My father did the same mate, and instilled a pretty solid financial way of thinking into my head. It's actually quite sad and frustrating to see so many people getting stressed over what/how much they feel they have to buy for christmas. And, if your not careful or shrewd enough, how easy it is to get into financial difficulties at this time of year.
Like I said, I've a fairly large and quite extended family, droves of the little beggars actually lol, and I do my best, but I never get into debt ?