A poll that came from AARP said that the older generation will spend around the same amount this Christmas as they did last year.

Of those 65-plus, nearly half (45 percent) say they’ll spend less than $300

“We shop every week and buy gifts all year long,” says Fowler, who retired from IBM in 1990. “We don’t wait till the season. It’s easier, and we get as good a deal as ever because we shop while the stores have sales.”

Most people seem to want to avoid racking up debt this holiday season. More than three-quarters (78 percent) say they plan to buy their gifts with cash, check or a debit card.

Fowler, who lives on Social Security and his pension income, says he always pays cash for holiday gifts. “That’s the way I’ve always been, since the 1950s,” he says. “We don’t have any credit card debt.” – AARP

From these results, there is a lesson to be learned.  We should spend less money on gifts and more time with the ones we love.  We should experience a debt free holiday every year.  We should not wait until the end of the year to shop for Christmas and we shouldn’t use credit cards.