Ridiculous made up 'traditions'

[Sittinonthefloor]

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!

When did Christmas jumpers become not tragic? And just everywhere. They were definitely still tragic in Bridget Jones.

I even considered my own Christmas jumper for the first time ever last year. It was très cool though.

We do Nikolaus here (6 Dec) so DD has to leave her boots outside her door and on the morning they might just happen to be filled with treats.

Otherwise we don't really bother with advent. And decorations only go up on Christmas Eve in this house.

No Christmas Eve boxes, or Christ themed pjs/bedding/etc. If it can't be used beyond a few days a year it's not coming in.

Don't understand the first line of your post OP. But , I agree with the rest. Last night I saw an ad for Christmas bedding !!!! Bedding you can't use for the other 350 days?? No thanks.

I agree, all this Christmas bedding and cushions is pants, what do you do with them for the rest of the year? I do confess to buying Christmas toilet paper for Christmas week only though.

*Ah thanks Rachel, she was v thoughtful.

I think we'll be starting our own traditions this year with "how many ways can DD get to the Christmas tree, however ingeniously we try to block her..."*

Damn . Bold fail .

I generally dismiss someone as an idiot if they say they have "always" done something when in fact they did it two years running. Tradition my hole.

Wondering if I've been depriving our DSs with our traditions all this time not really We put up our tree and decs on Christmas Eve, watch National Lampoons Christmas Vacation and go to Midnight Mass. When we get home we listen to A Christmas Carol on Edison wax cylinder, fall asleep on the sofa, wake up, turn it over and listen to the second half, go to bed and put stockings out. A good slap up lunch, at home or with one of the grandparents and a long country walk. They seem happy enough mind

Has nobody mentioned that sacred British tradition where we all go out and order a new sofa for delivery before Christmas????

We have done this for the 25 years we've been married. The Christmas Carol record was a tradition in DHs family from the 60s and my family always did the country walk.

I got a Markus Lupfer jumper in the Jan sales 2 years ago, that's my Xmas jumper

I think the elf on the shelf is awesome actually. Will do it next year when DS is a bit older. Requires creativity from parents, is magical for the kids, no need to buy the elf thing just use a doll.

I mean, you could argue that reading the night before Christmas is not exactly an individualised or particularly imaginative tradition. It's lovely, don't get me wrong, but I don't see that it massively trumps something like EOTS.

Except that it's more middle class, which I suspect is the pertinent point.

I didn't realise EOTS was so much work. I thought it just sat on the shelf. V strange.

We ended up getting caught up the the Christmas Eve box tradition when we lived abroad and Christmas morning involved a hot and sticky 2 hour drive to MIL's sister's house for dinner off a paper plate on our knees. So we needed to move the festivities a bit.

So Christmas Eve was new pyjamas (have you any idea how hard it is to get Christmassy themed pjs in summer?!), Christmas DVD and a treat before bedtime. Then Christmas morning was pancakes and DH would set up the Duplo train to bring the fruit/syrup etc around the table.

Now that we are back, and the furthest we have to go is 5 minutes to my parents house if we are going to theirs, or to the front door if they are coming to us, it's kind of stuck. So the pjs are bought, I'm thinking about the film, and the train has been rescued from the attic.

The only other tradition we have is the annual argument about when it is time to put up the tree. DH and the DC have been begging since last week, I want to wait til about the 18th. We'll probably compromise on next weekend.

THANK YOU OP! I was going to start the same thread but couldn't find my hard-hat!

for the last 3/4 years we've gone from recieving "gifts at christmas" to getting " CHRISTMAS gifts.. at christmas" - I'm talking stuff that can only be used at Christmas

So now, instead of DH getting a nice pair of socks that'll do him for work for the rest of the year.. he gets socks with Santa pictures on to add to the pile of Christmas themed clothes that is getting bigger than our regular clothes

Instead of me getting a nice mug, to drink from all year, we've now got about seven "Christmas mugs" - and I'll probably get more this year.. I don't understand the Christmas themed crockery thing at all??? I'ld rather stuff I can use all year and don't have to store.

The one that annoys me the most is christmas clothes for the kids.. as their main present - what use are they? you can't even keep them for next year because they'll be outgrown. They're being given something that's already past it's usefulness by the time it's opened on Christmas day (They're all wrapped up and "don't open til december 25th" etc so they don't even get to wear them to school christmas discos etc).

The kids used to get actual normal clothes.. that they could wear till they outgrew. I'm getting fed up with the wave of "christmas themed" stuff we open on the 25th.. by which time we're nearly "Christmassed out", so all it's good for is storing until next year - how much storage space for "christmas" things to people think we have?

One rellie asked what the girls wanted last year, I said books… yup, you've guessed it: "101 Christmas facts" and "Christmas tales" etc…. no "reading books"

When I got out our ever expanding christmas boxes this year, only about half of it was actual decorations, the rest was all ghosts of chrismas gifts past: Christmas plates, Christmas ties, Christmas mugs, Christmas socks, Christmas jumpers

I'ld really like to go back to the OLD tradition where christmas presents stocked you up on USABLE things for the next few months: non christmas smelling soaps, non christmas socks, REGULAR pjs, normal books etc

Nooo don't put Christmas Eve PJ's in the same category! I've had them every year since I was born (my mum still buys mine... her rules ).

I agree with you about Elf on the shelf though (plus, I hate them, so that doesn't help).

What is elf on the shelf?

I think a lot of these new traditions are things that have drifted across the pond...

Over here in the USA, I am bewildered and amazed at some of the things in the shops, such as matching PJs for the whole family. And holiday decorations (trees are starting to go up now, and will stay up well into January, so perhaps more worth making the effort to dress your lounge / house / garden if it's for two months?)

Have clothes for the Elf on the Shelf made it over there yet? (If not, you heard it here first, they will be soon )

I am steadfastly ignoring all the irritating elf posts on FB today, along with the descriptions of North Pole breakfasts (whatever the fuck they are!)

My personal feeling is that all this over the top hype actually detracts from the enjoyment of Christmas itself. We do lots of christmassy things, but they don't involve constant spending on "stuff" or feeling like we have to join in the latest fads.

I think it is the rise in the Internet that has led to a rise in these traditions. Simply because people are able to easily see what other people are doing and incorporate more and more of them. So where you might have done one thing before now there are loads.
I have always given a set of new PJs and a book to the boys on Christmas Eve, long before I heard about Christmas Eve boxes. It was simply a way when we had little money of justifying buying a set of PJs that they would like rather than be the cheapest available, and a book to keep them quiet and in bed. It doesn't then make a big jump to see that other people slip in a DVD that we could all sit down and watch together, with some hot chocolate sachets and suddenly Bamm I'm doing a Christmas Eve box like everybody else. Except actually I'm quite happy doing what I've always done.

YY to all of this.
I do NOT understand why new sleepwear, an elf, a repackaged handful of chocolate bars (selection box) or a damn new sofa is necessary for Christmas.
And its a fucking coke truck people!!!! Why do people actually make a trip into town with their kids to see it?

Oh crikey and what the heck is a North Pole breakfast?

it drives me nuts the constant buying and giving and

sparklefarts, if you googled it you would come across this as part of the menu:

"Pancakes made to look like Christmas figures or stacked to be a reindeer"

How the hell would you do that? My pancakes look like pancakes

and however much they were stacked they would not bear even a passing resemblance to a reindeer or still less a Christmas figure. Funnily enough, no pictures accompanied this suggestion.

Agree with PP saying a lot of this is for an Instagram / Facebook audience.

I also blame that kind of social media for this stuff (and I'm a right grumpy cynic who just can't stand the elf stuff and all the extra commercially-suggested ideas being hoovered up).

However oh my goodness this beauty advent calendars look fabulous! I'd have one any time of year.