Christmas things not worth doing

And not ...
be a mud bath
Have a load of noisy ,drunk parents in the overpriced ' Santa's special hostelry'.
Have enough space that you can actually enjoy it.
Have a staff cabin so you don't run into 'elves' having a fag round the back of Santa's grotto.

Seeing my relatives who I never see at any other time of the year and who I don't really get on with. In fact, my cousin's husband and my husband nearly had a fight the year before last and that was after we'd driven for 2 hours to get there. Never again. I just want to close the door and stay the fuck inside, let the kids relax by the fire, play with their toys and for us as a family to have a peaceful, relaxing time. I do NOT want to trek around the country in the pissing, freezing rain seeing people who aren't really very nice to me, at the one time of the year I need to have a break. It's not fun, it's not relaxing, it's not in the Christmas spirit, everyone is tired and grumpy and wishes they were also at home.

😂

Light trails! If I m paying over £100 for a family activity I expect it to last all day, not 30 minutes.

My mum used to spend the days before Christmas in my child hood icing things and baking things and becoming increasingly exhausted and stressed. We weren't allowed to eat any of these things but then on Christmas day we were too full of lunch to eat mince pies etc and she would get really cross.Evety bloody year.
When my father was very frail from Parkinsons she texted everyone to say that she was very sorry but she wouldn't be making Christmas cake that year. Hurray and praise the baby Jesus. I love icing and marzipan but Christmas cake is too rich and claggy and absolutely vile. She was really surprised that no one was remotely bothered thst there was no cake.

I think it’s a bit sad that so many people don’t send cards anymore. I love getting them.

🤣🤣🤣

I'm not going to lie, we do a lot and we get a lot out of all of it. Elf on the Shelf is a big hit in my house, my 10 year was getting excited about him coming the other day (would have thought he's grown out of it by now, but apparently not).

The one thing that feels a bit of a waste of money are those Christmas light shows as they're always a underwhelming, but on the other hand, it's a good activity to meet up with friends, so I'll definitely do it if others want to.

One4all voucher then

Yes the best days for me are Christmas eve for the anticipation and boxing day onwards, can just relax with it all.

One4all voucher then

When my DH was a SHO (it was a long time ago!) in A&E over Christmas, he saw so many injuries caused by festive madness. He picked pieces of shattered baubles out of feet, treated people who’d fallen off ladders or electrocuted themselves putting lights up, countless drunks, and kids with gastritis due to being let loose on All The Snacks since 4am. He’s (notionally) Muslim so he got all the good shifts over Christmas! 😂

I realised during all the covid shite and Christmas lockdowns that I enjoy the days before Christmas and from Boxing Day onwards but I actually don't like Christmas day. We hosted t least 12 people for years. I found it too much. I hate turkey. Both sons are married now and have their own homes nearby. Eldest son is married to an American and they are going there for a few weeks in December. My brother hosts our mum on Christmas day now. He loves food. My husband and I spend Christmas day on our own eating whatever we want and watching lovely Christmas TV. We see everyone in small groups before the day and we'll go to youngest sons on Boxing Day with my mother to give presents to the grandchildren. We don't exchange adult presents. We don't receive many cards and I only send 5. My husband doesn't send any. I really enjoy Christmas now. My favourite thing is never having to play another bloody board game again.

Definitely Christmas dinner. Not doing it this year. 3 hours in the kitchen/not relaxing, and an hour clearing up after. OK DH clears up usually, but that's 4 hours wasted on Christmas day. (And an hour to eat it all... so 5 hours really..) DH was a bit disappointed when I said I CBA with Christmas dinner on Christmas day, so I said, 'well you do it then,' and he was like

He wants it but doesn't want do it, so we compromised and said we'd go for a Christmas meal at the pub, (on 20th December) and then have a pizza between us on Christmas day, or a Pukka pie and some peas. Sorted.

I have done it for 30 years, every Christmas day (Christmas dinner, and wasting 4-5 hours of Christmas day on it,) and I am tired of it.

None of our DC live at home now, and we see them for an hour in the morning and then come home at midday. So it's just me and DH. And as I said, he doesn't want to do it, and I'm not doing it, soooooo... the pub it is!

Ice skating. Why? Bloody slippery ice, broken bones and A&E in the height of flu season.

Third it.

We check into a 5* vibrant city centre hotel on Christmas Eve and leave on 27th December. Everything is taken care of and I do absolutely nothing Christmas related outside of this. No decorations, presents or cards apart from a card for hubby.

To say I find Christmas completely pointless is an understatement. In fact, I find it quite depressing.

That’s sounds fabulous and the very best sort of Christmas! A really lovely memory.

How lovely. My DM once said “it doesn’t feel like Christmas unless there’s someone on the piano stool.” Sadly, we’re older parents and most of our relatives are now dead. DS is autistic and finds it all a bit much. These days I buy the dinner from M&S, drink better wine than usual and we have a quiet day doing our new Lego. Good enough for us. 😊

Christmas Eve boxes
Elf arrival boxes/balloons/other tat
The Elf
Christmas Markets in UK towns and cities
Artificial Christmas trees

Oh god we’ve hardly ever got involved in most of this stuff on the thread that people have sacked off.
Just never saw the point and had enough expense and time to be spent doing other things!
Never did a grotto, light trail, North Pole breakfast, Christmas Eve boxes, Christmas Eve pyjamas, panto (the in-laws used to take the dc because they got free tickets for years, dh and I used that evening to wrap their stockings), Christmas markets, that bloody elf, haven’t written a Christmas card in 15 years and hate dried fruits so things like Christmas pud don’t get made.

I always focused time and energy on just hanging out with the kids tbh, and doing what they wanted. Which when they were little was going out to the street near us which used to go OTT on decs and had some local charity collection buckets out the front. We baked mince pies for Father Christmas using mincemeat mil made and delivered to us. We had bedroom tidy ups and donated toys they no longer wanted in advance of Christmas.

I’m Not slating anyone who does any of the above, for a long time when we had the 2
eldest we were broke and prioritised our spending elsewhere (home renovations!), I don’t feel like they missed out, we went to their school Christmas Fayre’s and their carol evenings, they had lots of lovely presents to open on Christmas Day but really I didn’t see the majority of stuff as adding any value so didn’t do it.
no regrets!

I have just spent the morning making my Christmas cake, having not done so for a few years, and quite enjoyed doing so.

Sometimes I think all we need is a break from the feeling of being obligated to do things every year.

But if you end up throwing it out TPJB fair enough, it isn't worth your time (here it always gets finished!)

The thing I think is not worth doing is too many gifts - between the adults in the family we do Secret Santa so everyone just buys & receives one

Wrapping presents.

Gift bags all the way!

Kudos to relatives that also do gift bags and don't write on the tags so they can be reused, you're the real heroes.

Definitely Elf on the Shelf. Our eldest has outgrown it now but the youngest is too young to get it properly so we've decided to stop this year.

Elves will arrive with a note promising to be extra good this year, no naughty business. And believe me, they will make good on that promise 😂

such a relief to put the days of getting half way up the stairs to bed and going "FFS! the elves!" and having to come up with an idea.

Was just coming to write that!! 💸🎅🛒

Pop up ice rinks. Awful quality ice, it’s usually more like paddling than skating. Also overpriced and overcrowded. A proper ice rink is a completely different (better) experience.