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Original poster

Ridiculous made up 'traditions'

371 replies

Sittinonthefloor · 01/12/2016 14:03

Looking at you on your shelf, Elf . It actually has the word 'tradition' on the box, after what, 2 years?

Also spotted today 'Christmas Table Favours' eh? Not a thing! They were like wedding favours (also ridiculous) but gold and silver. That's what crackers are for surely?

Advent calendars for grown ups, Christmas pjs, also Christmas Eve boxes (haven't dared discover what they are though).

Love, love, love made up / evolved family traditions but feel irrationally enraged by the commercial ones, and more so that people seem to fall for it with enthusiasm!

OP posts:
QuinionsRainbow · 01/12/2016 21:17

Pardon my ignorance - what exactly are Christmas Table Favours? And why are they necessary?

XmasSteamTrainsRealAleOpenFire · 01/12/2016 21:19

My taste in bedding is pretty bad.. I currently have cats with space helmets on my duvet cover

Are they "Mars Cats", and do they wear cools hats? (and where did you get the duvet from?)

harderandharder2breathe · 01/12/2016 21:20

My Christmas Eve box is used to store the tree decorations the rest of the year. It's only a bit bigger than s shoebox though.

NoCapes · 01/12/2016 21:23

I store our Christmas mugs in our Christmas Eve box the rest of the year

MothersRuinart · 01/12/2016 21:28

Actually, where I grew up people used to decorate the whole house according to the time of the year. So at Christmas you had Christmas curtains, Christmas lights, Christmas tablecloths etc. Then you'd change for the regular winter ones and change again for spring and then summer and then autumn and then christmas again etc. My mum used to do that and I grew up thinking that's normal until I moved to my own place and thought why?? Why all that faffle, just get a nice set of things keep it in until it needs washing or replacing.

GETTINGLIKEMYMOTHER · 01/12/2016 21:36

We had two tree 'traditions' when dds were still living at home.

One, Dh would take them off to get the tree at a big garden centre, to get the tree, with me saying, 'DON'T get one that's too big!!' as they left.

They would come back with some effing massive thing and Dh would have to saw at least 3 feet off the bottom to get it to fit in the house at all, and then we'd have to shift all the furniture around to make room.

Two, after Dh finally got the message about that, I would go with dds to choose one, and we'd be ages agonising about all the sad or wonky looking trees they felt sorry for, since nobody was going to buy them, and wondering whether we should give one of them a home - but then what about all the other sad/wonky ones that were going to be all lonely and unloved over Christmas???

Grumpyoldblonde · 01/12/2016 21:38

Table favours are like wedding favors so would be a small gift for each diner. I do a couple of nice chocolate in a bag or box next to their wine glass . Nothing fancy, just a small novelty. Just for extra sparkle.

dementedma · 01/12/2016 21:46

No fucking elf on the fucking shelf here!
Also insist on an advent calendar with no chocolate.
No Christmas bedding
And no fucking "hot choc" like it's a special treat!

ILoveAntButHateDec · 01/12/2016 22:53

[ Our homemade tradition stems from when DP and I had just bought our house and were monumentally skint.

We couldnt afford decorations so we had MiL's old plastic tree and made paper chains for it out of wrapping paper. We couldn't afford an angel for the top of the tree but DP had a batman figurine he'd had since he was a kid and had "rediscovered" it during the move... he's sat on top of our Christmas tree looking stern ever since (batman, not DP!)

He's the hero Christmas deserves

That was also the year we introduced the present limit. We are only allowed to spend £1 on each other every year. The presents have gotten quite creative! My absolute favorite was last year when DP stole my phone and looked up all my most listened to songs. He then learned them all on guitar and vocals and recorded acoustic versions of them all for me onto a CD he bought for £1 . I ripped them down to MP3 and I still listen to them in the bath most days! ]

Errm.... Lady. I have just seen a thread where you purport you don't have a DP?

Getting back to the point who would pay £30 for an Elf figure? And further more why would parents want to think their children are being watched in their own home? That's scary stuff. Even if this latest fad was around when my children were young I wouldn't have taken part in it. Santa doesn't exist in my World either......I haven't exactly told them there is no Santa but I haven't mentioned him either. All my children are out of Primary School and figured it out for themselves anyway. But an Elf watching?? Get real!

wtffgs · 02/12/2016 07:00

Advent calendars for grown ups are just another way of getting people to part with money for stuff they don't need and didn't want. DDs have 89p calendars from Poundstretcher

elQuintoConyo · 02/12/2016 07:01

StpLaughingDrRoss I'm laughing at your caganer with bluetacked on poo Grin that there is a proper Christmas tradition!

A few years ago my DM knitted us a nativity - a knitivity. It has Mary, Joseph, Baby Jesus, manger, 3 magi, 2 shepherds and 8 sheep. DS loves playing with it - we have a lovely photo of him having a nap surrounded by sheep. Our tradition on Christmas Eve is playing 'hot and cold Baby Cheeses' [TM] where we take it in turns to hide him and then say hot/cold to find him. DS loves it and looks forward to it every year Smile

We also play other games: snowman toss (with a painted shoebox and pompom snowballs), snowman 10-pin bowling (snowman faces drawn on white picnic cups, plus the pompom snowball from earlier), pin the nose on Rudolph.

Someone waaaaay up thread mentioned a Boxing Day piñata - i love this!

LarrytheCucumber · 02/12/2016 07:15

Aren't all traditions 'made up' at some point? DSis used to have candles on top of the piano, one for each child, which was lit in the morning, blown out at night, from 1st to 24th December. It wasn't something we had done at home, but it became a tradition for their family.

PirateFairy45 · 02/12/2016 07:23

Alright grinch!...

queenofthebucket · 02/12/2016 07:41

my cat was put to sleep last Dec 25th Sad. I've still got his brother.

Hope that doesn't become a tradition

wtffgs · 02/12/2016 08:01

I think family/friend traditions which involve reading something or making something cheap, like biscuits are charming.

Getting grumpy about organza bags and feeling inadequate because other people are out-christmassing you is just so sad. It seems no corner of human experience is left untainted by rampant consumerism.

I don't blame people for getting swept up in it. Marketeers have got very, very good at persuading us we need all this shit. I'm no puritan. We have a tree, presents, calendars, the big meal etc. As JAMs we can, with careful budgeting, just about afford what now seems to be the economy version of Christmas.

wtffgs · 02/12/2016 08:05

Dr Ross the shitting man and his pal the shitting log are utterly bizarre, although long-established things aren't they? Grin

Namechangeemergency · 02/12/2016 12:05

Wow tinsel that was pretty bitchy.
Happy fucking Christmas to you too.

FlopsyisaRabbit · 02/12/2016 12:16

I think that what other people choose to do in their own homes for Christmas is only their business. We love Christmas and have many family traditions. I don't expect everyone else to do the same and if our friends think we are over the top, I don't mind.

I wear my Christmas pajamas whenever I like. We've been known to watch Christmas films in the summer. Christmas music from November.

Just do your own thing, make Christmas your own and have fun and laughter with your families and friends. Life is stressful enough without getting worked up about stuff that other people do Grin

Merry Christmas all Xmas Smile

user1471545174 · 02/12/2016 12:36

Christmas Socks day, I saw in a shop yesterday.

Christmas Bloody Socks day.

YANBU.

Namechangeemergency · 02/12/2016 12:54

Isnt that to raise money for something?

Namechangeemergency · 02/12/2016 12:55

Yes. How fucking vulgar to raise money for childhood cancer Hmm

Guitargirl · 02/12/2016 13:12

We do Elf on the Shelf, this is the sixth year that the elf has spent December with us. My DCs are now 9 and 7 so for those who are hung up on the word 'tradition', it is very much a tradition for our children who won't really remember a Christmas without having an elf hanging out with us in the month of December. We don't have a 'no touching the elf rule', he doesn't 'watch to make sure they are being good'. He brings the advent calendars and gets up to fun stuff while they are asleep. I don't bang on about anything we do at the school gate, I don't post on Facebook, it's just for us. It's not overspending on 'tat' (another MN favourite). I spent 20 quid on our elf friend 6 years ago and for that the DCs have had loads of fun.

They both ran down the stairs this morning giggling and excited to see what he had been up to. But according to a poster on this thread, my DCs are going to need therapy when they grow up. Wtf? Confused

Why can't people just celebrate their Christmas without feeling the need to piss on/tear to shreds what other people do?

Sparklingbrook · 02/12/2016 13:20

I didn't know anything about Christmas sock day Confused

Underthemoonlight · 02/12/2016 13:32

We don't have many christmas traditions but one we have adopted and dd has taken to is we have our christmas teddys sitting on each step and every night dd who's 3 picks one to take to bed with her and returns it in the morning.

I remember as a kid one old tradition was we would have one my dads socks filled with a apple, satsuma , sweet and some nuts. Nowadays its about the biggest stocking you can find and fill it with more toys

chunkymum1 · 02/12/2016 13:41

Like lots of pp, I love simple family Christmas traditions that have evolved over time but over the last few years have noticed more and more commercialised 'traditions'. Isn't it strange how these new 'traditions' all seem to involve spending more money on stuff you never knew you needed but now must have and that can only be used for a few weeks a year? The Christmas jumper day thing marked the beginning of the end for me. I know this started out as a fun idea and was a charity day but now our DC school do it every year without even any charitable purpose. This means every parent feels pressure to make sure every child has one every year.

Bah humbug