AIBU to think a simple Christmas doesn't mean spending £££?

[Santaisinmystockings]

There is a woman who comes to my toddler group with her 2 DC. She is nice enough, though a bit woo, very into Steiner etc- she has an older DC who is at the school already

Obviously we've all recently been chatting about Christmas and what we are going to get for our DC. Woo lady has been talking quite a bit about what a simple, natural Christmas they will have- the DC will have a handful of toys each, they will have a Season Tree instead of a fir, then a vegan Christmas dinner, and a long walk in the woods. Apparently this is because they don't want their children to be little consumers, etc etc.

I thought it sounded very nice, especially as there is so much spending and competitive buying these days.

Anyway, she was telling us that she was going to buy a Waldorf doll for each of her DC, they have a few already and play with them loads, etc etc. She got the website up on her phone, and these dolls are nearly £100 each! The wooden animals she is getting them are about £20 a piece! there was other stuff too, all nice wooden toys but seriously pricey

AIBU to be surprised at this? Obviously they have the money, and if that's what the DC like, then there's nothing wrong with that (and the dolls are sweet) but my DC are lucky if they get £50 each spent on them! Yet I was wondering if I was raising them to be little consumer drones, because I was buying plastic Peppa Pig toys!

Looks like I couldn't afford a simple Christmas even if I wanted one!

Having said all that, I did also long for a cabbage patch kid and a pair of sparkly shoes.

YY totally agree BigBlue.

Blu, A steamed suet pudding, Could I have the recipe please? sounds lovely. You cold PM me if you like

Mortil - I posted it below at 9.38am.

I offer NO GUARANTEES about this dish, as I made it up, and am now working from memory. It might be an idea to try it out as an experiment first before serving it at any important occasion! But it is on the principle of a steamed suet pud like a steak and kidney pud, but with a vegan filling. A good rich sauce was the key, I think, and I may have served extra as gravy on the side.

I'm not sure whether I actually added the chestnuts - I know I made a similar thing but as a puff pasrty lattice topped pie with a red wine, mushroom and chestnut filling.

It was ACE though

I had a vegan housemate for a while.

"You can choose to spend lots of money on toys if you want but you can also make toys or use things you find in nature as toys."

This is such a privileged comment, quite insulting to any of us who have struggled in poverty.

"Why don't these poor families go make themselves some toys out of old twigs and stones in that ditch over there? Would look cheerful with a little bunting on it arranged around the aga"

I also grew up in rural poverty and I can assure you that nothing is nicer and more fascinating than plastic.
So yes the hazel made bows and arrows and my dads homemade dolls house provided wonderful memories and great play value. But the beauty of colour, smoothness and cleanliness of plastic toys ( and the smell) was very disarable at Christmas.
Which is not to say I couldn't recognise cheap and nasty over nice though.

Gary Rhodes had a similar recipe(not vegan but you could tweak it) found it on IndiaDevine.org. Layered mushroom and onion suet pudding.

hear hear big blue stars totally agree as one who came from a poor childhood I know how much a glittery sack of plastic would have been loved

agree too there are some totally blinkered privileged views on here when you've lived in real poverty you feel differently

my middle class privileged BIL and wife who actually ponce all their money from his parents would only allow their children to play with wooden toys, eat organic food and were not allowed to watch ITV because it was commercial - they truly believe any other way is wrong

It sounds like a nice Christmas to me. You can afford a similar style of celebration if you want to - a vegan dinner should be cheaper than a meat-based one, a walk in the woods is free, and similar gifts can be handmade. It takes some skill and a lot of time and effort to make nice gifts though.
If you don't want that style of Christmas, and it sounds like you don't, then what does it matter how much she spends?

Parents like that often exist in a bubble. It's not that they are wrong- trying to live ethically is of course a good thing- but if they are smug about it, it's too easy to pick holes in their logic.

My DC play with wooden toys, and I did have low tolerance for huge, loud, baby tat, but a lot of plastic toys are great. Sylvanian Families for instance.

We had so little when I was growing up - I dreamed of and longed for so many "things" that I never had a chance of getting and always felt sad and embarrassed when others talked about Christmas presents.

When I began working my first pay came just before Christmas and I will never forget the thrill of buying exactly what I wanted for the people I love for the very first time. Then I found I still felt embarrassed, because the people I worked with had "£5" rules and stuff like that...but they were only able to "reject" present giving because they had had it all before anyway....