My husband is one of 7 brothers and sisters, all married with children, so years back we suggested that we only buy for the children not the adult, and then only up until they left school at 16 or 17. The look of relief on the faces of the adults was amazing. Now as the years have gone on the children are older and there are less and less to buy for, so we all meet at a different house each christmas and cook something to take for dinner. This eases the burden of all the shopping and cooking and everybody says they really look forward to meeting up at Christmas instead of dreading it as some families do.