Just stop all this crap buying?

[PassingStranger]

Woman in front of me today at shop buying a load of secret santa stuff this morning. I heard her telling the assistant. She also mentioned some of it was for a lucky dip. It was all sweets and chocolate too.

Can people not make a stand now and refuse to get sucked into all this crap.

Just because of a fairytale about a virgin birth sometime in December possibly the whole countries been brainwashed for years,into thinking people have got to have presents and secret santas and lucky díps etc?

Does anyone actually need any of this stuff anyway and more chocolate?
Will the world end if we start to push back?

Its so heavily entrenched into people's minds, they feel its Just something they must do.

I look forward to the day more people start to reject these things and think for themselves?

Is this really want I want to do or am im doing it because its something I have always done?

Do people really need what i am buying?
Martin Lewis seems to be on track with it.
Its ugly.

Yeah this. ^ I get sick of this shitty attitude (from some) on here, who rush to every thread like this to declare how stingy they are, how they HATE buying gifts for people, how no-one needs more than a lump of coal and an apple in their Christmas stocking, and a book and a Terry's Chocolate orange for their entire gift list. 🙄

DH and I have both our adult DC and their partners at our home this Christmas day, so 6 of us in total, (they're coming around 12.30pm,) and I am doing a massive buffet with no expense spared. 3 of us are vegetarians, 3 are not, so the food will be a mixture of both (obviously,) but about 70% vegetarian...

I have not added up what I've spent/am going to spend, as IDGAF, and I have am putting on the nicest, tastiest, good quality buffet, and I'm apologising to anyone, or explaining myself.

The race to the bottom attitude on MN really pisses me off.. And no-one is rejecting TAT as a pp suggested. My family and friends, and I don't buy TAT, thank you very much! It might be YOUR choice to buy 'tat' for people, (being a Scrooge!) But you don't get to speak for other people. My family, friends, and I do not buy tat!

Oh, and DH and I are buying each other loads of lovely gifts. Including a bottle of perfume for me that has a 3 figure price tag. DH and I will spend around £900 in total on our 2 DC and their partners. And we won't spare any expense for our other close family members, and our close friends will receive nice gifts too... And there will be LOADS of delicious (good quality) food in our house over Christmas. #sorrynotsorry

Also, pretty shitty thing for @PassingStranger (the OP) to declare Christmas as something that came from 'a fairytale.' As pps have said, dissing and mocking peoples beliefs, traditions, and customs is incredibly rude and arrogant.

I'm so glad to see that two thirds of posters voting on here, and commenting on here, think the OP is being unreasonable, and ridiculous! (And frankly, quite rude!)

I’ve currently got a temp job in ‘posh’ supermarket and do the online shopping, it’s quite fascinating what some people buy compared to others. But it is Christmas so people are not buying their usual shops so you probably shouldn’t judge this time of year.

Completely agree with the concerns about buying plastic tat that will take millennia to degrade and poison our land/ water as well as harm animals on land and sea.

Maybe all plastic goods should come with a land fill or disposable surcharge to truly reflect their costs to society.

We as a family are also guilty of buying plastic tat- mainly driven by DH for youngest DC, and it makes me feel guilty. If the items were more expensive - I am sure DH would think again.

Does it?? 😂

I agree. Plastic tat and sugar overload. It’s not for me but lots of people love it, who cares.

I am with you on this one.

• I have used the same plastic tree and decorations for years

• I don't think Christmas should be about consumerism

• In general I no longer have any interest in consuming to excess & if I need something I will go to a charity shop or look at what is available in places like Freeglenor Facebook marketplace

I think we are so conditioned to see buying more and more stuff as something that makes us feel good when really it is all just a marketing ploy.

Well, for those who gorge on ultra processed food over the Christmas period, please don’t go complaining in the new year that you have put on so much weight 🤣

No chance of that not happening.

Oh jog on
Where do you get off on telling People what to do ? Who are you to decide what people buy is "crap" ?

But I don’t buy seasonal shite. I buy carefully considered presents, which I don’t consider shite. I know some people will buy tat either a. Because it’s cheap and they can’t afford to to buy none tat stuff, or b. Because they pad out gifts to make it look like a lot, going for quantity rather than quality. Not my way of doing things, but if others want to do that, it’s none of my business.

Most people who celebrate Christmas are not religious, they are doing it and buying presents because thats what they were raised to do. Brainwashing is the only word.
You can buy someone a present any day you want. Why are you doing it on December 25th.

If Christmas was so great, why are there so many unhappy Christmas threads on here.
Wait till after Christmas we will see what was your worst Christmas this year on the forum?
My Husband didnt get me what I wanted?
Sister didn't like what I got her etc etc?

WHAT IS THE POINT?

Ha, I actually only ever got bought one advent calendar throughout my whole childhood. My mother would press the windows closed and I’d be given the same calendar year on year!

Because people are unhappy?

You sound deranged!

Excellent post! It's all a lie. Christmas was originally a pagan festival. Hardly anyone in this country can say they are a Christian, or a devout one at that.
The commercialisation of the season is ridiculous. People seem to think that it's all that and it's really not. There are plenty of other things to celebrate /get excited over, alone or shared.

You are totally missing the point.

Like mothering Sunday, for many people it's a lovely time to get together and have fun.

You will have hard years for various reasons snd ride through them, overall it's nice and people deserve joy in life with family.

The shortest day of the year in the UK, isn't on 25th December. I know Irish monks kept the faith alive, they weren't part of the UK then and they weren't interested in English pagan festival dates when tradition was passed down. Some dates will be nearby look at the festival of lights and fireworks.

25th December is 9 months after 25th March (creation, fall, flood, Abraham, annunciation, crucifixion).

Perhaps you could actually send letters out to your students' parents telling them to please not buy you anything? Save them money and you problems with getting ever more tat!

It’s so presumptuous though. Sending a letter to say no gifts when actually teacher gifts SHOULDN’T be a thing.

Perhaps you could actually send letters out to your students' parents telling them to please not buy you anything? Save them money and you problems with getting ever more tat!

It’s so presumptuous though. Sending a letter to say no gifts when actually teacher gifts SHOULDN’T be a thing.

So weird. For some people it is 'all that'. They like Christmas?!

It probably feels like a lot of posts on here about the negative side of Christmas, as it’s more of a talking point. For every person moaning about a certain element of Christmas, there are probably 5 who love it. But those of us who enjoy buying gifts, enjoy seeing family, enjoy everything about the season, don’t feel a need to make a post just to say that. It doesn’t make a very fun or engaging talking point.

Rather than ride out social, financial or personal misery the Grinch/Puritans will take Christmas, Valentine, Easter and Mothering Sunday.

We will be told to "celebrate" other stuf instead.

I didn't mind fox hunting being cancelled, what I don't get is why those that hate that tradition are happy to eat red meat and chicken that die cruelly, unless it was never about animal cruelty and all about destroying a culture 🤔

Not for me, either! I've never seen the point in 'seasonal' cushions, PJs or bedding (especially if the bedding is for adults!)

We have Christmas decorations that we've collected over almost 30 years. Some belonged to my parents, too, which is right up DH's street, as he loves antique/vintage decorations. Very occasionally we're tempted by a new bauble or three (Homesense used to be good, but more tat since the pandemic, imo), but if we add any 'new' ones, they're usually from fleamarkets now.

DH also likes to do a very traditional Christmas - I suggested not sending cards a couple of years ago and he wasn't having any of it...funny as it's always me that writes them. But mostly we send to elderly relatives who still appreciate the contact at Christmas. He also loves all the sweet stuff (that I hate - Quality Street/Roses etc 🤮) and if he had his way he'd be hanging chocolate baubles and santas on one of our two trees!

Crackers are another tradition he insists on...oh, and stockings for us both (adult DS has his own home/family), but we only buy stuff we need and give each other a list in late November. So, this year for my stocking I've asked for new wooden spoons and glass-headed sewing pins, he's stipulated a chocolate marzipan bar and new work socks. Main gifts are frequently books or something for our renovation project (I asked for paint one year 😆 and another time he had a forge make me a giant garden obelisk!).

We've never done secret santa, but DS's partner's - very wealthy - family do it instead of big/multiple gifts for the adults - so it can be anything useful up to £25 each.

It's crazy that many people feel coerced into buying shed loads of Chinese tat every year whether they can afford it or not!

😂

@PortSalutSherryHello
poster @PassingStranger does not sound ‘deranged’ at all, just completely sensible.