We do a combination sort of like this in our family. Immediate family members still do regular gifts at Christmas. But with all of our extended family members w

We do a combination sort of like this in our family. Immediate family members still do regular gifts at Christmas. But with all of our extended family members we do a sort of "secret Santa" for donates. Each family member gets matched up with someone else, then you make a donation in that person's name to a charity that is important to you. Then on Christmas day everyone opens a letter from their "secret donate Santa" that says what they donated to and why. It is a tradition that my wife's family had done and now we have started doing it in my family as well. I really like it for all the donations that happen, and (more selfishly) that we don't have to worry about giving/receiving unnecessary or strange presents from relatives we are not super close to.