Christmas should be every 5 years instead of annually.

[Isometimeswonder]

Obviously I'm being lighthearted.
But I think there's so much build up for Christmas, so many people trying to please everyone, so many stresses and expenditure, it would be better to have Christmas less frequently.
Like every 3, or 5, years.
Could use the money spent on Christmas on other things.
Would probably look forward to it more.
Fewer times I'd have to listen to Christmas music on repeat in shops.
Could avoid certain relatives for longer.
I'm not just kidding. 😀

People who live in even-numbered houses do even-numbered years, odd numbers do odd numbers. People in flats, or houses with just a name can sort of freestyle.
You can invite neighbours who are on an 'off' year, thus promoting world peace, etc 😀🎄

We could still have a proper Solstice celebration every year - celestial bodies are going to carry on with their cycle regardless of what humans do, something more explicitly aligned with the natural world would be good. An element of getting together and feasting has been ubiquitous in northern hemisphere cultures since prehistoric times.

The religious folk would obviously be free to do their own thing whenever they wanted to.

Christmas is the only good thing about winter!

If people would just do it the way they wanted and learned to say no, Christmas would be a pleasant time of year. We love Christmas because we do it to suit ourselves.

I know you’re being light-hearted but surely the answer isn’t to limit the frequency of Christmas, but instead limit how you spend it each year. Maybe have one big extended family Xmas every few years, but spend all other Christmases low key.

I think that the secularisation of Christmas turned it into a big, stressful Santa-focused consumption fest that's really hard to sidestep. It shouldn't be this difficult. Having said that, celebrating every few years seems bizarre to me - it's an annual Christian celebration. I'd rather keep it low key and do only the things that feel meaningful once a year.

Yes,after all we would have had four years to prepare for it.

A bit of a miserable take maybe, but what about “last Christmas’s”?

My FIL died on the 5th January 2020, and our last family Christmas with him is one of my favourite memories. I’d definitely feel differently if it had been 4 years earlier rather than a couple of weeks.

I also think the more often you do something the easier it gets.

You could just do less.

I'll see all my siblings over Christmas. My gifts to them are all low cost. Some have home made cakes - their preference since they don't cook - and some a book or a bunch of flowers or a bottle of wine. No stress involved at all.

Apart from that I spend time with ds and relax.

It's the fact that "the Christmas Season" seems to last for about three months that is the problem. Christmas is just one day. Shops should be banned from mentioning Christmas until December 1st. Or any euphamisms such as "the Holiday Season" etc.

I don’t understand the stress. Scale it back if it’s too stressful. Do as much or as little as you like. Say no more often and put up some bloody boundaries! It’s only massively materialistic if you make it that way. 🤷‍♂️

Make it every third year, and I'd be in.

It’s not difficult. It really isn’t….

Sure, if we only have winter every few years, why not? When you've arranged that, let me know and I'll be in. I hate winter; so cold, so bleak, so depressing. We need Christmas as a distraction from it and a focal point to look forward to, so if we can do away with winter then we can do away with Christmas too. Sorted!

If you don't want to spend the first half of winter (and a bit of autumn tbf) thinking about and preparing for Christmas, you could just opt out? Don't do the bits you don't like? Make your own rules for how Christmas goes, or doesn't, in your house.

I agree OP. I’m thinking about going to a non Christian country for 2 week over Xmas next year, in the hopes that there will be much less fuss about it.

I generally love Xmas but feel I'm not feeling 'Christmassy' at all this year! I'm not sure if it's the relatively mild weather or what?

I love Christmas. I don’t understand the whole ‘it’s just for children’, one of my favourite Christmas days was pre-kids when it was just the two of us and we had a fantastic day, including presents, trip to the pub and full Christmas dinner. But, I’ve never felt stressed over Christmas, I love hosting and buying presents, and spending time with friends and family.

We go travelling every year and spend zero money on anything actually xmas related, so I don't mind it at all. The neighbour's lights are definitely an eyesore though.

I think part of the problem is that Christmas is now the only real festival which is still widely celebrated. Now that most people are not religious, Easter is basically just a Bank Holiday with a few chocolate eggs thrown in. The religious feastdays which used to punctuate the year are no longer celebrated. So that really just leaves Christmas to take all the pressure. If it were every 5 years instead of annually, the pressure would be even worse!

No. That would make me sad. I love Christmas.

Its not christmas that has lost the spirt, it people that have ruined the spirit of christmas.

It use to be 1 month now its like 4.
Its just a race now, who can out do who.
All for a pic to put online.
Spending time with people we dont talk to any other time of the year.
Faffing spending faffing drama faffing and so on.

I dont do any of it.

I totally agree with Mincepiefan. Christmas or 'Christ's mass' does not need to be about consumption and excess. And Jesus's birthday should be celebrated annually like anyone else! Perhaps try simplifying it and enjoy and things that really matter to you.

Solution - stop trying to replicate Instagram, tell stroppy demanding relatives to take a long run off a short pier, reduce gifts to those nearest and dearest and reduce the spending, as having piles of gifts is not necessary nor is it an Olympic sport to win medals over. Lastly, it is just a fancy roast dinner, with a few nice nibbles and not meant to be a replica state banquet! Enjoy with those you love. Merry Christmas 🎅

I think it would be better if people realised that it’s all made up. There are no rules. All the stress is totally made up. Do the bits that mean something to you and your family, don’t do the bits that don’t.