Downsizing Christmas

Got any big plans this year? We didn't think so.

(Illustration by Dan Page)

Marilyn Lucas has whittled down her gift list this year. Michael Sammon isn't taking his usual Christmas trip to Ireland. Christine Murray is shopping only the clearance racks. Meredith and Dan Doherty won't throw their annual Christmas gala.

Christmas is being downsized this year, a casualty of the foundering economy. Layoffs, foreclosures, depressed real estate, scant credit, and plunging stocks have resulted in a lack of consumer confidence. Santa Claus is still coming to town, but his pack will be lighter, his belt tighter. And don't count on those halls being decked with holly. 'Tis the season to be thrifty.

"Christmas is going to be very small," says Marilyn Lucas, who fulfilled her longtime dream by opening Marilyn's Cafe in Quincy four months ago. "I don't have the money this year."

Because their parents are divorced, Lucas's three kids get gifts from both and always rack up. "I ask for a separate list from each parent," says Paige, 15, who last year got a laptop, iPod, cellphone, camera, and Ugg boots. "My mom told me we're not getting as much this year. I might be disappointed, but I'm not going to get mad."

According to a survey by the Consumer Federation of America, 55 percent of Americans are spending less on Christmas this year. At Copley Plaza, a temple of upscale shopping, many stores have specials advertised, but that's not enough to lure crowds. On a recent day at Barneys New York, aisles were empty and workers chatted idly. At Gucci, several saleswomen, dressed all in black, stood like mannequins, looking out at passersby. At Ralph Lauren, which was advertising a semi-annual sale, clerks folded and refolded sweaters. At Tiffany & Co., they paced the floor, gazing out anxiously for potential customers.

"I think all kinds of people are rethinking Christmas this year, and not mostly because they've run out of money - that will be next year," says Bill McKibben, the environmentalist who wrote "Hundred Dollar Holiday: The Case for a More Joyful Christmas." "It's because there seems something kind of gross about excess in the current circumstances." McKibben, a scholar-in-residence at Middlebury College in Vermont, spends little on Christmas. He and his wife, Sue Halpern, and daughter, Sophie, make token gifts such as maple syrup candy from a neighbor's trees. They attach a card saying that a donation to a charity has been made in their name.

Katherine McHugh, who lives in Sherborn, agrees with McKibben. "I think right now it's in bad taste to be ostentatious," she says. "It's not right." Her husband has always given her nice jewelry for Christmas. This year she suggested small "joke presents" instead.

Normally, McHugh sends friends food packages from gourmet shops. This year she's shopping BJ's and outlets and using coupons. Normally, she hangs fir roping outside the house and on the stairwell, puts a garland on every mantle, and decorates two Christmas trees. This year the roping and garland will be gone, along with one of the trees. "You don't need all of that," says McHugh, whose husband, Dan, is a managing director at Deutsche Bank. Daughter Abby, 18, used to exchange gifts with all of her friends. This year they're each drawing one name.

If you haven't gotten many holiday party invitations this year, join the crowd. People are throwing fewer fests. In Marblehead, Meredith and Dan Doherty have for years hosted a party for a couple hundred people. They had it catered and hired a decorator. This year they're not doing it; it's too much in too many ways. Still, Meredith is a little wistful. "I kind of wish I was doing it to give people something to look forward to," she says, "to take their mind off things."

Christmas Eve will be different, too. The Dohertys always host the night with extended family, including 18 children. "The aunts and uncles and grandparents buy each child a gift, and it turns into a circus," says Doherty, whose husband owns Eastern Real Estate. This year they're drawing names and giving only to that child. The adults will have a yankee swap, with a $25 limit. They usually have the dinner catered, to take the stress away. This year it's potluck.

Roger Berkowitz, president and CEO of Legal Sea Foods, saw a lot of holiday party cancellations when Wall Street first began its meltdown. But in the past couple of weeks, bookings for smaller parties have grown. "At this point, they're offsetting what we initially thought might be a gloomy party season," he says. "Smaller department types of gatherings, rather than whole company functions, may be the trend this year."

Christine Murray and her friend Brian Murphy were scouring the sales racks at Kohl's in Randolph recently. "I'm shopping clearance this year," says the mother of three, a part-time nurse. "They're not going to get a lot of what they want." And this year she and her brothers aren't buying for each other. Murphy, who works at a temp agency, is cutting back on the number of people he gives to and the amount he spends on each. "I'm just being careful," he says.

At 60, Barbara Casserly of Randolph recently retired from teaching. "When we retired, my friend and I were joking about living on a fixed income. But it's not a joke anymore. It's scary," Casserly says. Christmas shopping this year has become more a pain than pleasure for her. "I'm shopping all the sales and reading all the flyers. It's not as much fun anymore because you really have to work at it now."

Some aren't shopping much at all, because they're making their own gifts. Those on Carolyn McDonough's list will be getting handknit hats and scarves, fleece blankets, flannel pajama bottoms, candles, and jewelry. McDonough, a teacher who lives in Holbrook, loves to make the stuff and doesn't want "to go overboard" on spending.

In Milton, Michael Sammon's family won't be returning to his native Ireland as usual. "With the four of us, it's not cheap," says Sammon, who works in construction.

In Mattapan, Mitzi Robinson is buying her teenage son only one gift this year: an iPod docking station. "I'd usually get him the shoes, hats, CDs, and clothes, too," says Robinson, who works for the Department of Correction. She is one of 10 siblings who this year are going to draw names for each other and do a "grab" exchange for the nieces and nephews with a price limit of $30.

In Manchester-by-the-Sea, Amy Hunt and her extended family have eliminated the adult gifts, making a charitable donation instead. "We said, OK, things have changed," says Hunt, who works in sales for a high-tech company.

According to a recent Gallup poll, 44 percent of Americans say they are cutting back on going to restaurants. That's bad news for Dave Brown, a veteran bartender at Legal Sea Foods in Braintree. The divorced dad of two teenage girls has told them that Christmas will be different this year. "I said that my work has been a little quiet so Christmas day will be a little quiet, too," says Brown. There will be fewer gifts, and instead of going out for their usual steak tips, they'll be getting pizza.