Christmas being “cancelled”.

[Stuckhere2021]

Disclaimer - my DCs are now young adults so we are past the “must have” toys for Christmas but have done the queuing in the rain for 4 hours to get a full set of telletubbies/Tweenies/Paul Smith bag etc.

Would it really be so bad if we had to go a bit more “basic” this year? Say we only eat food and veg produced locally/regionally. Everyone makes do with fewer gifts. More time spent playing games.

YABU - Christmas is special and after the shit 18 months we’ve had, we should have something to look forward to.
YANBU - Christmas is what you make it and shouldn’t be all about the gifts / spending.

Ours will be chilled out - we will pick a food theme likely morrocan, spanish or Italian as we are so over turkey beef and pork after 20 yrs of MIL. We do gifts but generally not masses and usually based on need with a book, bit of chocolate and daft bits like socks and pants or new pjs. We are not big on games and such but scrabble may come out, watch a few films etc few dog walks and some beers out and about. DD is 16 so far more chilled and prefers a lie in lol

@Theunamedcat

😆😆😆😆

We do an adult Kriskindle/ Secret Santa and the same for kids if getting together as a large group. There's a budget and people can make suggestions as to the things they'd like/ not like.

A local Christmas sounds ace. British farmers are having a shit time. I'd much rather have a proper local roast pork roll with crackling and apple sauce than anything frozen and imported if supply chains go wibble. Plus you can be super organised and smug 😉

For me Christmas is about the food and drink, not the presents. I'd rather have a well thought single present that is a bit more luxurious than I'd be lit for myself than token smellies and other nondescript "I didn't know what to buy you" presents

Are you a paid employee of the Tory party perhaps, trying to convince us plebs that the supply chain shitshow isn't such a bad thng after all?

Johnson has said he can't promise Christmas will be OK, but he can promise it'll be better than last year - pretty low bar.

I always have a low key Christmas anyway, but I am still pissed off to be living in a country that has fucked things up so badly we are discussing whether soviet-style food shortages are a 'good thing'.

@Squirrelblanket

I don't really understand your post.

Christmas being 'cancelled' is different to scaling back. Yes, if you need or want to scale back that is fine. But it's not the same as cancelling.

Personally I enjoy Christmas and only spend what I want, on things I want.

My post is about the increasing narrative that Christmas is going to be shite this year owing to lack of fuel, toys, increased expenses, desired food ( ie what we want rather than what we need). I have put “cancelled” in inverted commas as that is the way it is increasingly being referred to in the media. The lack of spending at Christmas will be blamed for a downturn in the economy rather than welcomed as a sign that people are cutting back. I don’t want to sound like my mother, or naive, but I’m really hoping this will be a wake up call to all of us that we can’t always get what we want.

@actiongirl1978

A local Christmas is special for us.

We eat beef fillet, game pie, pate and local veg plus we can even drink local 'fizz' as we are surrounded by vineyards.

I don't think eating locally means eating badly or forfeiting favourite food and drink

Nor do I - I wish more people would do it / could afford to do it. Sometimes there is no arguing with how cheap things are in Iceland, farmfoods, Aldi etc.

@lannistunut

Are you a paid employee of the Tory party perhaps, trying to convince us plebs that the supply chain shitshow isn't such a bad thng after all?

Johnson has said he can't promise Christmas will be OK, but he can promise it'll be better than last year - pretty low bar.

I always have a low key Christmas anyway, but I am still pissed off to be living in a country that has fucked things up so badly we are discussing whether soviet-style food shortages are a 'good thing'.

Where are the 'Soviet-style food shortages'?

Well we done eat turkey so no worry about getting one of them.

Christmas has always been big for us. It's our favourite time of year.

We're not doing Christmas dinner on Christmas Day this year. My DS is 2, so whilst he is so young I don't want to be stuck in the kitchen. Just a nice chilled day then out in the evening to my sisters.

@girlmom21

It sounds like you're just hoping to do what most people do for Christmas anyway and make it about the people rather than the gifts. It's a shame if your previous Christmases haven't been like that.

They haven’t been for the last 10 years or so. But I do recall one year when DH’s parents bought my DC (their only DGC) so much stuff that when we went to my family on Boxing Day, on being gifted totally normal amount of presents from my sister, DS aged 6 said “that’s not a lot of presents is it?”. I was so taken aback that next year we went away to break the cycle.

Don't*

@Sportsnight

It’d be quite nice to not feel we have to have turkey. No one likes it!

So don't buy one.

So basically, you had all the years of getting your dc exactly what they would like, the joy of managing to find the right thing and see the excitement on their faces, but now you're done with all the that rest of us with younger kids should follow suit?

No thanks, I'm making the most of these years, just as you did.

The lack of spending at Christmas will be blamed for a downturn in the economy rather than welcomed as a sign that people are cutting back.

It would be both. There’s no denying that people cutting back on Christmas spending en mass would lead to some businesses going bust. A lot of stores are needing a big Christmas. The economic consequences of that would need to be considered… it’d have an affect on profitability, jobs, the countries overall economic health.

But there’s nothing that stops people from cutting back in any given year, other than they don’t want to. It’s not mandatory to queue for four hours for teletubbies or bags, and never has been.

Perhaps it’s been easier for me - I grew up without a family and spent a lot of Christmas’ alone. I now spend it with DH, and usually his parents. His mum goes mad on luxury nuts and foods she won’t eat and things… but it makes her happy. She doesn’t need to… most people don’t.

@Marguerite2000guerite

www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-58519997
Mr Wright stressed that "the UK shopper and consumer could have previously expected just about any product they want to be on the [supermarket] shelf or in the restaurant all the time.

"That's over. And I don't think it's coming back."

My comment was of course hyperbolic, no one thinks we'll be queueing for cabbages, but the fact we can't get what we used to be able to freely get is crap and a sign that the UK is in a far weaker position than it was.

So glad my family and I dont celebrate Xmas can avoid all the shite pressure and stress. No presents except for nephew and we just give money and thats it.

I completely agree Christmas is what you make it but I also understand why people want to make it a good one after the last year and a half (will be almost 2 years by Christmas).

There will be reduced spending in part because of Covid. For a start, the 100-200 a day being killed by it won't be buying any presents.

@LateDecemberBackInLowB12

So basically, you had all the years of getting your dc exactly what they would like, the joy of managing to find the right thing and see the excitement on their faces, but now you're done with all the that rest of us with younger kids should follow suit?

No thanks, I'm making the most of these years, just as you did.

Exactly.

Oh it was great when I did it but you parents with young kids shouldn't, it's terrible!

We've always bought local produce for Christmas and since Covid started we've visited a lot more farm shops and local markets. I'm not worried at all about the rumours of food shortages as I'm fairly sure we'll get a nice piece of local meat and locally grown veg as available. We don't usually have turkey anyway. We are very lucky in where we live as there is a plethora of local food producers - including 3 vineyards within 10 miles (amazingly) so we can even get wine - and there's a few decent breweries too. If we want a real Christmas tree I can think of 3 local growers within 4 miles. I won't be relying on imported, factory produced goods for my Christmas.
As an aside, we haven't had any problems getting petrol in the last week either! #lovewherewelive.

I feel like there is a lot of competitive underplaying of Christmas on here this year. Is it always like this?

Oh, wait for the Christmas Eve box threads to start. They began in October last year so it shouldn't be long now.

@LateDecemberBackInLowB12

So basically, you had all the years of getting your dc exactly what they would like, the joy of managing to find the right thing and see the excitement on their faces, but now you're done with all the that rest of us with younger kids should follow suit?

No thanks, I'm making the most of these years, just as you did.

Quite. DS is going to turn 6 this Christmas, and I’m going to do my best to make it a good time for him. It would be really nice if my government wasn’t actively trying to make that harder with their endlessly daft decisions. I’d like to be able to actually visit my family, which will involve petrol for the car, and be able to afford to have a warm house, apart from anything else.

Anyone who wants to have a four Yorkshiremen style Christmas of gravel butties is of course welcome to do so, but there was nothing stopping anyone doing that before, either.

What fuel shortages? There weren’t any, just idiots. And the current situation will be over fairly soon and certainly by Christmas.

Are you talking about your own Christmas or suggesting what other people should do?
If it’s your own Christmas then do what you fancy. But don’t dictate what others should do.

Queuing 4 hrs? Where? Are people doing the same than with the fuel and panic buying?

We are ordering food from local producers to support them and I'm planning fun stockings for the (adult) kids rather than big ticket items ( they have enough other relatives)

Well it will be a lot better if we aren't plunged into a last minute level 4 lockdown! But I still want some nice food and presents.