With only a dozen sleeps until Christmas Day, Freda Newton is working on the kind of gift that only comes from the heart.
“She’s got jeans, a button… her name is Martha,” she says, holding up a doll she’s been knitting for the past few months.
Newton has seen nearly 90 holiday seasons in her life, but the last two were extra special, spending it with her first great-grandchild.
“She’d jump and scream and leap into my arms,” she says, recalling last Christmas. “We did it until I was so tired I couldn’t do it any more, I had to go sit down.”
It’s a quiet, cozy scene at Newton’s retirement home in southwest Calgary — a far cry from what you’d experience in most shopping centres across the city this time of year.
Interac’s annual survey of holiday spending predicts the peak is just a few days away, on Dec. 19.
“When you’re late and when you’re busy, it’s more of a chance to overspend,” explained Lauren Mostowyk, Interac’s head of corporate affairs and partnerships.
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“You feel that stress and you feel like, ‘Oh, just one more thing and just throw it in the basket and don’t look at the price.'”
Nearly half of survey respondents say they plan to spend less than $500 this season, while 25 per cent said they plan to spend between $500 and $1,000.
Twenty-eight per cent of respondents said they’ll be spending more than $1,000.
The survey also found 52 per cent of respondents are worried about overspending this holiday season — so much so that grandparents are stepping up.
Twenty-one per cent of parents say they’ll be relying on them for holiday support, and 33 per cent say the grandparents will be spending more than they are.
Mostowyk says there’s several internal pressures driving those stats.
“(Parents are) either saying, ‘I want to give my kids what I didn’t have,’ or they’re saying, ‘I see the ideal holiday on social media and I want to see that as well,'” Mostowyk said.
That first sentiment rings true for Jean Higashi.
Now in her 90s, she grew up fast during the Great Depression and Second World War. Her family didn’t have much.
“My mother died when I was very young,” she said. “I ran the house. I remember cooking Christmas dinner from a very young age.”
“Let’s face it, we buy what we need these days,” Newton said.
“We put it on the jolly old credit card, whether we can afford it or not.”
After spending part of the morning with three women, with more than 200 combined holiday seasons under their belt, they were asked what matters the most.
“You know what’s really nice? To see how many people get visited by their families,” says Pat Pitsel, who doesn’t have children of her own.
“You can’t help but feel great when the other people are feeling good, because they’ve got their families in.”
“Well, of course, it’s always family,” Higashi said.
“It is family,” remarked Newton.
“I’d be pretty miserable without the family at Christmastime.”
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