Thoughts on Christmas!

[Gemini]

How do you feel?

[Lizzie48]

I won't start about this or you will all block me!!!!!

[Daisy]

I won't start about this or you will all block me!!!!!

Lizzie - I'm curious. Go on, please have your say. xxx

[Nanto2girls]

I won't start about this or you will all block me!!!!!

Lizzie,spill please.

[Lizzie48]

Well, to start with I am not greedy, I will buy presents for birthdays etc etc. This is my opinion, when we were small we didn't have much, but, there was always the Christmas present to look forward to, stocking with mandarin etc in, as we got older there were always presents, for us and later for my children of course, but, now it comes, as the years go by we all seem to have everything! If we want it we seem to go out and buy it. When I first lived here, birthdays were a huge celebration, they still are, we had a " wish list", all year round if we thought of something we wanted we would add it to the list. Over the years the list got shorter, no-one has one nowadays. I always ask what the person would like for their birthday, usually the answer is, they have no idea.

We have never had the same as in the UK with Christmas that you buy presents for everyone you seem to know. My sister once showed me her cupboard full of presents she had received and never used, so me, being me, asked why she did it, she bought one for her friends, her friends got her one etc. The answer was " well, you do don't you". The same with other friends, complaining that they don't know what to buy people.

We usually do something with the grandchildren on Dec 5th, nothing over the top, I hope the photo albums arrive and they can open them on the evening. That is if it is allowed. On the other hand I can spoil them, anytime during the year I can do that.

I have gone through quite a bit in my life, maybe that has made me look at things differently. I am not a Christmas person, it has become so exaggerated over they years, nothing to do with Christmas anymore. I have been to a friends in the flat this afternoon, they have their Dickens houses etc all set out, it does look good, for them, I told them that, but not for me. I will get down off my soap box now!!!!!

[Gemini]

Not everyone is a Christmas person Lizzie, and we certainly won't judge you or block you

For me it is a warm bright event that brightens up winter (which I loathe)
It's the lights, decorations, and being with family and friends that I love. The presents are a minor part of the whole thing. My OH and I only buy each other little things.
I do agree it can all be over the top though Lizzie, and some families seem to spend thousands on presents!

[Oma]

My MIL is not a Christmas person , neither is my best friend ,
She loves to see my house decorated but the most she puts up is a little 2ft wooden tree and a star on her coffee table , even cards she isn't keen on
MIL is the same , she will put cards on the back of the sitting room door that's it .

We don't buy as many presents as we used too , to be honest everyone seems to have everything , we agreed with our friends a couple of years ago to only buy each other some chocolates , we were struggling to find presents for each other and wasting money on stuff that never got used , so it saves all ways , saves money saves the headache of finding something .

We love Christmas and the decorations etc , but once they have been up a few weeks I am itching for New Years day to take them down .

Everyone has a different view on it , it doesn't make anyone wrong its each ones choice

[Mimi]

Lizzie we are all different, we all look at things differently.
I honestly think that my grandchildren, whom I love with all my heart get far too much for their birthdays let alone Christmas time! They are fortunate enough to have parents who are all in very well paid jobs so they do tend to get spoilt.
An average birthday for my GS's this year had a sofa stacked with presents.

I'm not too bothered about a present for myself but I do like a Christmas card and I know that's going out of fashion as some younger members of my family don't tend to buy any.

OH is getting impossible to buy for but I did see on Amazon a word search book ( he loves doing them) based on the year 1947 , the year he was born . It arrived today. Its a start I suppose!

[Gemini]

Mimi, I set a lot of store by Christmas cards too, well all cards actually.

[Daisy]

Lizzie - thank you for telling us. I have also sort of got a foot in your camp.

I love the spirit of Christmas - peace, kindness, joy and time with loved ones, but really, really hate the commercialisation. I hate the thought of hard up parents getting themselves into debt to get their children the latest 'must-have' toys, or working overtime to pay for things that might only be played with on the day. I hate the way people (usually mothers) wind themselves into the ground shopping, cleaning, cooking etc and end up worn to a frazzle by Christmas Day. I hate the competitiveness of children boasting about who's had what, the pressure to have the latest 'label' trainers or phone or whatever.

I hate the pressure schools bring to families with non-uniform days, Christmas fairs, cake stalls, and all the other demands on hard-pressed families. Even the Nativity Play has become an Olympic sport with ticket systems etc to watch it.

I hate the way large commercial organisations pressurise people to spend, spend, spend.

We all have so much - too much. I enjoy receiving cards from dear friends - and sending them too. The thought is worth more than any presents. I like having the decorations up from about 20 December until 2nd January - we even have two trees some years! But I was in a local garden centre (not the one Enfys knows) today and the whole section where there are usually things like Perlite, horticultural grit, organic fertiliser etc was full of plastic, glittery decorations.

Then I also feel a hypocrite because I know how much small businesses like my DS2's depend on people spending more at this time of year.

[Lizzie48]

Daisy, that is exactly the way I think. I know a family in the UK, young with 4 kiddies, they spend for Christmas to get everything, it then takes a year to clear their credit cards, if that the way to go!!! It is the same at garden centres here, they have had to change the way they put the Christmas show so that people can still walk round, I went at the beginning of September for a plant pot and they had moved them! As you say, we all have so much, too much!

We have new rules for covid today, no more than 2 people can be on the streets together, I passed one of the garden centres on Monday at 5pm, all the car parks and the overflows are packed, that will still be allowed after today so wonder how this is going to work.

Mimi, I agree with you as well with the children getting so much, we must be getting grumpy! I do like the idea of a word search book from 1947, I do like doing those.

We do get less cards each year and younger ones don't bother.

[Gemini]

Ladies, I am changing the title of this thread, and making another for present suggestions.
Poor Mimi wanted a suggestions thread and we have got into a discussion

[Lizzie48]

oh dear Mimi, sorry!!!!

[Gemini]

This is a great discussion thread Lizzie
Now there is a new Present Ideas one as well, all is good !

[Oma]

We did sort of get side tracked because its such a important topic , how Christmas makes us feel .

I until about 5 years ago would decorate the whole house ready for Christmas , Paint, Emulsion the lot , now I wonder why I put myself through that
Why did I feel the need to decorate ?

Then the stress of Christmas day lunch and all the presents , what to buy where to sit everyone ,
having a small house now we would have to move furniture to fit the table in the living room , then it would all have to be moved out again after lunch so we could move

Thankfully DD has taken over that role she loves all the build up to it , and she has a large house with a large dinning room .

I would hate to have small children again, worry over money and if its the right labels etc , its too commercial now but we are all to blame for buying into it ,

So many times we have bought stuff for the children over priced stuff and said , well its Christmas as though that's ok when really its not