I really don't care if people don't believe my christmas.
It makes no odds to me.
Our festivities start in early December, we start by making Scandinavian paper snowflakes ( they have become increasingly intricate over the years as me & the kids become more adept) and pin them up on all the windows . These cast such beautiful dancing snowflakes on a bright winter morning as snowflake shadows dance though the house.
Then as time progresses OH makes a christmas cake, we buy food and store things in the freezer. I make sloe gin and cinnamon vodka ( perfect for sneaking into a hot chocolate after a brisk winter walk).
DD and I will make yule logs ( wooden ones) and I bring out the winter bedding, the fur throws, the storm lamps, the seasonal cushion covers, the church candles. Slowly the house begins to feel cosy.
We buy loads of cinnamon sticks and cloves, make fragrant decorations with satsumas, sweets.
Closer to christmas we will make a christmas wreath with evergreens and cones, ( I live surrounded by woodland), we bring down decorations from the loft then a week before christmas go and buy the biggest Nordman fir we can find which makes the whole house smell amazing. We make a gingerbread house and decorate it.
A week before christmas we can officially start to eat mincemeat pies and stilton, and warm ourselves up with port in the evening.
We put out extra food for birds, deer, mealworms for badgers and any other creatures that care to eat them.
We celebrate the soltice evening.
By the time christmas eve comes the whole house is organised, food bought, all the homely touches in place, the atmosphere is lovely.
Most of that effort costs very little. A lot of it is home made, much of it is used year after year and only brought out for the festive period.
If anyone thinks it's lies or grossly commercial, then fine.
We however have a ball.