Anyone not doing christmas?

balletshoes

aliasojo wrote: »

I've not heard that one. Where we were, it was always the house that had to be cleaned to get rid of every speck of dirt to start the new year clean.

I did that for years, cleaning like a looney right up until NY eve. It was ridiculously stressful, it wasn't just a whip round with a duster, curtains had to come down and be washed, cupboards cleaned out etc etc.

I'm now happy to be much more sloth like. I'm sure the dust of 2012 will not affect 2013 in the slightest. :rotfl:

my mum's still like that, house has to be spotless, knitting finished (off the needles), no dirty washing left in the laundry etc etc etc - its mental!

aliasojo

Well, I'm done and I'm wavering. :undecided

Tree is up and presents are wrapped.

They look pitiful. My carefully cultivated attitude towards not spending is crumbling cos I feel bad.

The kids are used to a pile of pressies beneath the tree, this year they will have maybe 6 each and 2 of them are cheapo sweeties. The other things are 'proper' pressies but cheap things.

My head knows why I'm doing this .... I say 'I' cos OH remains pointedly quiet about it all or says things like 'well you seem to know what you're doing' which of course is a passive way of passing the buck cos he can't handle feeling bad that the kids (youngest especially) are not getting a 'decent' Xmas. He wont even be here half the time as he is working so it's not like we can spend quality time either iyswim. I've spoken before about how we live in an affluent area and the kids are full of what they are getting whilst daughter sits quiet and says there's nothing she wants particularly. I know love isn't measured by how many gifts you give, but I just want to go buy her everything I know she wants just because she's a good kid who doesn't deserve the crap she's had to put up with just because her parents couldn't make better decisions.

I read a post by Sambucus Nigra talking about how daft it was to spend shed loads or go into debt for just one day out of 365 and she's completely right...but how come knowing it's the right thing to do, makes you feel bad?

I hope everyone else who's in the same boat is keeping strong.

pogofish

Not because of no money but I've more or less opted-out of christmas this year because I'm in a lot of pain and going-in for surgery early in the new year and its enough just to cope with an elderly parent in quite serious ill health without all the extra effort of organising christmas.

No doubt a few drams wil be raised and I'll have a couple of low-key evenings with friends but as for the big celebrations, dinners, decorations etc - nope. I need the time to rest and to try to feel as little pain as possible.

red_devil

we had neighbours years ago who hated Christmas and did the decorating. They had no children.

SuzieSue

aliasojo wrote: »

I've spoken before about how we live in an affluent area and the kids are full of what they are getting whilst daughter sits quiet and says there's nothing she wants particularly. I know love isn't measured by how many gifts you give, but I just want to go buy her everything I know she wants just because she's a good kid who doesn't deserve the crap she's had to put up with just because her parents couldn't make better decisions.

Your daughter will be absolutely fine and infact, it will do her good and she will appreciate money much more than her friends (and hopefully not make the mistakes you have made (if you have made any).

I was in a similar position to your daughter when I was growing up but worse because your daughter has had lots of presents in the past - we never did (neither birthday or Christamas) because my parents just couldn't afford it. As far as they were concerned, the most important thing was to pay the mortgage and have enough food to eat. Everything else was unimportant. All my friends has lots of toys and clothes and I remember when I was around 10 all I wanted was a nice dress - I didn't have anything nice and I would cry about it.

Now when I look back at my childhood, I realise that toys and clothes were so unimportant. I also really value and appreciate money and I paid off my mortgage before I was 40 and am very comfortably off.

Kantankrus_Mare

How refreshing!!!

Lots of people with the same thoughts that I have about Christmas.

Don't get me wrong........I enjoy the actual day but find the build up. commercialism and pressure "to have every thing done" harder and harder to bear each year.

We have stopped buying for adults (by mutual agreement) and go out for a family meal instead.

Don't buy each other anything but we are going away to posh hotel for new year so thats our "treat"

Our late teen children are having £150 each with us getting some surprises and them picking some things they would like.
I would reduce this but OH thinks that is a fair amount.

I would be more happy with a good curry than Turkey but dont think it would go down well with others :rotfl:

Hope everyone enjoys it........whatever they do.
x

Lilith1980

Neither myself nor my partner have ever been away at Christmas time and so are going away to the Lake District this year - not to celebrate Christmas but to have some time away on our own away from the whole manic period!

We have no decorations up at home, no intention of putting any up and just want to use the holiday to relax as we both work and are doing masters courses so a lot of our spare time is spent doing essays.

We will visit my OH's mum and have dinner with her next week - she's not bothered about Christmas luckily. But my family are a few hours' drive so we are going to see them in the new year as it's too busy for us this side of Christmas. Unfortunately, my mum is obsessed about us all being a family and getting into the spirit of Christmas so we'll have to go down in the new year and do all that 'happy' carp. It's all a pretence to me and whilst I hate pretending, I don't want to burst her bubble so will endure it for a day

FatVonD

We're still doing presents but on a slightly smaller scale but Christmas evening is going to be very much scaled back.

Christmas lunch will be just us and the kids and then we've got both sets of parents and BIL and SIL round in the evening but they'll be getting turkey sandwiches followed by chocolate cake (already in the freezer!) DH still thinks we're doing a huge spread (like his mum and SIL would) but it's just not happening, everybody is so full from lunch it just goes to waste and somebody has to be the first to lower the bar!

[Deleted User]

I 'do' Christmas by going to Crib Service on Xmas eve, getting my nieces to decorate the tree, going to Midnight Communion, having a roast dinner and wishing people "Happy Christmas!".

All the rest of it we do *if* we have money, but it's not essential at all. Sometimes I've made gifts, or had to make cards from paper!