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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:
Grumpyoldblonde · 01/12/2016 14:42

As for 'favours' on the dinner table, aren't crackers enough?

Not for me Blush I normally put little organza bags by the wine glasses with a couple of chocolates in for each guest. Or sometimes mini chocolate filled crackers and I can't find any this year and it's making me sulky. I am fond of the Christmas Pinata too for boxing day.
Elf on the shelf can do one though.

Sparklingbrook · 01/12/2016 14:42

Genius Kondos, maybe start in September just to be sure. Grin

Feefeefs · 01/12/2016 14:43

I think I've missed the point entirely and now want Christmas bedding!!

It was always traditional in my house to have Christmas Eve pjs and one present to open on Christmas Eve. Also youngest child gets to put the star on top of the tree and light the candle in the window on Christmas Eve. Also my dad always read us "the night before Christmas" when we were older it was down to the local pub and my dad would have made spiced beef sandwiches for Everyone to eat when they came home

shallichangemyname · 01/12/2016 14:43

lol, we've got an Elf on the Shelf just arrived in our office. Creepy thing. Whichever way I look at it it reminds me of Chucky. It just looks evil. I wouldn't want to be alone with it at night.

I agree we can all make up our own traditions, we don't need them foisted on us by some clever chap in marketing.

OhFuds · 01/12/2016 14:43

I wish I had the imagination or could be bothered to do the Elf on the shelf.

My 2 youngest get xmas eve sacks but it's nothing fancy, pj's, reindeer dust, xmas book and a cheapy toy but I don't bother with stockings.

I've booked my xmas day meal out and I'm tempted to go and buy everyone crappy jumpers to wear Grin

HoneyBeeMum1 · 01/12/2016 14:44

A lot of these commercialised traditions are based on family traditions of the past. For example, before everyone had central heating, people would commonly exchange jumpers and warm pyjamas as gifts. However, they were not Christmas themed and were intended for use well beyond the festive season. Such gifts became less common as central heating became more usual and warm indoor clothes in less demand.

The Christmas jumper tradition has been revived for commercial and charity fund-raising purposes and generally people buy them before Christmas rather than for Christmas. I confess to having bought one on impulse for myself in the last few days...

Megainstant · 01/12/2016 14:46

One of our traditiona is to read the bit in the little house on the prairie when Laura gets her doll. Dd1 was obsessed with it when she was about 6 so we've read it every Xmas eve for 11 years!

bookworm14 · 01/12/2016 14:46

Totally agree re Elf on the Arsing Shelf. It was made up by some woman in the US about 10 years ago; it is not a "tradition" dating back centuries. I also agree about the ludicrous excessive fuss which seems to surround Christmas and the obsession with making it "magical". When I was growing up my siblings and I had one, non-chocolate advent calendar, and it was our job to decorate the Christmas tree when it arrived. No elves, no Christmas boxes, no special pyjamas, no North Pole breakfast, whatever that is. And yet somehow it was still magical even without the excess of stuff.

GetOutMyCar · 01/12/2016 14:47

Also isn't elf on the shelf, well the idea of an elf who comes to visit for all December, a Scandinavian thing?

Nope, no elves here. The Yule Goat appears at the beginning of December to oversee Yule preparations (while trying to avoid people with matches).

bookworm14 · 01/12/2016 14:47

Forgot to add - it's great to create your own Christmas traditions. One of mine is to read Susan Cooper's 'The Dark is Rising', starting on 21st December every year. Can't wait to share it with DD when she's old enough.

RhodaBull · 01/12/2016 14:48

I must admit I've given in - I've bought Christmas jumpers - all round! I was always huffing and puffing and stuff n' nonsensing in years past but... what the heck.

My Christmas bleach, however, is grim. Whoever thought up the idea of red toilet cleaner... clearly hasn't thought of, well, just, well, enough said. All I know is that I can't leave a sea of that in the toilet bowl when guests are coming!

Namechangeemergency · 01/12/2016 14:49

We have a Christmas Eve tradition of an Orange Buffet. I search the shops for Christmas shaped food which is usually covered in breadcrumbs e.g. Tree shaped nuggets, star shaped potato things.
Then I find the maddest dessert possible (Iceland is great for those) something shaped like something and covered in glitter.

NoCapes · 01/12/2016 14:49

All traditions were made up at some point Xmas Hmm

Sparklingbrook · 01/12/2016 14:49

I loved my advent calendars as a child just one with doors and glitter no gift or chocolate.
Presents were left in pillowcases, not a garish plastic santa sack. We left a mince pie and milk and a carrot out then went to bed.

JulTomte · 01/12/2016 14:50

Bloody Elf on the Shelf Grin

Aki23 · 01/12/2016 14:50

Price at £29.99 no less! Im a grump and proud of it

SDTGisAnEvilWolefGenius · 01/12/2016 14:50

When our children were younger, we used to have a party on Christmas Eve, and when everyone had gone home, we would light some candles, read Thw Night Before Christmas aloud, plus the Christmas story (from the 9 Lessons and Carols readings), and sang a Carol before putting the boys to bed.

It was a way to try to calm them down a bit before bed, so that they would go to sleep at a reasonable time, so we could do the stockings, and not be to bed too late ourselves.

We carried on when they were teenagers, and they loved it. It has saturated to peter out now, which is a shame. If, at some point, we have them and their children staying at Christmas, we might try to revive it for the next generation. I wouldn't expect the boys to want to do it at home with their families, but it could become a tradition 'if we are at gran and grandad's'.

RachelRagged · 01/12/2016 14:55

I remember 70s and 80s Christmastime's with the make your own paper chains you licked and stuck together and the sort of 3d effort huge paper lanterns .

Never done elf on the shelf but my DCs are grown up now . However I think I would have liked it as the youngest two in particular could be naughty little souls at times and it might have helped.

Christmas Boxes , never heard of them before I read a thread on MN about them. We did (and do) open a small gift on Christmas Eve, though it used to be after Midnight Mass when me and my Mum got home ,

Advent calender, not had one for years but rather like the look of the yankee candle one so Yes , I might have gone in for those if they had been around years ago.

LunaLoveg00d · 01/12/2016 14:55

Also youngest child gets to put the star on top of the tree and light the candle in the window on Christmas Eve. Also my dad always read us "the night before Christmas" when we were older it was down to the local pub and my dad would have made spiced beef sandwiches for Everyone to eat when they came home

Those are LOVELY, festive traditions which really mean something to you and your family. Far better than buying into traditions like Christmas bedding, elf on the shelf or christmas eve boxes which have no particular significance or meaning.

Temporaryname137 · 01/12/2016 14:56

My DM was the queen of Christmas, bless her. beautifully decorated Christmas eve presents before dinner (and midnight mass when we were older); new book by the bed; a first thing in the morning present; table presents; pudding presents; then santa/family presents and finally stockings at night.

after she died v unexpectedly I didn't have so much as a bauble in the house for the next 10 years, and couldn't bear Christmas adverts etc. always went abroad with the family or just DF. But now DD is a toddler, and DP is very excited about Christmas, I am starting to love it again. not sure how many of the old family traditions I will manage to keep up, but i'll do my absolute best, after ignoring them for so long!

RachelRagged · 01/12/2016 14:56

Oh and Christmas bedding , , just Noooo . . bit overkill to me but each to their own

Toddlerteaplease · 01/12/2016 14:56

What on earth is a North Pole breakfast. Christmas does not start till 25th December and runs till the 6th January. It is ADVENT!

cjt110 · 01/12/2016 14:56

Just rememebered - DH's family all had a sugar mouse each in their stockings on Christmas morning. I have done this a few times for DH but right now, won't be doing it for DS - he's hyper enough at age 2, let alone with a sugar boost!

MerylPeril · 01/12/2016 14:57

It's all a way to get people to buy more shit they don't need

Elf on a shelf can fuck right off

I saw someone buying Xmas mugs the other day - honestly what's the Friggin point

And people don't understand how to make a time magical for children, it's not just buying into commercial products...

itsawonderfulworld · 01/12/2016 14:57

Didn't Mark Darcy invent the naff Christmas jumper? Thank you Helen Fielding not !

Elf on the Shelf is American. Not an elf in sight in Scandinavia, just gnomes.