Here we go again … competitive frugality and comparative ethical Christmases.
I don't think it's about frugality. Nobody has said that they're not doing Christmas Eve boxes because it's too much money. No-one either has mentioned giving a toddler a "flannel and a satsuma". How ridiculous.
However, there are lots of us who are totally turned off by the rampant consumer-fest which takes the Christmas name. It's not preachy to say we're literally killing the planet with our throwaway culture. Christmas-themed tat is a huge part of that. Cheap, mass produced items made in the far east, shipped around the world for us to use once or twice and then bin. For every Mumsnetter who is using the same cardboard/wooden Christmas Eve box they've had for 20 years, there's another 10 heading off to Home Bargains or Asda to get a plastic one. We need to put the brakes on and just STOP buying so much stuff.
My Christmas memories from being younger were things like fishing my dad's old rugby socks out to hang up for Santa. His rugby playing days were well over but the socks came out every Christmas. Or arguing with my brother over whether we should leave a fancy cup and saucer for Santa or the blue bowl? Nowadays parents are guilted into buying special ceramic "santa plates" which have a twee message on them like "Please leave me lots of things Santa" and cheap stockings which are poorly made.
And there IS pressure on parents - there was an "elf on the shelf" thread yesterday where several posters were getting the "But Sophie has an elf Mummy, why don't we have an elf, does Santa like Sophie more than me mummy?" Someone's "friend" even bought them an elf so that their poor, deprived children wouldn't miss out. (Although I did chuckle at the poster who got so fed up with the twatting elf that she put him in the freezer and told the kids he was homesick).
Parents are criticised from all angles and it's hard to not get sucked into the consumer stuff. We've had the head tilt and "awwww, but the kids would love a north pole breakfast / santa sack with their name on it / a mountain of plastic tat" conversations with the inlaws. If you feel your choices as a parent are being attacked, the easiest thing to do is give in and buy the sodding elf and Christmas Eve boxes.
Anyway. I've decided that the Christmas must-have is a reindeer landing mat. 6 foot by 4, illuminated in fairy lights of your choosing.Made from the cheapest, synthetic materials possible and preferably in factories staffed by Bangladeshi pre-schoolers. I'm also going to write a twee little storybook about how Rudolph can't manage sat nav and needs children to put these landing mats on their roof or in the garden so he can see where to land. Each year the mats have to be a different colour, so that you have to chuck it away and buy new each year. I'm going to be MINTED.