussied up with peppermint or gingerbread, are ‘premium’ creations, and come with the ‘premium’ price.
And after all this spending, don’t even get me started on credit card companies.
Ridiculously high interest rates coupled with ridiculously low minimum payments, and general ignorance about how the whole ‘debt’ thing works… It was enough to convince regulators recently that credit card companies should be made to state explicitly on customers’ bills exactly how long it would take for them to pay off their current balance with only the minimum payment.
And let me tell you, it is probably years longer than whatever period of enjoyment you got from the stuff you spent the money on.
But after all that…do I really want to be the Grinch Who Stole Christmas Spending?
Would I rather hunker down in an empty house in the ‘Nish, refuse to buy gifts at all, or substitute small thoughtful presents, chosen for people I love, with the frugal-if-ethically-unimpeachable selection of some goats or chickens for a disadvantaged village out of a catalogue?
I say, and I’ll repair my karma later, no.
Christmas shouldn’t be as commercial and stuff-driven as it is.
Simply put, neither big-screen TVs nor diamond solitaires nor Gameboys of any descent should ever be advertised as ‘stocking stuffers.’
Santa should not schill washing machines or vacuums or hot tubs as excellent presents.
But as much as Christmas advertising is distasteful, it speaks to a very human and very important impulse that we share: to show love by giving gifts.
We all want to know that we’re cared about, and we all want people we care about to know that, too.
And gifts - stuff - are a clumsy but effective way of getting that across. An obscure novel for someone who only reads in translation, or a scarf - even a cheap one - for someone who’s always cold.
Anthropologists would say (possibly with bigger words) that gift-giving both reinforces bonds and puts the receiver in the debt of the giver: absolutely.
We can’t live well without bonds, and without the impetus to reciprocate positive actions. Forget the money - and screw the credit card companies, Jan. Visa bills are what April tax returns are for - focus on the people.
And maybe just a little, tiny bit on the stuff. Really. It’ll be okay.