Which Christmas tradition would you get rid of?

[Fantina]

For me, it would be wrapping presents. I know they can look pretty and when I make an effort, mine do. But it feels like such a waste of time and paper. I’d like to normalise not wrapping them and using gift bags with whispy paper instead.

what would you get rid of and why?

I agree with this one, although I would make an exception for immediate/very close family, where you write something meaningful and personal and maybe those elderly people who treasure them.

How many times do you hand somebody you work with a card saying nothing more than "Merry Christmas" inside it, as you verbally wish them "Merry Christmas"?

There would be nothing stopping Christmas tat decorations manufacturers from introducing a line of long lengths of string with card-like sections with different pictures and patterns on them hanging from them - without having all the unnecessary faff of actually buying, writing and sending them all.

I would also add crackers (the ones that go bang rather than the lovely ones you eat with cheese) to the list, but I know that children love them.

I'd make it more about the solstice/wintering

How is a Turkey false? It’s food. Presents and cards are what they are, they can’t be false either. So what do you actually mean?

Nothing really. I do the bits I like and leave the bits I don't. Doesn't everyone?
If I was being pressured to follow a tradition I didn't fancy I suppose I might want to just do away with it though.

Surely you make it what you want rather than follow the trend? I use reusable gift bags with drawstrings (they have been very popular this year as more people catch on to them) takes seconds to wrap and less wasteful.

As a family we celebrate the solstice element, we read solstice folk tales, have an outdoor fire on the solstice, make solstice decorations.

We have evening Christmas dinner. We also have Indian food on Christmas day and a traditional dinner on boxing day. It's all about doing what works for you.

I don't want a vegan Christmas. thanks. But thanks for upholding the Veganazi stereotype.

Never done any of these except the Brussels .

Agree that present bags are much easier - but would still use wrapping paper for any DC where you are buying a lot of presents.

Presents. I’ve whittled it down to the kids (just a few each), my parents, and my sister, and we mostly stick to things like vouchers. I think a lot of people would benefit from doing the same, as every year I see so much drama, tears, hurt feelings, stress and money worries caused by presents.

Christmas dinner. We did a buffet this year instead and it was great. This year we thought hard about what was really important to us to make it a good Christmas, and ditched the rest. I would highly recommend doing the same, it's honestly been the best Christmas I can remember.

Although full disclosure I don't use Instagram or Facebook etc, or maybe I would worry I was missing out/feel pressured to keep up when I saw everyone else's Christmas, I don't know.

I absolutely love Christmas but really wish the present thing could be dialled down. My SIL who I previously had a great relationship with stopped all contact after my present to her daughter got lost in the post. It would have been nice if she had told me it hadn’t arrived (I live in Aus so don’t see her). So many opportunities to cause offence……

Presents for adults. I'd know then that those that came here, were coming because they actually wanted to see us. Im sure we'd have a lovely quiet and relaxing Christmas!!

Consumerism.

🤣🤣🤣🤣

Decorating trees. Mine look so pretty but I get no joy in putting them up and can’t wait to take them down again even though that’s a pain in the arse in itself.

Why do you do it then? I've never had a tree because I hate clutter.

So much but mainly the non flavoursome, pretty uninteresting food.

I’m happy to be flamed for this but we had a humble takeaway tonight and it was another league to our special Christmas meal, despite being made by a good cook. I refuse to eat another boring turkey roast next year with the usual trimmings. I love a roast and Christmas food generally but I’m so, so bored of it.

Presents for everyone too. It puts so much pressure on others who can’t afford to reciprocate.

Bah humbug!

I never did elf on the shelf as my DC are just old enough to have missed the craze - all that feels like wife work to me too as it is just another thing for us to remember to do before bed in an already busy month.

Due to finances I only buy for my DC, DSD and parents and I make thar clear every year and very early and although I still receive a few gifts from others I just say thank you and don’t reciprocate. I don’t send cards and haven’t for years. We have an internal post system at work and the cards that came through that from colleagues in the next office was so odd! It was more effort for them to go and put it in the internal post system than to pop next door!

I do like roast dinners but I only have one during this season and I do posh buffets for other guests which seem to go down well and we all feel less stuffed, I don’t want to make me and DC sick of roast dinners or make them feel less special.

Maybe I should knock the wrapping on the head, but the DC still get quite a few things and it would be v difficult to have bags to fit everything in. But I could put them in big gift bags.

I’ve also thought about shifting the whole celebration until later in the holiday and do all the shopping in the sales! I might do that with the DC when they are older as we’d get more for my money. We don’t always have Christmas together as I’m divorced so it would make sense to do it on the years when I don’t have them. Does anyone do that?

Do you really not understand the post or are you being deliberately obtuse?

The song Last Christmas

I'm assuming that those that want to get rid of this, that and the other are doing just that? i.e If you want to get rid of 'all of it', presumably you don't take part in it, what is fine obviously.

Do what you want at Christmas. Celebrate it, don't celebrate it. As long as you're not telling other people what they should and shouldn't do it doesn't really matter.

I’d ban presents.

Once they go from being a spontaneous gesture to an expectation the dynamic is wrong. And in an era of abundance, extra stuff is a burden, but if you have wishlists you introduce all these extra layers of entitlement and disappointment.

And gifts mean completely different things to different people but most people aren’t aware of that. It’s as easy to create bad feeling with a gift as not. But the fact that you must produce one on a certain date adds so much pressure. Every year, on here, there are lots of threads desperately looking for ideas to fill the yawning gap under the tree just because it’s expected, And it completely misses the point.

So my ideal Christmas would involve food, conversation, sitting around reading, playing, enjoying each other. But absolutely no transactions.

The elf!!

Its fun for the first few days then it becomes an absolute chore

I’d ban vegans from making any decisions about Christmas dinner. We have three meats this year 😁

Why don't you just do the bits you like and leave the bits you don't? We don't do elf on the shelf, Santa, cards, matching PJs, or presents for adults. We do mark the anticipation of advent throughout December with candles, reading books about winter or the nativity with the DC, and gathering natural materials to decorate the house. We celebrate the solstice at sunrise. We roast marshmallows on the firepit in the garden.
We bake Christmas cookies. We put up fairy lights and paper chains and a tree. We make sushi on Christmas eve. We have a "bring and share" type roast on Christmas day with parents / in-laws / people we know who would otherwise spend the day alone, but with lamb or beef or gammon as we don't like turkey. It took a couple years to slowly change from a very hectic, commercialised Christmas, but as we've dropped some traditions and taken on others I can honestly say it's becoming one of my favourite times of year - really peaceful and reflective and genuinely joyful. Christmas doesn't have to be toxic or wasteful!

A massive turkey cull doesn't seem very vegan