Christmas Gift

We go to different friend's houses every year to share the Christmas joy. The climax is usually exchanging Christmas gifts. I think that it's a waste of resources because we usually buy things that are useless for others and it's is certainly not environmental friendly. I have thrown away gifts from my friends for two consecutive years because I do not like my home to have useless stuff which occupy space. Last year, I suggested to ban exchanging Christmas gifts but everybody rejected me.

I need to consider what gift to purchase again as this year Christmas is coming. This article catches my attention: Why We Shouldn't Give Christmas Gifts.

What's your objection to Christmas and holiday spending? My objection is that the holiday spending doesn't result in very much satisfaction. Normally if I spend $50 on myself, I'll only buy something if it's worth at least $50 to me. But if you buy something for me, and you spend $50, since you don't know what I like, and you don't know what I have, you may buy something I wouldn't pay anything for. And so you could turn the real resources required to make things into something of no value to me. And that would destroy value.

Will my friends reconsider my suggestion?