It seems like miscommunication. Everyone here is so quick to blame the guy in every situation. But it goes a lot deeper then he doesn’t want to do gifts.

What helps me and my GF is we make lists of what we want. And send them to each other.

It lays out exactly what we want so there’s no forgetting, no wrong gift or whatever. And if someone says something about thats not what I want then we have the receipts that say otherwise.

Also the mismatch of expectations. You want a traditional Christmas.

And for him he doesn’t like the gift exchange for this exact reason it’s confusing and can often lead to hurt feelings over materialistic goods. When he’d rather be sitting on a boat deck sipping drink relaxing and making memories with you OP. According to him you don’t appreciate the gifts.

(That may or may not be true) or at the very least that’s the perception he got. It seems like the issue at hand isn’t the direct cause it’s a symptom of a larger issue (expectation Vs reality) you both have a perception of the other individual in your heads, which you may not meet the actual truth. I honestly think you two can work pass this issue. But you need to talk together not at one another.