Christmas is for the kids

[damsonnatter]

AIBU to find the whole 'Christmas is for the kids' a bit of an eye roll...

Yes it's wonderful for children and I love that they find it magical but Christmas doesn't have to just be geared towards them
It's a good excuse to take a well deserved rest (if you are fortunate enough), see loved ones and treat yourself

If you are part of the 'Christmas is for the kids' gang - why do you think this? Vs Christmas is for everyone

Christmas is for everyone but we do fear it towards our Dc, mainly because they are only little for a short time and it’s particularly magical for them at this stage. We love seeing them so excited and enjoying all the Christmas events and outings, and that makes Christmas for me.

It's for everyone.

Christmas was rubbish when I was a kid, very stressful being pulled about by various family members and having to make a big show of opening presents with my cousins, having to get dressed up and perform all day like a bloody seal for adults pleasure. They say it's for the kids but it seemed more like making the kids be all cute and pretend theyre having a magical time for their pleasure when really it was stressful and overwhelming to have a day that was just go go go from sunrise until beyond sunset. Bloody hated Christmas as a kid.

Much prefer it now I can choose to have a relaxing one with partner and cat, quick visit to a parent maybe if they want. I can also observe the pagan celebration aspects as I wish, now.

Totally the same for me.

I don't even really understand what people mean when they talk about Christmas being "magical"

Not really. Christmas is for Christians. For others, it's a holiday with excessive commercialisation and over indulgence. My favourite time of year.

I love Christmas and my dc are adults. But I also go to church so perhaps it actually means something to us

I've never had anyone say this to me or in a conversation I've been in. Christmas is for everyone?

Yes, agreed. Once out of full time education is the line I think for me.

Christmas is for Christians.

All the other fun winter trappings are for everyone.

Me too. It leaves me cold, all the work, fuss and expense for just one day. It would be like Leap Year if I ruled the world - once every four years would be plenty.

@BarbaraHoward Yes, for everyone.

Well, I don't have children, but I don't celebrate Christmas and it means nothing to me. If I could wipe out this cultural celebration of Christmas and leave it something more low-level for the Christians, I would. At least reduce it to the less culturally crazy level of Easter celebrations.

I have the time off work because work closes, and on this basis I see family members during this period, but I'd be perfectly happy to work through Christmas and have the time in another time - in fact, in avoiding all the fuss everywhere about Christmas from as early as NOVEMBER, I'd be thrilled for it.

I adore Christmas and we do loads with our kids such as light trail, wander rush the lights, festive pub lunch and so on. It’s really special time in our family

Since I’ve had children I see Christmas as just for the kids, but it’s because that’s the chapter we are in. I like seeing the children’s eyes light up and seeing the magic of it through their eyes. It’s about making them happy primarily.
I didn’t feel that way pre-kids and I probably won’t feel like that when they are adults, but at this point in my life I do see it as just for the kids. That’s where I get the enjoyment of it from at this stage in my life. I like doing the child based activities with them and have no interest in adult Christmas parties and drinking etc, I did that in my 20s.

Surely it can be enjoyable for everyone but we find joy in different things at different ages? My children love the presents of course and still pretending to believe in Father Christmas but they also love the regular things we do - panto, light show, Christmas Eve excitement, seeing friends and family.

I get a lot of pleasure out of their excitement. But also I love the lights, how pretty our house is when decorated, the music (I love singing carols and we’re lucky to be able to go to an amazing cathedral locally on Christmas Eve - all the busyness and stress of prep melts when Once in Royal David’s City starts with the candle in the dark), the family time and the relaxation. It’s the only time we have together as a family all year of sustained togetherness.

I am also really grateful for it as I had several years of none of this owing to family breakdown. I value it now immensely and am always aware that it can be the most miserable time for the year for some people.

I loved Christmas as a kid and I love it even more as an adult. We are child free and have the best time! We've already planned our Christmas menu for the full week, special meals and trips out, Christmas film schedule and we can't wait to put our decorations up!

I feel so sorry for people who say it's for kids. It must be awful to be so miserable in life.

There are no children in my immediate or extended family. We still enjoy getting together, eating and giving each other presents. According to the attitude of some posters, this shouldn't be allowed 😒 should we all just sit quietly in our respective homes until it's over?

It should be banned!
Christmas crap in the shops in September
People tying themselves in knots/stressing/breaking down about who is hosting/visiting/staying/how much to spend on presents
People going into debt to buy 'christmas' boxes of sweets, etc, that are cheaper to buy as single items/make sure there is 'enough' food, most of which will be binned
People going into debt to buy presents for kids because they don't have the courage to tell them that 'no, we cannot afford x,y,x, even if Elsie next door has one'
People on MN stressing about dealing with toxic in-laws who 'have to be invited' (no, they do not)

No, you do whatever makes you happy. I just don’t wanted to be bombarded with constant Christmas for weeks on end.

Even if I wasn’t a Christian, I would not regard Christmas as ‘for children’. We have one DC, now a uni student. I did enjoy the childhood excitement of presents from Father Christmas and so on, but the things I love about it - secular and non secular - don’t just feel ‘about kids’. On some levels even raising it to be for kids is hard on those without. We had 16 years of marriage before we had our DC so lots of experience of doing stuff as adults.

I loved it as a child and the magic started to fade a bit as an adult. It definitely came back full force when my SD came into my life and playing Santa is so much more fun that waiting for him! Christmas is for everyone but children are at the centre of it imo.

If you're religious then that's different but otherwise, yeah, Christmas is mostly about the kids.

I'm as festive as they come: I actually worked in Lapland with a holiday company one Christmas in my early 20's and have since been back to visit Lapland at Christmas twice (once with kids, once without). It's probably my favourite time of the year personally as an adult with all the festivities and Christmas markets, get togethers, cozy nights etc but there's absolutely nothing beats the magic of kids and Christmas.

I was 37 before I had a child so had many years childfree and i have always felt like this. Of course adults can thoroughly enjoy it and have the best time but it's never going to be as special for them as it is for kids.

I had a bit of a lighthearted argument with a family friend about this. His argument was that Christmas is for kids not adults (he hates Christmas and is generally miserable). As a childfree person, I asked him if this meant I shouldn’t be allowed to have fun or receive a gift. He said I shouldn’t get any gifts because adults shouldn’t have gifts at Christmas.
We had to agree to disagree!

I love Christmas because it’s my only week off of the year. I enjoy family time, chilling out and just the general feel of it.
Why shouldn’t I enjoy it just because I don’t have children?

I've been thinking about this a fair bit. And I'm remembering my very old (and in one case, very doolally) grandparents and great aunts and uncles. . . and thinking about how much joy they got out of being surrounded by family, familiar, special occasion meals and treats, gifts to unwrap (how much talc and hand cream can one body use?!), familiar carols. . .

I've always been very focussed on the kids, hard nosedly so. But I guess, I'm getting a new appreciation of just how much it must have meant to the elders, who, lets face it, didn't have a whole lot of joy in their lives.

I can tell you who it WASN'T for. The poor bloody women and girls running around like chooks with their heads cut off doing all the sodding work to make the 'magic' happen!

Adults have had their time. Let the kids enjoy it. Well at least you’re saying “Adults have had their time”. Usually it’s “Old people have had their time and should never be allowed any fun ever again”.

There’s a big gap between “roaming around various family members homes visiting people the children don’t know” and staying at home just you and DC. Unless you don’t have any relatives that you see apart from Christmas.

Oh, and in our home, Christmas is for everyone. Everyone here gets a stocking, presents under the tree, and we all argue about what the Christmas menu should be all year!

(The person that came up with the bright idea of a trio of desserts should be wheeled out and shot. I'm looking in the mirror as I type this.)