Christmas things not worth doing

@StormingNorman I thought Yule Log WAS just a chocolate swiss roll with a bit of chocolate icing with a dusting of icing sugar (and a plastic robin on top).
What's the difference if it's not that?

I buy a normal chocolate Swiss roll and tart it up a bit with a sprinkling of icing sugar and some plastic holly. Job done. We have it at Yule, not Christmas.

A former colleague (she don't work there like me) shared this on FB https://www.facebook.com/reel/175933802257880

I didn't want to do the bloody elf, we were happy without it. My MIL posted 2 individually to my kids because, and I quote " I was being miserable". And obviously they think they are brilliant so now I'm stuck for a few years while the kids are little doing this rubbish while my MIL comments how lovely it is "I've found my Christmas spirit" - good job she's lovely in other ways.

Personalised plates with DC's name(s) for Santa's mince pie. I used one of my parents' standard plates.

i’m going to do a little ‘advent bag’ on the 1st- it will just have the advert calendar in, a pair of lovely Christmas pjs I picked up for a fiver at Aldi, and a set of the Raymond Briggs Father Christmas books that I had as a child. Doesn’t make sense to me to save pjs and Christmas books to give on Christmas Eve! What’s been quite nice from this thread is reading about how lots of us are taking different traditions and bending them to suit us!

• Christmas Eve boxes (I feel like they would be enjoyed so much more if you made them a December box and gave them to kids on 1st December instead of the night before they get presents).
• In the same vein, brr baskets
• Elf on the Shelf
• Buying token presents for all and sundry
• Christmas cards (who can be bothered when you just end up throwing them in the recycling anyway!)
• Christmas cards for the whole school class that my 6 year old is definitely not going to write and it will be left to me!
• Places that do reindeer food and let kids put in things like beads or sequins when it'll get thrown across the grass and be bad for unsuspecting wildlife (fine if it's oats, biodegrable glitter etc)
• Matching family Christmas pyjamas (the worst!)
• People taking photos of the piles and piles of presents wrapped up for their kids and saying "he's been"
• Christmas pudding or cake
• Overpriced work Christmas meals or parties

Visiting Santa, both mine always went shy and didn't want to sit on his knee or talk to him really!

We had a Christmas Eve roast dinner one year, then spent Xmas day eating lovely leftovers and smoked salmon sandwiches, worked very well!

Christmas cake , elf on a dam shelf ,inviting everyone to every thing
oh and turning the house into a Christmas miracle of decoration

Perhaps you could just cure a fillet - break yourself in gently?! The cheese is mor difficult, maybe just get one really lovely piece that everybody likes? {And that you can cook with if there is any left).

We always have some cat treats under the tree for our 2. Even though they sleep most of the time they somehow come alive when we're opening presents. They probably find it a but strange that the 4 of us are actually in the same room for any length of time. One year we got them a catnip advent calendar but they didn't realise you were supposed to eat the treats. They just played with them 🙄

So are you not buying any presents at all? What will you do on Christmas Day? I think it's fine not to celebrate it & not waste money on gifts that people don't need

I'm that grinch, lol!!!!.
This is going to be my first year not celebrating Christmas at all.
Have been working up to this for a few years now by downsizing Christmas for the past few years.
It's just my youngest son (20) & myself at home and he really isn't bothered about it.
Just feel a huge sense of relief.
I am going to make a donation to charity that will match what I would normally spend on presents/cards for my other adult children and extended family.

A dispersal order for a Christmas market? That’s insane.

We cook the turkey Xmas eve. Means we can have turkey sandwich (better than the main meal in my opinion). Then Xmas day only needs the veg cooked.

And we eat at normal times is 6pm so rest of day isn’t ruined.

Manchester Christmas markets. Just awful. Went on Saturday and the police had a dispersal order issued due to a hundreds of travellers congregating, loads of very young tween girls in mini skirts and the boys in gangs, you get the picture. The whole place felt unsafe, seedy and just not festive at all. The stalls themselves looked depressing, the food and drinks options were dire too.

I’d definitely avoid.

God, elf on the shelf. 🙄

Luckily my daughter admitted she had touched it, so it lost all its magic. 🤣

Only kidding. She did touch it though. And to preserve the myth we had to pretend it had lost its power. I then went through the rigmarole of "sending it back to Santa" for re-magicking. It reappeared on Xmas day. It made for an easier year. 🤣

😁

All home baking, unless you enjoy it.

Ditto cooking - you can cut corners and buy in ready mades.

Presents for the pets - unless your kids get excited about it and in which case it's for them really.

Going out on Xmas eve to central London to a carol service. Dh is trying to make this "a thing". It's bloody miles away and an absolute pain in the arse.

Christmas shopping in actual shops.

The Elf arrives in our house on the 1st Dec but promptly gets sat on a shelf to watch over for good behaviour, we don’t move him around, just use him as a threat 🤣

We’ve never done those full day Santa visits either, with the sleigh ride, light walk, etc, etc. Guarantee the weather will be awful, everyone will moan, the food will be rubbish and massively overpriced.

I’m pretty much head first into all things Christmas other than that!

I only have a 1year old atm but I cannot wait to do elf on the shelf...... so glad I've seen the love on your post as I feel I'm in the minority!!

Panto at Hackney Empire.. haven’t been anywhere else but it’s sooo bad here.. I regret it, the jokes are too crude for an audience of children and too predictable for adults.

I also agree with others just like the 'light walks' I do not get the point of a 'Christmas market'. Hideously overpriced, foods usually crap and horribly crowded plus cold and just in the way usually (why are they on the high street).

I never got Christmas cards past school age, in school it felt fun (even though everyone got 30 of the same variations of cards basically) but as adults just why? writers cramp and unnecessary expense.

And yes I love the IDEA of Secret Santa but everyone I have ever been in was bloody awful and left me feeling like shite. I was part time and always got the person who couldn't be arsed to put in even basic effort (literally I was always the person that got 'forgotten' somehow) and it just reminds you no one there actually cares about you and you leave just feeling unwanted.