This year, my family of four is heading to Massachusetts for Christmas. After losing air fare roulette in August, and choosing a non-direct flight to a less convenient airport on Christmas Eve for about what we could pay today for our perfect flight, the airline we’re flying on added bag fees.

Besides wearing the same outfit for a week, which I am seriously considering, another way to avoid fees (and luggage hassles)  is to mail our single package of gifts.

The package isn’t much and it isn’t heavy– we’re toning down Christmas this year anyway. Like most families, unemployment and plummeting net worth is all too familiar for some in our extended family. But since it’s rare for the entire clan to get together, I wanted to buy Christmas pjs for all of the kids– a tradition in my immediate family that I’d like to pass on.

So today, I packed up nine pairs of fleece pajamas to send out east. Considering the trend of free shipping deals from online retailers, I did try to buy the pjs online first. But they were out of a few of the sizes I needed, so I resorted to shipping them on my own dime.

Question is, how should I send them?

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Not sure I’m going to get that gift this year– or ever. But a group of Minnesotans is hoping to help. I attended Unity-Unitarian Church in St. Paul’s Black Friday at Church event this morning. Look for a story in the paper tomorrow.

The non-denominational group’s goal “is to launch the Christmas season as a time of spiritual reflection and renewal instead of frantic over-consumption.  This requires fighting back against an out-of-control consumer culture, clearing away the debris that Black Friday represents.”

I’ve long known about my tug-of-war between a simple, non-commercial Christmas and my desire for an over-the-top, gifts piled to the tree Christmas. But this event really made me think.

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For most of us, this is one of the scariest financial times in our lifetimes. And one of the reasons we’re in trouble is that healthy financial institutions are hoarding nuts for the long winter instead of sharing the wealth.

As a consumer, I’m doing the same. I am being extremely careful about how I spend, which means I’m saving more. I doubt I’m the only one.

It makes me wonder. Is America, the nation of spenders simply in hibernation and we’ll come out hungry for deals when this financial thing shakes out? Or are we going to come out of this mess fundamentally changed?

I read Brett Arends’ WSJ column today with interest: A Tip for Overseas Travelers– Leave your Cell Phone at Home.

Anyone traveling abroad this summer must be reeling from shock. Places like Europe were expensive even in the old days. And that was before the Almighty Dollar had become the Yankee Peso.

But your biggest sticker shock may not come until you get home and open your cellphone bill.

How true. When Matt and I went to Mexico in February, we lost our car keys.

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The check came right on schedule. Visions of flat screen TVs, video games and a day at the spa came with it. But I dutifully headed to Cub Foods and turned $1200 into two $660 gift cards — the maximum amount the company allows. It’s a strategy I explained in this earlier post.

Like many Americans, the other $600 from our check will go towards paying off a credit card balance. June was an expensive month, with some eating out, some reunion expenses and the purchase of a new patio set. Hence, the tracking spending exercise I started mid-June.

I must admit that exercise has fallen by the wayside of late. I did do a quick and dirty assessment, though, and our credit card transactions showed we’re spending about $15 more in gas than we budgeted and that we ate our entire fun budget for the month.