How to say No, thank you.

[stargirl1701]

I do not know what to do.

My Aunt loves Christmas. She redecorates every room in her house for Christmas. She has bedding, china, towels, etc. It all goes up in Nov and comes down in Jan.

I love Christmas. But. I enjoy Advent and then put up the tree on Christmas Eve. My children have book Advent calendars, we walk the Mary figure down a gold star path each day, we have a full set of Nativity figures. We hang a wreath.

That's it.

The issue is my Aunt spending a great deal of money to buy decorations she thinks I ought to have, year after year. Some given to my children (china ornaments for under 5s) and some to me. This week alone: towels for the downstairs loo, a themed pot pourri bowl, 2 light up trees for windows, 2 figures for a shelf and tree ornaments.

I feel so ungrateful. But, I simply do not want boxes and boxes of Christmas stuff. In past years, I have given stuff away after just saying thank you for the gift in previous years.

The question is: do I say something or carry on saying thank you and then giving away? I love her and don't want to cause any distress or offence.

Help!

I'd carry on donating to oxfam or school Xmas fair or similar!

Does she notice you're not using them?

You could always some of what ever she gives you November and December, then charity shop it. Every year. Just enjoy it for what it is, despite it not fitting in

My children have book Advent calendars, we walk the Mary figure down a gold star path each day, we have a full set of Nativity figures. We hang a wreath.
Are you a Steiner family, by amy chance? I only ask because I've always associated the Mary/line of stars thing with old Rudolf . And fair play - they do know how to make Christmas beautiful. Sorry not judging, and probably wrong.
But I'd say it's probably best to say nothing. My MIL used to foist all kinds of things on to me, and I tealise that, in the long run, it doesn't matter.

That's it.

She clearly loves to buy things for people. Have you said that some of the breakable items you can't use as they will get broken? Regarding the rest, is she likely to visit and notice you have not put any of them up?

Could you now say, 'auntie, it's so kind of you to think of us, but you've given us so many decorations and we simply can't fit any more in the house.' She will have forgotten how much she's given you over the years, especially if she thinks you've kept it all. Could your mum have a word to back you up, saying that you are over-run with boxes of decs?

I might keep the Christmas towels, might encourage the DC to wash their hands.

My Mum is dead. This Aunt was my Mum's closet sister. If my Mu were alive, she'd be buying hoards of stuff too.

I guess we just carry on. The environmental guilt!

Not Steiner, no. Just a Pinterest thing.

Yes it is unenvironmental but maybe charity shop it after so that it's useful in some way

I have had a similar issue with my MIL giving the dc new tree decorations for the last few years. I didn't want to be ungrateful, but I like choosing our decorations so they're meaningful for our family and to our taste etc. In the end I sent her a message saying thank you very much for the decorations, they are lovely but please don't buy any more next Christmas as we have so many we'll be running out of space. I also included a photo of the decorations to show we've used them and saying they look lovely, just so she didn't think I was being ungrateful. It was slightly awkward but better that than ending up with a box load that go to waste or fill up our house.

Off the point - What's the book advent calendar?

I have a MIL like this and it used to really stress me out. Eventually, I worked out that she just gets pleasure from buying things. I don't think she's noticed that I don't use them and in many cases she doesn't remember what she bought. The thrill at the till is the whole deal for her.

I have charity shopped the previous year's stuff. I will carry on.

Book Advent calendars. Each child has 24 books and they open one per day. All the books are Christmas themed. I wrap them in brown packaging paper, use cellulose tape and biodegradable paint. Not quite #zerowaste but I really enjoying doing it and the children enjoy opening them. Our enjoyment cancels out the recycling and compost produced!