Christmas - bah, humbug!

margaretclare

mariauk wrote:

Phew, Thanks Km and aunty Margaret, I was starting to think I was the only one in the world who feels like for a minute. :rotfl:

I think a lot of people do feel the same, but for one reason or another they don't all feel strong enough to stand up to e.g. 'it's what we've always done/what we do in this family'.

One year I even saw magazine articles titled 'How to survive Christmas'! Now, if it's meant to be something we have to 'survive' rather like an unpleasant experience, a hurricane, whatever, then perhaps it's time to call a halt to the whole circus. Those who want to celebrate Christ's Birthday can do so in church. Those who want a family get-together, a nice meal all together, can do that as well. The pagans can celebrate Yule/Midwinter/the Returning Sun. Everyone can decorate their houses with evergreens without having to have plastic snowmen and Santas in flashing lights from their rooftops (aren't we about to have increased energy charges, decreasing oil supplies etc?)

Trouble is, this end-of-year spending spree seems to be one of the things that keeps the economy going. We see annual laments from e.g. Oxford Street that the shops 'haven't had a good Christmas' in other words, profits aren't what was expected.

And as for the whole thing about 'have to have M-I-L for Christmas, she expects it'....I expressed my views about that last year. Grrrr!!!

Aunty Margaret

nearlyrich

My annual christmas present to the family is to host Christmas day, they can come for dinner and tea, just dinner just tea or just a drink, no hassle, no pressure... I just need to know before I buy Christmas dinner ingredients how many are coming.

We buy presents for the children, 8 nieces and nephews in the family plus siblings with no children, three, one set are a married couple, and my mum. I spend about £20 per person, unfortunately 4 of the nieces and nephews also have birthdays between 12 th December and new years eve.

Now 4 of them are also over 18 (including both of mine) maybe it's time to say presents for under 21's only like my aunts did when we were children and young adults?

I won't get into debt to buy presents for even my own children, they have had good and not so good, in terms of value of presents over the years but it's never been a problem.

lin473

We stopped buying for our own children at Christmas when they were small,because we felt they were overwhelmed with presents from the wider family on Christmas morning.As they all have autumn birthdays,they were getting a lot at that time of year so we decided to buy them easter presents instead,which is a better time of year for new bikes etc anyway.The theory was that Christmas was less materialistic so that the true meaning did not get lost ,and also to spread the cost.
We do have a large family of nephews and neices,but I keep the presents simple,and pick them up throughout the year as I see them.I've also been trying to find alternatives,like outings,tickets for experiences etc as an alternative to 'things'.
My parents had a voucher for tea at the ritz for Christmas last year and they loved it!

jellyhead

we're a large family and mostly we just buy for the children, if adults get a pressie it's labelled from the children. sometimes it's just selection boxes or chocccy bars, sometimes a whole family will get a board game to share, bought on 3 for 2. i've found that some people enjoy showering the kids with generous gifts but they don't actually give a stuff if they get equally generous gifts back. biscuits are popular.

as for buying fruit trees etc. for people in another country, that's a great idea. my spud has everything he could ever want, his favourite pressie is the adoption of a tiger in cambodia and the letters we get every 6 months telling us how our tiger is doing. children don't need material gifts all the time.

mini

A present we got as a family gift which we loved were some gift vouchers for the cinema (£20), with an Orange 2 for 1 offer we got 2 trips for a family of 4 (paid a small amount of cash to make up difference each time) No bits of toys to lose, no pacakaging to try & get into! didn't have to find space where to put it etc, I'm tempted to do bowling vouchers for my daughters at Christmas now they understand vouchers, money saving, well it's probably money I'd spend anyway but not call it a gift.

cymro1170

I personally hate Christmas (last year was an exception), but I do buy everyone in my family presants.

Grandfather
Both Parents,
2 Sisters,
1 Brother,
1 Brother in law,
1 Niece (soon to be 2 before christmas)

I know it's not as big a family as a few other posters here.
But my mum will go absolutely nuts!!
She buys preasants for next door neighbours kids, kids of people she worked with.....

Bah humbug!! Roll on January....

Norma_Desmond

A few years ago Hubby and I made the decision to opt out of the commercial side of Christmas altogether. We asked that people didn't buy for us at all, and in 'return' we would donate a sum to a charity of their choice. We were basically tired of being bullied into buying expensive gfts for kids (and adults!) who knew the price of everything and the value of nothing......It has to be said that at first we were called every name under the sun, but we've stuck to our guns. Sorry, call us mean if you will, but there's no way on earth I'd buy a 10 year old child a Playstation 2 as a 'stocking filler' which is what my in-laws suggested one year!

jellyhead

what?! my son doesn't even have a PS2 as his main present. his father does though :rotfl:

my 9 year old has requested a BB gun because his frienbd is getting one - is this the usual? he says he'll use it without pellets

mariauk

Norma_Desmond wrote:

A few years ago Hubby and I made the decision to opt out of the commercial side of Christmas altogether. We asked that people didn't buy for us at all, and in 'return' we would donate a sum to a charity of their choice. We were basically tired of being bullied into buying expensive gfts for kids (and adults!) who knew the price of everything and the value of nothing......It has to be said that at first we were called every name under the sun, but we've stuck to our guns. Sorry, call us mean if you will, but there's no way on earth I'd buy a 10 year old child a Playstation 2 as a 'stocking filler' which is what my in-laws suggested one year!

Hi Norma

I also have been "called every name under the Sun" and the looks of disgust than have been chucked at me have been unbelievable but I dont spend the rest of the year paying off for materialism and feel good about not making my children into spoilt monsters who don`t appriciate anything they get. Totally agree with you regarding "being bullied" Its the main reason I stopped, why should I be dragged into something that is such a commercialised farce ?Thats why I made the decision to ignore xmas and have a good holiday once a year and experience something new, for us its much better than any games console! If you love your family and friends not celebrating xmas doesn`t make you tight, less loving or selfish. IMO I Find its the people who think your selfish are normally the ones who "expect" the most expensive pressies, they dont care if you struggle for the rest of the year, No thanks, Not for me!

elona

I love to get my daughters something that I know they will love for christmas but I do not spend a fortune or buy "labels " for the sake of it.

Thanks to this site they had some of their best presents ever and it did not cost any more than usual (Free make up sets from cosmetic site etc)

Thanks to discovering Primark and a jewellery site on line I have some good ideas for their birthday and christmas.

They are not spoiled and do not expect the earth so I like to surprise them.

Feeling obligated to buy labels and gifts that were mentally priced would really upset me.