This content was created by Glen Gould. This content was uploaded by Glen Gould. This is a YouTube video titled "No Presents for a Reason" (created/posted Jan 24, 2016) containing an English first-person monologue in which a speaker (labeled SPEAKER A) recounts Christmas morning on December 25, 2015. The speaker explains that their family chose not to place presents under the tree that year—not as a rejection of Christmas but as a deliberate change to avoid the obligation of gift-giving and to seek different results in their lives now that their children are grown.
Chapters
This is our Christmas tree on December 25th, 2015. It's around 10:30 in the morning, and like so many others, our tree has no presents under it any longer. But actually, ours didn't have any presents under it at all this year. We didn't even put the skirt down. There were a number of reasons why we didn't, but one of the biggest reasons was we decided as a family that we wanted something different. We wanted a different result next year. And when you want to have different results, you have to take a look at everything you're doing and perhaps kill some sacred cows. Now, we celebrated Christmas. We didn't kill Christmas. But what we did do is we decided that we weren't going to be drawn into the obligation of having presents under the tree just so that we could feel good about the fact that we bought presents. We, like so many others, when we need something or want something in our lives, we generally speaking, if we can afford it, go out and get it. And our children are grown now, and we don't really have to have presents under the tree to validate our love for each other. And we decided that it would be a nice thing to do to try a new approach. So we decided no Christmas tree— or no Christmas presents under the tree, rather. And, uh, that's part of what we're doing to have a different result this year in our lives. Merry Christmas!
