Get a Chromebook. They're cheap and do everything you need.
Ya, it is a decent laptop. I got a Samsung Chromebook last year for maybe 125 USD or less. It functions as something I can bring to work for the day and the battery will last all day and use word processor.
My wife just had a laptop failure so she uses my Chromebook at night as well. It functions for emails, video streaming, word processing and that type of stuff. There are tasks that can be annoying to re-learn how to do on the operating system but I still have a proper PC too. A Chromebook functions much better if you have cloud storage attached to it, which is really what is recommended and most people I know do that.
I just liked having a laptop I could bring to work and leave at my desk and go home and have a Windows PC at home, don't have to lug a laptop to and from work anymore at least until recently, now my wife uses it at home but I am on a mini-sabbatical until January so it does not matter.
As for Christmas, now that everyone in my family and my wife's family are adults, it is more to just spend time together, we don't exchange gifts so it is not a commercial experience anymore, solely for family.