I'm a 16 year old girl and my family has always poor. My parents are immigrants and have always struggled to make ends meet. They don't have enough money to heat our house in the winter let alone have enough money to give me presents for Christmas. I've always been diligent in school and I do really well on standardized tests (I got a 219 on the PSAT in October and I qualify for national merit scholarships). I also make my bed in the mornings and often cook for my dad. I think I'm the perfect child and many adults would have loved to adopt me when I was a kid. I've always hated Christmas because my friends love doing Secret Santa each year. My upper middle class friends are all more wealthy than I am and can afford gifts that cost over $50. I'm too proud to tell them that my dad earns $35,000/year (before taxes) and my mom earns $15,000/year. They have to pay a $2,000 mortgage each month. I often have to work at McDonalds for 8+ hours so that I can buy a good present. I'd rather buy myself a present for Christmas because I rarely like presents that my friends give me. My parents rarely buy me anything. For my 16th birthday, I went to a Best Buy myself to purchase an iPod Touch with the money I'd earned working at McDonalds. I hate giving and receiving gifts because I actually need to work on weekends to earn enough money to buy one of my friends a gift! And I'm rarely satisfied with the gift that I receive.|||It is unusual. Think of Gift Vouchers from stores that people would frequent, books, a 'bulk barn' that sells everything, music etc|||It's not weird. Maybe if you don't have enough money to buy them presents or don't want to buy them presents just don't include yourself. Tell them that you don't have enough money to do presents.|||No, your not weird. You just sound very ungrateful. It's not about how much money that is spent on gifts, it's the thought they put into it that counts. Your family is not rich, but they are not poor either.|||nope. its completely normal. i hate giving and receiving gifts too. its just a big hoo ha|||well your a noob then|||No it isn't :/|||yes, thats odd. but bail out of the secret santa.|||It's understandable. When I was younger and before my parents got their masters(My Dad a PHD and my mom PSYD. Doctor of Physcology). They were always working to pay for college and take care of me abd my siblings. The only time we would get a gift is either out birthday, christmas or we did sonething good(Good grades ect.) To this day I'm not crazy about gifts abd all that. But I do it for my wife and kids.|||I think more kids are in your position than not. I grew up in the rural south and lived in a trailer, so I can relate to your dilemma. My class exchanged gifts every year. My momma still managed to get a nice gift on the cheap. I, however, always ended up with something dinky. Don't be embarrassed to tell your friends that you simply cannot afford to exchange gifts. Explain to them that you are working to save money. A real friend will understand. Christmas shouldn't be about exchanging gifts anyway. Good luck.

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