Bored with Christmas.

midnightraven3

so make up your own "christmas day"
thats what we do

we have a relaxing christmas eve
everyone arrives home lunchtime ish (3 uni student "children")
and we have nice food, open our christmas eve hampers (new jammies, socks, perfume, small silly toy etc)
and we have a "house hamper" rubbishy christmassy dvds, lots of really unhealthy snacks & choccies, a new board game etc
and we have a nice relaxed night

christmas day we do all the bits we like (presents etc)
and miss out the bits we dont, no one in our house would eat a traditional christmas dinner for example
i cook from scratch most nights, so last year we had a chinese, 6 adults and we were £40 something pounds
no cooking, came to the door and it was lovely

do what you WANT to do
rather than what you think you SHOULD do:D

Crowdpleaser

We always go to my mums with the kids. Its 200 miles but all my family is there. However this year we are moving house soon and will have loads more space so are planning to stay at home. Dh only gets xmas day off as he is a theatre technician and psnto is on. Mum has said she might not be coming yo us. So it will probably be just us 4 xmas day and just me n kids box day . I really dont want it to be boring. My 2 are 4 and 5 tho and dh will fall asleep on sofa in aft.... we will see....

Calien27

WantToBeSE wrote: »

Thanks everyone. I guess in all the TV adverts you get the feeling that everyone has massive christmas days full of family and friends.
It's just me and my kids, so it can feel a bit lonely at times.

Spendless-i love the idea of a nice walk to the woods, there are plenty of those nearby

We could afford to go out for Christmas dinner, but would much rather cook it myself since i enjoy cooking.

When my mum was alive we used to have everyone over, just like the adverts...it was actually kind of annoying tbh lol, never getting any time alone!

Now it's just my dad, my brother, me and the pets and I like it that way we've developed our own "traditions" that we couldn't do if the place was packed, like me forcing them to watch Doctor Who with me :rotfl:

NewLifeAhead_2

I grew up with massive family Christmases where me,sister, mum and dad would all go to nans along with aunties/uncles cousins and stay the whole day and night, big Christmas dinner, films,playing with toys, big buffet in evening then with board games.
When I had my first child me and family fell out so have never had a Christmas with them since my daughter was 1, because OH and I just got into the habit of it being us, and for the first few years I hated it! Now that we have 4 children the house is full enough, and it doesn't bother me because we do our own thing. Don't get me wrong we do still have a traditional Christmas dinner etc but if we do it all in the wrong order we don't care because we don't have to please anyone
How do your children feel about it? If they would be happy to go away maybe that would be a good idea in future. You could try a different culture each year and learn how other people celebrate Christmas, if at all.

Kinski

candygirl wrote: »

It really bores me too nowadays, apart from seeing the Grandkids open their prezzies.I hate most Xmas food as am veggie, so we usually go for an Indian meal.My best ever Xmas Day was when we went to Goa for 2 weeks, and swam in the sea Xmas morn, then went to a circus and had a lovely banquet at night:D:D

I'm a veggie as well AND I hate hate hate cooking, I usually have a huge plate of roast tatties ( aunt bessies ) with a peppercorn sauce over them. My lunch for the rest of them always runs late ( they get the full meal ) but no one moans about it now as they get a mouthful from me, told if they don't like it there's the door just don't let it hit your a*** on the way out, oh and will you just pour me another large glass of wine on the way out please :beer:. Most of the food we have comes ready made and just needs either heating up or frozen stuff that just gets shoved in the oven, I'm stuffed if I'm cooking everything from scratch whilst they sit on their backsides doing nothing.
I feel better for that :rotfl::rotfl:

bethl79

We have Christmas day at home just me, dh and our three daughters. We used to alternate between our parents every year until we had dd2, then we decided it would be easier to stay at home and have a quiet day. I much prefer it that way as it's so relaxing.

We always split the present opening to break the day up a bit. We let the kids open their stockings first thing, then 'santa' presents after breakfast. Have lunch and let them play for a few hours, and then mid/late afternoon we all open our presents from each other and family. I think it keeps the excitement going for longer (for us more than them I think!). Often we have gone for a walk too in the afternoon.

I also find a large glass of wine helps to break the day up nicely too

nickyhutch

Maybe you wouldn't be so bored of it if you didn't start talking about it in September?

LalaGomay

Welcome to the Christmas board...!

whitesatin

It depends on who is around in my family. My daughter often goes away so we have a big gathering on another day, after Christmas, when we exchange our Secret Santa gifts, have a meal etc. I love that as it extends Christmas.

I expect, as in the past two years, we will say we are having a quiet day on our own, on Christmas day. The reality is that my son and his family will phone on the morning asking if they can come round (they celebrate the night before as his wife is from Europe). I will have the capability to cook a full blown meal as I shop for England (and Scotland) most of the time, more so around Christmas. So, we kid ourselves that we are having a quiet one knowing full well that we will be "invaded" for the day (and love every minute of it). Sometimes we think we will break the habit and book into a nice restaurant for Christmas lunch instead. There are plenty of nice ones within walking distance, perfect.

But, who knows what will actually happen. We need to think about booking soon if we choose to do that. Then again, we might invite my son and his family to join us in our meal out.

Sounds chaotic? It usually is, one way or another.

Always_after_a_bargin

When I was a child in our house, I hated christmas. The only memory I had of christmas as a child that was a nice one was before my mum left us. I woke up around midnight sneaked down onto the stairs and saw a dolls pram under the tree, all the lights twinkling and it was lovely. A few years later my mum left us and it was just me and my Dad. We run into money problems as dad was left with a big mortgage and from then on dad would put the tree up and cook christmas dinner but there was no atmosphere and I was given cash in a card to do as I wanted. Every christmas was a disappointment as there was no atmosphere no one came to visit as my oldest sisters had gone and had their own families and stayed in their house. It was me and my dad and he would be asleep by 3 pm. I would end up at a friends house for tea eventually and spent years jealous of their family life and how their big family made such a fuss and lapped it all up.

Fast forward now to when I got marred and had my children. I swore my children would never ever feel like I did. I would plan it all down to the finest detail. I would start to plan very early in the year. The tree would be full of presents. The table set, and all matching and we would do the whole shebang. The house had to be full of people and we would also spend the rest of the holidays visiting people. By the new year we would be exhausted and skint. Then through one reason or another I decided last year it would be just my little family. We would stay in our pjs and do what and as we pleased. There would not be set plan or a structured layout of the day, we would wake up and do whatever we wanted. I spent less on presents and spent more quality time with the kids and forgot about everyone outside. It was the best christmas I ever had. I realised I can't change my childhood. I can take what it taught me and learn from it. It's not doing what others want you do to. You spend it how you want. If that's having a Chinese instead of a traditional dinner, then so be it. If its staying in your pjs and not leaving the house for the week then so be it. It's your christmas you make the rules. The most important bit is that you enjoy it. I just now stop planning it all and go with the flow, your much happier that way x

Hope you all have a great christmas this year spending it exactly how you want.