Christmas things not worth doing

[charlieinthehaystack]

you know the things you think you have to do then after you think why on earth did i bother?
many a time i have spent hours carefully putting the stickers on toys bikes etc to complete it then two minutes after kids open it all the stickers are ripped off!
you risk life and limb not to mention driving miles to get that toy that your youngster has begged for along with most of the kids in the UK but on Christmas day its played with for 2 minutes then discarded never to be seen again
similar to above you have that one guest you want to impress/who is awkward so you spend ages finding food you know they like at great expense then find out when they visit they no longer like it!

The pyjama thing. You're so right about the blokes. And I`'ve got to say that I always wonder about the underwear aspect of people who wear pyjamas as a fashion choice. I mean, are they pyjamas that you might theoretically have slept in, in which case does dad spend Christmas morning with his bits flopping about? Or is there a full set of supportive underthings beneath the sportive cartoon penguins or whatever? If so, why wear PJs? Why not just wear clothes? Ditto mum and a bra? Old person, so I find these questions quite thought provoking.
Elf on the Shelf ought to be banned as an offence against aesthetic sensibility.

Everyone putting on matching family pyjamas on Christmas Eve, they get worn once and by the time they come out of the wash Christmas is over and they don't fit the DC the following year.

Easter will always be my favourite holiday: so much lower-maintenance and less labour-intensive and loaded with obligation than Christmas (It's Yule to me, anyway). But I love the period between Christmas Day and New Year's Eve - it's peaceful and undemanding and has a calm energy that I love. Same with Winter Solstice: a day I really treasure as I can now look forward to the gradual return of longer days.

Do do: lots of fairy lights, two heavily decorated trees, greenery and pine cones from the garden, roast turkey, New Year's Eve every year with friends, copious amounts of baileys, advent calendar for DC, fresh-air woodland walk, wreath, early December weekend away in a city that's made for Christmas with beautiful carols being played on the cathedral bells, bit of fizz, crackling wood fire in the burner.

Don't do: cards, sprouts, heavy fruit baked goods, too much landfill (but still manage to generate too much landfill), elves, boxes of any description, insistence upon set 'tradition', Christmas-themed clothing. Christmas films full of saccharine sentimentality, no thanks (but do have a soft spot for the National Lampoons' Christmas Vac and Eight Women, which is brilliant and much too underrated in the UK).

Cannot stand: that it's become a one-day eco-destruction system - the state of all that wrapping paper in the bin makes me want to weep! Another dissenter here on the Christmas market theme and any Christmas 'experience' (for which read muddier than Download festival with less daylight and not nearly as entertaining!).

My friend found an elf - not on a shelf but strung up in a pine tree in the woods. She rescued it in case it traumatised some passing little kiddy. I'd have left the little horror right where it was!

I hate elf on a shelf with a passion and absolutely was not doing it end of.

Until DS came home from nursery one day heartbroken that an elf hadn’t visited him, had he done something wrong, all the other kids had one etc.

So now I do it but fucking hate it. I start of all enthusiastic and end up getting into bed on the 18th (usually after the Christmas party) and thinking I’ve not moved the bastard elf!

A curse on the person who invented it!!!!

Oh, playing board games. Trivial Pursuit, Cluedo, Monopoly, Scabble or any other variation. Just never grew up in a family that played them and have never understood the attraction.

Panto. Felt I had to take the kids every year but hate them. Especially Aladdin and Jack & the Beanstalk

Then after Christmas, the sales! There wouldn't be as many sales if shops didn't sell crap at high prices.

Then some retailers - Next, that is you, feel they need to open at 5am on BD. Most of their staff who work on BD are their Xmas temps. They were told about this when they were recruited.

Most of the temp workers are students. Majority don't drive or work in retail parks or shopping centres with no little parking for staff. They usually go on buses. None of the buses are running at 4am. Some places have zero PT on BD. Unless a parent drags out bed at 4am to drive them to work, its taxis. Taxis are double (some councils are triple) rate.

I doubt any retailer helps to pay for the cost of taxis. The premium rate is rubbish. My former employer didn't raise the premium pay for working BHs in the 17 years I worked there.

Then on the news (sales are not news items btw) they interview some saddos who have been waiting outside Next since midnight.

Those who go round the shops on BD have never worked in retail and 2. Have no concerns of the staff.

I worked 2-3 BDs as unable to book them off. Yet colleagues who have family all living in the same town and finish their shifts at 1pm booked it off. In all the BDs I worked, got customers saying "Its a disgrace that you are open today". Well, if you think its a disgrace that the store is open on BD, you don't visit the shops on BD then! Its people like you that keep the shops open on BD. If everyone slummed it in PJs - like a thread about Boxing Day is a slumming it day (or other comfy clothing), then retailers will realise not to open. I stay over my parents over Christmas, even though its a 12 min walk. One BD, their kettle broke. I went to mine and picked up my kettle. Then the next day when I was back at work, I bought a kettle.

Hot shops, blaring music, miserable shop assistants.

Mountains of tat

Unrealistic expectations

This is an AI answer to Elf on a Shelf.

The "Elf on the Shelf" tradition was popularized by the 2005 children's book titled "The Elf on the Shelf: A Christmas Tradition," written by Carol Aebersold and her daughter Chanda Bell. The book tells the story of Santa's scout elf, who visits families during the Christmas season to observe children's behavior and report back to Santa.
The idea of a mischievous elf who watches over children during the holiday season has deeper roots in European folklore, particularly in Scandinavian traditions. Folklore includes various types of elves and spirits that monitor behavior and encourage good conduct, but the specific concept of the "Elf on the Shelf" as a Christmas tradition is largely attributed to Aebersold and Bell.

Far from goodwill most look like they are about to throttle someone or spontaneously combust.

Pantos
Christmas markets
Christmas cake, brussel sprouts, Christmas pudding. Most Christmas food actually

I love doing the elf on the shelf. I've done it for 7 years now and still enjoy it almost as much as the kids do.

Well said. I refuse to start it. Absolutely no way.

@Pottedshrimpy Four years ago, we were in lockdown for the first few days of December. My friend put the elf in a cage with a note "its lockdown" Then for 10 days, put elf in another cage "I'm self isolating" note attached with friend's lateral flow positive test strip. I cannot remember exactly when certain parts of the UK went into lockdown due to the tiers. Think friend lived in the first area to get the highest tier. Back into "Lockdown" cage.

This. And also festive light trails. I've a decent income but £100 for a family of four and then to spend all day stressing about rain. No thanks.
I did when the kids were under 5 and I could take them for £25 for a ticket for me but not anymore. Also, they are EVERYWHERE.

@Auburngal A curse on the houses of Carol Aebersold and her daughter Chanda Bell!!!!

I like the lockdown idea - might send ours to the North Pole forever for a few days 😂

Making Christmas cake (never gets eaten).
Jesse tree.
Homemade/fill in the pockets yourself advent calendars. Just buy the little chocolate ones.

That’s about it. The other stuff I enjoy 🙂.

Have to agree with this tbh. They are so expensive and there's rarely anything there i acrually want to buy except food and drink.

@Lemonadeand what's a "Jesse Tree" (or is that a typo?)

Winter. Wonderland.
It’s an overpriced funfair marketed as an amazing festive experience. Fine if you want to go to a funfair but the marketing makes it look amazing. Granted I haven’t been since the 2nd year it opened but it put me off for life.

Shit santa’s grottos that cost a fortune - at least the shopping centre Father Christmas of the 80s/90s was priced correctly.

Christmas eve boxes are excessive and i think dampen the excitement build up on christmas eve.

Elf on the shelf is an absolute chore that I was guilted/peer pressured into starting 😂🙃 I wish I could stop but i dont have the heart

I absolutely love christmas and december otherwise (honestly!)

That damn elf will never enter my home.

We do a pared-back version of Santa - Santa brings each child one medium sized gift and some stocking items. Everything else is wrapped under the tree from humans and gets opened after breakfast (or whenever we see the giver). There are some deeper reasons for this but it also makes keeping up “the magic of Santa” far easier. I’ve never quite understood why some parents have almost everything come from Santa.

We do family gifts for extended family (no individual gifts between cousins/adult siblings/ in-laws, etc) and don’t usually exchange with friends beyond perhaps some homemade cookies or fudge. I enjoy giving gifts or treating people to meals through the year but feel like everyone gets more out of it separate from Christmas… having a checklist of 30 people to account for sucks the joy out of it all and it just becomes work and stress.

Elf on the shelf. Hate the sinister concept. When the kids ask why the elf doesn't come to our house we tell them they have already been signed off for the good list so don't need the Elf to check up on them.

Any sort of box.

Massive piles of presents... ....which aren't really presents just wrapped up stuff the kids needed anyway.

Also

Christmas Jumpers that you buy new, wear once and chuck out/donate to charity like everyone else.

When families post a photo all wearing matching christmas pjs. It’s giving Disney Adult.

Santa Grottos are crap now.

When I was a kid, in Leicester, there was a department store, Lewis' (not to be confused with JL) and the queue to see Santa was amazing. 3D animated scenes of a fairy tale with text to read (or parents to read if DC too young) and there was much to look at which ate time. As part of the gift you got from Santa was the Ladybird book of the fairy tale - I remember it was Little Red Riding Hood and Goldilocks and the Three Bears. Ladybird books were made in Loughborough, 20 miles north of Leicester.

Advent calendars. For grown up children. I'm taking a stand this year. No advent calendars or Christmas stockings for grown ups.

Elf on the Shelf.

Just say to the kids that their special elf has been called up to help Santa and he will be needed throughout December. That way the kids feel special he has been called up to help Santa and you don't have to think of 24 ideas what to do with it. Win Win.