Personal-finance blogger Christina at Northern Cheapskate has a really long Christmas shopping list: two dozen people, almost all of them relatives. She doesn't plan to trim the roster even though hers is a one-income family.

"As long as we're able to shop for so many people without going into debt or sacrificing too much, I am fine with continuing the tradition," she wrote in a recent post.

"We're frugal all year long so that we can enjoy the holidays without the stress of how to pay for it. Isn't that the point of all this coupon clipping? So you can enjoy life?"

Christina doesn't set herself up as some kind of Yuletide goddess. In fact, she admits to getting a little cranky each December.

"Maybe it's the commercialism of Christmas," she wrote in another blog post. "Maybe it's the feeling that I need to be Martha Stewart and Santa Claus in one cheerful person. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that I shop for 24 people!"

Hey, if I had three kids under age 3 my crankiness would not be confined to the holidays. I admire the woman just for surviving.

To give or not to give?
The blogger and her husband look for the best sales, cash in points from reward credit cards and programs like MyPoints, and make some of their own gifts.

"We've always found the money to do something for everyone on the list, even if it's small," she says.

Yet in times of such economic uncertainty, wouldn't it be smarter not to give quite so much? This year, some people aren't giving gifts at all.

Christina and her husband can pay cash for the holiday because they budget for it all year. But some might say that money could be better spent elsewhere -- paying down a mortgage, bolstering a savings account, starting college funds.

Personally, I think we should budget for things that bring us happiness. If the books are more or less balanced, why not enjoy the fruits of your labors?

I'd even go so far as to say that those who are in debt should find ways to celebrate the holidays. You could go the "free events and handmade gifts only" route, or you could save up a few months' worth of your adult allowance and stick strictly to that amount.

I am not saying that you should rack up more bills that you can't pay. What I am saying is that into each life a little fun must fall. Even indebted lives. Especially indebted lives. Without some moments of joy, the road to financial freedom seems mighty endless.

Cost vs. value
Sometimes the little things make a big difference. A few years ago, when my finances were pretty dire, one of the kids I baby-sat gave me a reindeer-head ornament he'd made of Popsicle sticks with a red pompom for a nose, glued-on googly eyes and antlers fashioned from twisted brown pipe cleaners. It provided some much-needed cheer.

Now my financial situation has improved, mostly because I've continued to be frugal. I direct my money where I want it to go, rather than wondering where in the world it went.

Christina directs her money, too. Careful use of funds means she can stay home with her kids. Frugality allows her and her husband to be generous, albeit carefully, with the people they love. Smart money management lets them create warm holiday memories with no credit card shocks come January.

She's right: The point of all that coupon clipping is to enjoy life -- a life that you choose rather than one that's determined by other people's expectations. Other people's expectations may cost more than you're willing to pay, in terms of both financial and personal values.

Some of my neighbors have hung up pricey wreaths on their front doors. I could do that, too. Instead, I hang up that reindeer. It still makes me smile.