Feature: Houstonians of all ages, incomes, cultures plan few, if any, increases in holiday cost

The amount Houston residents spend to deck the halls, gift family and friends, and purchase food for the Dec. 25 Christmas feast this year will be slightly less or no change from last year's, say a varied group of seasonal consumers intent on making merry despite a Texas economy recovering sluggishly from the oil market recession.

Joshua Wingards' a two-paycheck income totalling about 100,000 U.S. dollars and savvy savings.

Wingard, a technician for AT&T and his dental-assistant wife plan to spend about half -- 150 to 200 U.S. dollars -- for each of their children, a 6-year-old son and 1-year-old daughter, and various neices and nephews.

"I've been fairly good at saving money, although our budget has been a lot tighter then in previous years," Wingard said. "Previously, we would buy gifts for every member of our family, however this year we're focusing on just the children and forgoing any sort of large or expensive gifts for adults. Where we might have spent around 500 (U.S. dollars) total for various gifts for (older) family members, this year it will be kept closer to 100 to 150 (U.S. dollars)."

The Wingards' holiday spending is on track with Americans across the United States, according to a 2015 study by Avant Credit that puts the average amount spent on Christmas per family at 1,779 U.S. dollars. The national independent research firm Macroeconomic Advisors predicts consumer spending this year will push holiday sales to 3.5 percent above last year's, a few tenths below the nearly 4 percent average annual increase in Christmas sales from 2010-2015.

The National Retail Federation suggests 2016 spending likely will be higher, judging by 2015's retail sales increase of 4.6 percent -- for a spending total of 616.1 billion U.S. dollars -- from the previous year to mark the highest holiday spending record in the United States since 2011. That 2015 figure did not include non-store holiday sales, an indicator of online and e-commerce sales, which grew 6.8 percent to a 101.9 billion U.S. dollar total.

While the city of Houston will not receive a certified count of the 2016 Christmas sales until February, senior vice president for research and regional economist Patrick Jankowski at the Greater Houston Partnership, which works to promote the country's fourth largest city, predicts better Christmases now and ahead for the area.

"The worst is behind us," Jankowski said, referring to the oil slump and the slow recovery of the job market. "When people are employed and feel more secure about the economy, they open their wallets."

According to Avant Credit's 2015 study, more than half of Americans -- 58.8 percent -- wait for the biggest Christmas sales before purchasing, then mostly buy clothing and accessories, while 22.8 percent get electronic items. The most popular gift cited by the Avant study are gift cards for restaurants or department stores, and 66 percent get an early start on gift-giving or purchasing merchandise for themselves by shopping the after-Christmas sales.

Born in Lebanon, a retired U.S. oil executive and successful investor in real estate and other holdings, 73-year-old Emile Nassar celebrates Christmas as his family's own personal Santa Claus despite fluxuations in the Texas or U.S. economy.

"My Christmas, traditionally, has been the same for almost 40 years. I give money to my ex-wife, my son and all of my seven nieces and nephews and to my nine grand nieces and nephews," Nassar said.

"Typically, I give about 3,000 (U.S. dollars). I give my immediate family, here in Houston, a personal Christmas letter enclosed with money so they can go shopping. I learned over 45 years ago they prefer to do their own shopping as my taste is very different from theirs. This has worked out very all of these years."

This year's celebration may not be as lavish as previous years for Sharon Mellow, who is studying to be a real estate agent after working in a 60,000 U.S. dollars travel sales job. She is also mother of a 24-year-old son recently returned to cruise-ship cook's position after months of short-term disability following a work-related injury.

"We're middle class, no savings. This year, the Christmas celebrations switched from my house to my mom's house," said Mellow, 53, a descendant of Anglo European settlers.

Supplemented with monthly income from leasing her home, Mellow is determined to keep Christmas spending on par with last year's. She estimated she will again spend about 300 U.S. dollars for gifts and about 120 U.S. dollars for food. Mellow has tripled her budget for decorating her mother's home for the holidays, both inside and out, to 300 U.S. dollars this year.

Each Christmas season, one of the most decorated houses in Houston's Memorial neighborhood, inside and outside, is that of Scottish descendent Robert Cummings, 62, a resperatory therapist for 24 years, and his Native American wife Brinder, who coordinates national motorcycle rallies. They celebrate their ethnic cultures as part of the traditional season with their grandchildren, ages 7, 11, 15 and 18.

Cummings estimates that his original decorations decades ago cost about 150 U.S. dollars, to which he keeps adding about 20 U.S. dollars in new decorations each year. Food and beverages for Christmas Eve and the day itself set his household back about 200 U.S. dollars, but his big ticket category are the presents for Brinder and the grandchildren, for which he spends more than 300 U.S. dollars.

High-school student Sarah Bryant, 17, saves the cash and checks she receives on her birthday to spend for Christmas gifts, which total about 150 U.S. dollars each year. Presents, she said, are just a small part of what she tries to give during the Christmas season.

"I decorate the tree and all the inside decorations," Bryant said."We have a nativity scene and hang up stockings, with little Santa statues here and there. Our tree is tall, to the ceiling, and we decorate it with blue, red and green lights with ornaments of all different colors on its branches."

She sings Christmas songs with her high school choir and each year, she partakes the family tradition kept by the family's women honoring their Mexican roots by making tamales for Christmas dinner.

"It's a fun thing to do all together with me, my mom, sister, both grandmas, my aunt and her daughter," Bryant said.

Other families were also quick to point out that the quality of Christmas is not about how much is spent.

"I definitely look forward to time off from work (and) quality time I'm able to spend with family has become very valuable to me," Wingard said. "The receiving of gifts is far less important then just having some time to recharge my batteries with the people I love."

Nassar said the essential part of Christmas is being with his family in Houston and at his son's home in Louisiana.

"We dine together and I have the pleasure of watching everyone -- especially the young children -- opening their gifts," Nassar said. "We have a tremendous family bond with a lot of love."

Mellow said it just wouldn't be Christmas without neighbors and friends coming by to share the edible and drinkable goodies and enjoy the popular seasonal film "A Christmas Story."

"Our family enjoys the food, baking and decorations," Mellow said. "In the years past, we gave more gifts, but as we get older it becomes less about the gifts and more about the celebration of the day."

For Cummings, it's all about friends and family, for the dozen or more people who come to the Cummings' Christmas Eve party every year to enjoy the heirloom decorations, Christmas and Celtic music and beverages including meade, as well as the nine family members who sit around the Christmas table to devour the home-cooked feast the next day.

"It's a traditional family Christmas," Cummings said. "With just a mix of the pagan Yule spirit." Endit