Xmas dilemma

eldestofthree

Little funny story DS (8) talking to freind (7) - friend ' i wish it was xmas every day ' DS ' oh no , we would 'nt have any money , only a house full of prezzies ' Friend ' well that sounds Ok ' DS ' nooo' he says ' the bins would be full of rubbish and there would be no money , do you like money ?' Friend ' well yes ' ds ' well , you ca't have xmas every day then '

I had to laugh - goes to show that kids pick up more than you think sometimes !

lilian1977

newleafmum - that's just brought a tear to my eye. How wonderful that you have such a lovely family, I'm so sorry you were upset before the day and I'm so happy that you had such a great day in the end. What an inspiration you are xx

beanielou

Glad that you are feeling better about it all now.
It's only one day at the end of the day.
I have spent less this year than ever before~as I dont have it basically.

flossfour

downnotout wrote: »

I'm feeling much better about it today, they have what they have and our cloth is cut to measure. My DS asked "can I have this for Xmas........" I said not this year you don't need it. His reply was "ok" - I'm shocked.

When my four children were very young, the amount of Christmas presents I bought absolutely covered the living room. Then, twelve years ago, my husband ran off leaving me with four kids, no job and a mortgage. Come Christmas I did not know where to turn. So I sat the children down and, feeling like a failure, explained that this Christmas they would not be getting nearly the same amount of presents as usual. They all looked at me, shrugged and said, 'okay'. I was so shocked at just how brilliant they all were. I offered to cook them anything they wanted Christmas day instead and from that day on, every Christmas we have home made, deep fried chips for lunch. That Christmas was the best any of us had ever had and it really taught me a lesson.
Sometimes we don't give our children enough credit!

piggielady

Not too many replies on this thread but I guess everyone's too busy worrying about Christmas ...

I think downnotout should concentrate on being happy on what he does have to give his children - that does sound patronising but not meant to be at all - children love a happy day with mum and dad and no stress and loads of telly and sweets. Lots of good advice and thoughts from people above. I really enjoyed reading them.

It is really scary that so many people feel so pressurised to spend and I bet all the adverts after Xmas are for PDL companies - used to be adverts for holidays when I was young!

pinmoney

You could always wrap the prezzies to make them look big, and make lots of paperchains with the children and other decorations for the tree. How about making popcorn for the family to settle down to a Christmas movie - a bag of popping corn isnt very expensive, a tablespoon of cooking oil in your biggest saucepan and a tablespoon of popcorn kernals will make more than enough for you all - and its much more exciting to make it yourself (makesure that the lid is a tight fit!) I hope you all have a great Christmas

Cariad9

I don't have children myself, but do have 2 nephews. A few years back when I was extremely broke I gave my nephew (who was 3 at the time) a box of ballons. I got a massive Cardboard box from tesco, painted it and filled it with different coloured ballons. Of all his toys that year that was what he played with most (box included!). Now I'm in a better financial position I buy them more expensive gifts but I do think back on the ballons and think they were probably the most appreciated present

exarmydreamer

Cariad9 wrote: »

I don't have children myself, but do have 2 nephews. A few years back when I was extremely broke I gave my nephew (who was 3 at the time) a box of ballons. I got a massive Cardboard box from tesco, painted it and filled it with different coloured ballons. Of all his toys that year that was what he played with most (box included!). Now I'm in a better financial position I buy them more expensive gifts but I do think back on the ballons and think they were probably the most appreciated present

That is such a fantastic idea, for girls pretty mattallic balloon with a box with ribbons or children's favorite colour or 1 expensive helium character balloon would be great in a wrapped box. Fantastic!.

sweetpea26

Hi there

We told our children that we had to send a cheque to Santa to pay for their gifts as how could Santa afford to buy presents for every child in the world. So our kids knew that there was a budget for presents. Some people thought we were nuts but it worked for us.

i1189

Rather than spending money on "stuff", how about promising each child that you will take them out for a day to do something that they like? Something like a visit to the zoo, or park, or swimming? That wouldn't be too expensive.

I know when I was a child I valued my parents' time far more than plastic tat, as they were often busy.