A thread for all the Scrooges out there

[WheelieBinPrincess]

I’m not feeling my must Christmassy because we were supposed to be moving out of our rented flat and into our first proper home with our new baby, but the solicitor has cocked it and now it won’t happen.

So I’m going to have a rant about Christmas instead.

I don’t get hot chocolate stations. Our kitchen is not big enough for any kind of ‘station’ but even if it was, feasibly how many hot chocolates would you drink in a day to make it worth having a station? Are you at the station all day? Are there soggy marshmallows and drippy bits of squishy cream seeping across your surfaces?

I think it sounds a right ball ache and the chat about ‘hot chocolate stations’ is making me cringe 😂

So just add your Christmas rants. They can be as petty as you like.

I fucking hate Christmas.

I hate that people run around like loons spending too much money on plastic shite that their kids will look at once and then never look at again.

I hate that normality stops for 2 weeks for one fucking day for people who aren't even fucking religious.

I hate christmas appearing in fucking september. It is one fucking day.

I hate that so many people get paid early, spend their money on Christmas and then have no money making january the coldest month last [financially] and extra 2 weeks and people going into debt to pay for their heating or not have it on.

I hate the intimation that the whole world has spent the fortnight so drunk that they have to have a dry january to counterbalance the alcohol they consumed during Christmas.

I just fucking hate it. All of it.

Last year I spent the afternoon researching dishwashers and how to get the best out of them. A much better use of time.

Yes the hot chocolate station was news to me. 😂
I don’t mind the occasional hot chocolate but don’t need it on tap. Or in a box on Christmas Eve. Just get down to Costa already.

Sorry to hear about your move. No Christmas chocolates for your solicitor. 🤬

Oh FFS what in gods name is a hot chocolate station?

I hate all the wankery - Xmas eve boxes, matching pjs and jumpers, fucking elves.

I'm so ready to skip to February.

I hate all the Christmas tat that you just know will end up in tubs under the DC’s beds never to look at again.
Before BHS closed down they had a whole section for it. Wind up racing grannies/toilet golf/desk top football that sort of thing.
Hawkins Bazaar type stuff.

I hate that a taxi driver asked if I was sorted for Christmas earlier and when I said nope, not really thought about it he kinda tutted and shock his head at me

Just because I haven’t bought loads of tat nobody bloody needs? I won’t be doing that anyway, bugger off (know he was just making conversation but it was early & I’m grumpy)

I’m making a start today on Christmas shopping. Everyone will be getting practical and useful gifts this year.
DS2 wants after shave and alcohol. Perfect.

I converted to Judaism so I don't need to do Christmas!:)

None of the Jewish holidays are as expensive or high maintenance as Christmas. Hannukah- jam doughnuts, play driedl, some gifts and it's a minor festival.

I am Chinese so I also do Chinese New year which I always preferred to Christmas as a child as we got to eat yummy food and also got money from relatives (which went straight into my savings account- and now will pay for my wedding). Much more sensible.

I am amazed at how much British kids get for Christmas. When I was a kid, I only got books and I would not have dreamt of writing a list! We went to Christmas mass in the morning and to a hotel for a celebration meal and that was that. We had a small artificial tree.

I hate that all the NCT women I met at the classes are hassling be to join into their trip to see the Fortnum and Mason (I think it’s that) Santa with the babies. It’ll be so magical apparently.

It costs £££.

And the babies are all about ten weeks old.

If I see one more thread asking about ideas for presents for people who 'already have everything' and have said 'lets not exchange presents' I will scream.

Have none of you people heard about the climate crisis? Stop buying shit that no-one wants or needs. Please.

I like Christmas. Well the part about not having to go to work, going out for walks, all the food and drink, seeing the lights.

But not all the shopping frenzy. Just why?

I don't hate Christmas, I've never been particularly big on all the commercial nonsense (wtf is a hot chocolate station?) but l like general festivities.

However, DH died this year and I'm finding the run up to Christmas hard. Which is fine, that's my issue to deal with, I can't expect others to cancel their Christmases. However maybe, knowing my situation, I could expect them to stop going on and on and on about their exciting Christmas plans...?

Excellent! Can I have a seat on the Scrooge train please.

I hate all the smug "snuggle up with a hot chocolate" crap that gets spouted on here. As soon as I read the beginning of the much parrotted "something they want, something they need....." then a little bit of sick comes into my mouth.

Anyone that can be bothered to type out a detailed list of what they have bought their children for Christmas can just do one. I don't give a shiny shit about what you have bought, and I certainly don't need to see the size/weight/brand of whatever it is.

The utter waste of people schlepping around to spend money they don't have on shite that nobody actually wants anyway and the hand-wringing about whose "turn" it is just boggles my mind.

I am supposed to be spending the first Christmas for 3 years with my children, their partners and all the grand-children, but the new travel restrictions have just made that virtually impossible.

Bah, humbug

I have an irrational dislike of the word 'pile' in relation to Christmas. Especially the sentence "the pile doesn't look big enough".

Most of it I lovee. Dont feel the urge to participate in most of it though and find some stuff OTT.

Ugh yeah, pile!! Never had a present ‘pile’ growing up, they are all just scattered Willy nilly under the tree and you scrabbled around to you found what ones said your name on

I’m so sorry to hear that @AndMatt. Really bloody insensitive of them.

@AndMatt

Sorry for your loss and the fact that you are having to endure such insensitivity

I hope that you can manage to have the sort of Christmas that you want/need

I'm on the bench with @BarbaraofSeville - I like Christmas, it's a time to not work , to see friends we don't have time to see through the year, to spend time with my children, for walks in the cold to see neighbours' lights and decorations then come in to a warm house and a casserole straight from the oven etc etc.

I hate the over consumption, the unnecessary tat, that is literally destroying the beautiful planet we live on, the presents for the sake of it. I genuinely don't want or need anything money can buy- I am extremely fortunate, I know that. I just want to be with my family and friends and eat nice things that someone else has prepared, drink nice drinks not from an hot chocolate station, chat, play games, let my children experience the things that actually matter in life.

@AndMatt My sympathies are with you, and I hope you manage to have some good times this Christmas, even just some small moments of calm and stillness. I'm sorry about your husband

The excessive consumption. Why spend money on a load of tat noone needs, like all those silly gift sets in boots. Noone actually needs half the stuff in them and it's 70% superfluous plastic packaging!

I'm very much a "cook a nice meal, spend time together and do fun stuff" person. I got loads of presents as a kid and all I really remember/ enjoyed was the chocolate and occasionally when I got a pet because an old one recently died. I like giving gifts I know people need/ will love, but I don't want anything back and I don't buy for everyone just for the sake of it. I buy DS as much as possible second hand (and I sell/ give away once he's outgrown it), including for Christmas and birthdays.

I absolutely love Christmas, but I agree, the consumerism is getting more and more insane and competitive. The threads we see on here with posters listing presents for their children and asking if they have enough... And there are always some that say no . As a child I used to get one present from my parents (other relatives would give one small thing too) and a stocking of little things from Santa. And I found it all exciting and delightful. Now I can imagine kids ripping open one present and barely looking at it in order to move on to the next. It's overwhelming. Can they really appreciate it all?

@percythewitch something they want, something they need...

🤮 I hate this. So twee. Absolutely ridiculous and utterly useless too. I imagine most people who parrot this are the Kirsty Allsopp types who spend £50 on craft supplies to make memories Christmas cards which, while a perfectly lovely thing to do in theory, most of us can't afford to do.

Or am I the only one who won't be handing over a) snow b) toothpaste c) underpants and d) a newspaper on Christmas morning?

When the DC were little I admit I liked them to have a big pile. But the cost was not that great and I was very naive. Toy garages and the like come in huge boxes.
As the DC got older the presents got smaller and more expensive and so I'd make up the pile. One year we went to the cash and carry and each child had a box of crisps to unwrap.
Now they are adult it's all a lot simpler and the expectations are lower
re any sort of 'pile'.

Advice to first time parents-never start the pile thing in the first place.

I love Xmas, but my pet hate is shitty music blaring everywhere. I feel for the retail staff.

@Sparklingbrook as someone who didn't grow up in England, the pile thing reminds me of Dudley from Harry Potter when he was going to throw a tantrum over how he got 1 less present for his birthday. I don't have a DC yet and maybe I don't know anything but it seems strange off children to expect X number of presents. My mum used to tell me I should be grateful for any present.

I argue every year with my husband about the amount he wants to spend on the kids. It all stems from him hardly getting anything when he was little. My point is that it's not about spoiling them with mountains of plastic tat one a year, it's about providing a small selection of quality, long lasting items but mainly, it's about spending quality time and giving enriching experiences to your kids all year round, however small. I'd never heard of hot chocolate stations and I'm not going to Google them. Are we as a nation not fat enough already? I pretend I love it so the kids have no idea how I feel but innate I can't wait for it to be over. The 10 minutes of joy when they open presents is great but I get the same amount of joy at the weekends all year when we do something as a family, or when they come in the bed in the morning for a cuddle. My MIL (who is a kind and generous woman, can't fault her) is bloody OBSESSED with it and after 20 years of feigning interest I can't think of any other ways to praise her seasonal "crafts".

Space for me please 🙂
We have nice roast family dinner and that’s it (it’s not turkey).
Years ago I opted out of buying and received shitload of unwanted and not needed stuff which outraged the family (because it’s Christmaaaas you knooow).
Hate plastic shit,always have been environmentally aware so asking people to get kids book each instead.
I’m not bothered about presents at all.
No stockings here, Christmas pyjamas and all this crap.

[quote onlychildhamster]@Sparklingbrook as someone who didn't grow up in England, the pile thing reminds me of Dudley from Harry Potter when he was going to throw a tantrum over how he got 1 less present for his birthday. I don't have a DC yet and maybe I don't know anything but it seems strange off children to expect X number of presents. My mum used to tell me I should be grateful for any present.[/quote]
Yes I totally agree with that. I got off on the wrong foot at the start. I have to admit I got a 'pile' as a child. Maybe it was that, but looking back it was things like annuals and felt tip pens plus maybe one large gift so not £££s.
Lots of people do stockings and piles but I never had a stocking or started that with my own DC. I don't know what that's about.

The big difference now is social media and that pile of presents picture is going straight on Instagram for all to see.

@Sparklingbrook I had the pile of presents when DD was little too and my advice to new parents is also not to start it!

My DM and I have a £10 limit for each other and it works well. I've had a £5 limit with my closest friend for about 10 years now, this applies to Christmas and birthdays.