Bah humbug!

Lily-Rose_3

margaretclare wrote: »

I think the last 2 descriptions of Christmas are ideal, Cottage Economy and Lily-Rose. They sound just wonderful.

Christmas will never mean much to me since all the people who once made it special are no longer with us. What I don't like about it nowadays is the way we get it rammed down our necks for weeks beforehand. The 'ideal Christmas' - all those people round a groaning board as in Lidl's advert. The ideal. People and food. And for weeks and weeks.

I can't imagine anything worse than having to charge up and down the country in cars just to make sure of fitting in with the requirements and presuppositions of other people.

We shan't be going anywhere very much, except to a wedding the week before Christmas and a special weekend away for New Year. We just take it very quietly, do what we want to do. And yes, that does include church. If Christmas isn't about Christ then I don't know what it is all about.

Thank you margaretclare. Your Christmas sounds great too. I also don't get all the manic rushing around to accommodate other family members, especially as the majority of people don't seem happy with it.

And don't even get me STARTED on the money people spend. My old neighbour (the year before last,) spent THREE THOUSAND on Christmas. I mean, what the heck?! :eek: What did she even spend all THAT on?!

We have a budget of £100 for booze and food, (incl our Christmas eve meal which is a tenner each,) £100 on our daughter, and £100 split between about a dozen others (friends and family.) That's it. Oh and we spend £30 on each other. So, around £350 on our Christmas, including our Christmas meals, and everyone's pressies (which includes £100 on our daughter.)

No need to spend a lot at all.

margaretclare

I suspect that a lot of the money spent on Christmas goes on the latest 'must-have' toys, clothes, consumer goods, latest smartphone, those kinds of things.

DH needed his wedding ring made bigger because of increasing arthritis in his hands. It is being remade specially by our local goldsmith with some extra gold added to it in the style they did for mine, and that's my present to him for his 80th birthday (30th Dec). We're going away for the few days around then, staying near St Omer.

I can never forget that my daughter died on that date, in 2002.

Lily-Rose_3

margaretclare wrote: »

I suspect that a lot of the money spent on Christmas goes on the latest 'must-have' toys, clothes, consumer goods, latest smartphone, those kinds of things.

DH needed his wedding ring made bigger because of increasing arthritis in his hands. It is being remade specially by our local goldsmith with some extra gold added to it in the style they did for mine, and that's my present to him for his 80th birthday (30th Dec). We're going away for the few days around then, staying near St Omer.

I can never forget that my daughter died on that date, in 2002.

Oh NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! :eek: I am so so sorry Margaret Clare. What happened, if you don't mind me asking.

Morglin

margaretclare wrote: »

I suspect that a lot of the money spent on Christmas goes on the latest 'must-have' toys, clothes, consumer goods, latest smartphone, those kinds of things.

DH needed his wedding ring made bigger because of increasing arthritis in his hands. It is being remade specially by our local goldsmith with some extra gold added to it in the style they did for mine, and that's my present to him for his 80th birthday (30th Dec). We're going away for the few days around then, staying near St Omer.

I can never forget that my daughter died on that date, in 2002.

So sorry to hear about your daughter, and hope you have a lovely Christmas, whatever you do.

Lin

margaretclare

Thanks for the good wishes. It was only discovered on postmortem that she had an undiagnosed heart condition called coarctation of the aorta. Undiagnosed, it causes strain on the heart, high blood-pressure, and ultimately, heart failure. A narrowing, causing the heart to have to work harder and harder. She died very suddenly. I'd been speaking to her at tea-time and by 9 pm her husband phoned us to say she was dead. She was just 39.

She was one of the people who made a lot of Christmas, in fact, she was probably the last.

CH27

margaretclare wrote: »

Thanks for the good wishes. It was only discovered on postmortem that she had an undiagnosed heart condition called coarctation of the aorta. Undiagnosed, it causes strain on the heart, high blood-pressure, and ultimately, heart failure. A narrowing, causing the heart to have to work harder and harder. She died very suddenly. I'd been speaking to her at tea-time and by 9 pm her husband phoned us to say she was dead. She was just 39.

She was one of the people who made a lot of Christmas, in fact, she was probably the last.

God bless xx

eamon

Interesting thread this. I'm also an orphan (40 years now) so Christmas is not as particularly jolly as I imagine it could be if my parents had been around a bit longer. However I make an effort and thanks to some very special friends that have invited me into their home for the last 20 years it turns into a great knees up. Sadly my friends are also now orphans as their elderly father passed away in September. Still we will have a grand day, loads of food, alcohol, movies etc. Crisp £ Note is struggling to do too much in my opinion but her choices/options are all rubbish and whatever decision she makes will not seem right.

heuchera

Person_one wrote: »

Where in the bible does it say Jesus was born on December 25th?

Every civilisation has a midwinter celebration, it's a human impulse, ours just happens to have had a Christian angle piggybacked onto it.

I don't really understand what your problem is to be honest.

The idea of Christmas is celebrating the birth of Christ. That is the etymology of the word. It does not matter if people these days are actually religious or not. That is what the word Christmas means.


Of course there are other festivals.

notanewuser

heuchera wrote: »

I don't really understand what your problem is to be honest.

The idea of Christmas is celebrating the birth of Christ. That is the etymology of the word. It does not matter if people these days are actually religious or not. That is what the word Christmas means.


Of course there are other festivals.

Trouble is it's part of the lexicon. People automatically ask - even strangers - "what are your plans for Christmas?"

I was in Next a couple of weeks ago when the (extremely camp) sales assistant serving me announced "60 days to Christmas!!!!! 60 daaaaays to Christmas!!!!!" I looked at him blankly and said quietly "we don't do Christmas". "Are you a Jehovas Witness?" he asked? :rotfl:

I pointed out that Christmas is pretty sh1tty for someone working for next, what with having to be in work at 4am Boxing Day for the sale. That shut him up!!!!

FTR "xmas" is about as close as I get to saying the word. It's an absolute pantomime these days.

heuchera

I do feel sorry for shop assistants at this time of year. As for the 4am start, oh my goodness.. Are people that desperate to buy things?