Thread: Christmas only gets less magical as you grow older

Originally Posted by Atmosfear

Am I the only one who has noticed this trend? If you're in that unmarried 18-24 range where you're still largely dependent on your family (or, if you're independent, at least closely tied) and probably still a student, doesn't it seem like every year Christmas is less about spirit and surprise and more of a business negotiation?

Dude

Originally Posted by Atmosfear

I remember being 8 years old and going sequentially through the Sunday paper advertisements for WEEKS on end 2-3 months before Christmas, carefully calculating and recalculating the dollar values of my Christmas list, trying to balance the risk-reward equation so as to ensure my list didn't appear too greedy (a sure fire way to get punished by Santa Dad), but categorize the gifts in such a way as to maximize the odds of getting the biggest gifts with the odds of getting the gifts I really wanted that I thought I had a chance at.

This IS a business negotiation