Christmas things not worth doing

What you could do is to buy a few single cards you like the design, don't write in them and use for display purposes. Can be used year after year.

At my childhood homes, we had double glass doors to the dining room and both sides and doors were covered with cards. They held about 65-80 cards, depending on the size and orientation of cards.

What was great when I was a kid was there were two deliveries. Lovely to hear the clatter of the second delivery at 11am and rush to sort out the cards into piles.

Our matching pjs get ‘unveiled’ at beginning of dec and my children will just carry on wearing them on the regular until
outgrown. They don’t get put away after Christmas. Christmas jumpers are a bit of a waste but we pass them around our family as they get outgrown so they aren’t just tossed out. But I don’t like them anyway, far too hot!

edit: I do agree about Christmas markets though, and they are always so dreary in this country. Wet and soggy and not what I imagined ~through my rose tinted glasses~

Can't think of anything, but we do what we want anyway. Buy too many presents (anything that doesn't move gets wrapped) cook a lot, eat a lot, drink too much, watch too many rubbish films. It's great!

I used to host every year, but remaining close family now a distance away and others no longer with us, I enjoyed that too, but it was more stressful.

And after Xmas it feels like downhill to summer.

Re Christmas cards. When I was a child, we got loads - school, Brownies/Guides, parents' work, friends and relatives.

Now most of the friends and relatives are no longer around. Parents probably get about 10-15 cards from former colleagues and friends.

At my previous work, I didn't bother sending cards to my colleagues towards the end as colleagues left them in piles in the cloakroom and hardly anyone sifted through them. They also included colleagues who weren't going to be in after a certain date in December, due to surgery or won't return to work for a few months such as slipping on ice breaking arm. I will only send a few of my former colleagues cards now - popping through their letterbox and message them before I post cards, I will include a card for X, pass the card to them.

I used to love cards too, I have memories of trying to fit hundreds in the holder when I was a kid, and then hung the rest on string. Everyone sent them, every distant relative, friend, colleague, school friend, neighbours, then all the milkman, postman, window cleaner etc
Not bothered now as it's not the same

I have an Elf on the Shelf.
I don't do any of the moving around/causing mischief thing.
I bought him about 4 years ago I think. On December 1st he comes out of his box and basically spends the month hanging out with me. For example if I go to a shopping centre I take him with me and take a photo infront of the tree or something. When I put my tree up at home I pose him a few times "helping" me (ie I balance him in the empty tree) and take photos. I have photos of him sat on the bus.
So far this year I have bought him 4 new little outfits.
Me and him in our December adventures is definitely worth doing.
😂😂😂😂

Xmas market in our city centre. Decided to visit it first time as a family. Expensive mediocre/bad food. Drinks were expensive too. The whole place was full of food and drink huts and hardly any one selling non food items.

Oh and Christmas sock/pants as gifts. You can only wear them pre-Christmas to get that Christmas's feel, after Christmas it's a bit sad.

Christmas markets
Matching pyjamas - seem so wasteful especially if they’re only worn Christmas Eve and so cheesy there’s endless photos over my social media of these families in them and it just seems a bit forced
Christmas Eve boxes and 1st December boxes
tbh most stuff that feeds into consumerism

Whenever I sell a book of stamps and have to tell the purchaser the cost, I always add that it would be cheaper to go round and shout the news through their letterbox.

Gingerbread houses. Yes they look cute, but where do they go? What kid likes that amount of gingerbread? they only like picking the sweets off. It goes soggy. And it's a sticky pain to make.

I’m always a bit sad when we hardly get any, then I remind myself that I have never bothered sending them since primary school so I shouldn’t be surprised really!

Cost of postage the killer. RM could do a special stamp just for Xmas cards for 50p - instead of 85p for second class. I bet there would be more than 1.7 times more cards sent through the post.

One friend is driving the 120 mile trip to hand deliver the cards to about 10 relatives and family friends. The cost of the petrol is cheaper than 10 or so stamps. A bit of strategic planning of which order to deliver. Knows the first and last ones are.

Agreed.

Christmas dinner, never really been a fan of the roast and we’ve always had too much wine/chocolate before it’s served to really appreciate it.

elf on the shelf. I did do it but refused to do the crazy things, instead just moved it about so they had to find him. Even that was annoying.

Christmas pjs though - I do those because my grim children will appear in something disgusting like underwear and an oodie that’s seen better days so it’s nice to have them opening presents in something that makes me feel they are vaguely presentable 😂

There's a lot I refuse to do - Elf on the shelf is never setting foot in our house for instance. We don't do Xmas Eve boxes don't know when that suddenly became a thing.
I don't do chocolate advent calanders starting the day on chocolate seems bonkers to me.

I love a panto. We started going when our eldest was 1, and this year she's 19. It's evolved from keeping the dcs entertained with snacks and the spinning lights they sell to having pre drinks in the bar.

We stopped buying for adults in the family, which has taken a massive load off. I've also gone from buying a sea of presents for DC to a handful of nicer gifts.

Christmas themed clothing, it’s a total waste of money.
Winter wonderlands and Christmas markets. They are overcrowded and overpriced.
Christmas dinner

• Crappy UK Christmas city centre markets (bit keener on some of the german/nordic ones)
• Cooking EVERYTHING from scratch. One year I made everything from scratch down to proper puff pastry for my mince pies, melting gelatine leaves for jelly, two types of stuffing etc. Nearly had a nervous breakdown and no one appreciated it any more than if I'd got everything oven ready from the supermarket
• too many decorations all over the plasce which I was putting up out of habit and are a pain to take down. This year I am just doing a tree, wooden advent calendars on fireplace, and one big green thing on the bannister. Once you have tree lights and a couple of candles it looks cosy enough anyway

Anyone doing these things for social media purposes. Matching PJs for the family, buying new decs each year (mine are 16 years old, which I bought when I bought the tree for my home), putting the decs earlier each year, XE Boxes, posh advent calendars etc. Please, stop and think, you are just pleasing SM people.

Christmas Eve boxes, bloody elf and the Coca Cola truck.

All of it except for the food. I love the food 😆

Every year we woukd take the school children to a panto in the last week of term. It was the most perfect way possible to ensure that,if you hadn't already got flu or noro virus , you certainly would have by the end of the day. So many Christmasses ruined by the germ soup of school trips

I'd say Christmas eve boxes are pretty unnecessary. I still do one every year, but I know it's not as big of a deal to the kids as it is to me. But it's tradition now, plus my sons birthday is Christmas eve so it's a the perfect way to transition from birthday fun to Christmas fun in the evening. If we didn't have his birthday we wouldn't bother.

City centre Christmad markets are grim for sure.