Christmas snobs over here

[2014newme]

This thread is for Christmas 'snobs'.
Proud to be one. 🎩🎅
So if you're not a fan of elf on the shelf or excessive mountains of tat this is where you can hang out and be safe from discussion of boots 3 for 2 gift sets.

I’m also a bit of a snob, but one without much money. What this means is I buy a very small amount of ‘good’ shit. (All food)

So far I’ve bought :

Meg Rivers Christmas cake and frangipani mince pies

Fortnums game pie, haggis scotch eggs, Christmas chutney

Foreman and Fields cheese - £40 worth

Ian Burnett chocs - £35 worth

Altogether an extra £120. I don’t do anything else apart from go to as many Carol services (including one at the Royal Albert Hall - tickets £20) available.

Anon and elquinto

Thanks very much. It appears I have a Christmas Eve box! I used to be a Christmas snob, but a few years ago got an artificial tree and haven't looked back since.

This sounds like a lovely haul:

*Meg Rivers Christmas cake and frangipani mince pies

Fortnums game pie, haggis scotch eggs, Christmas chutney

Foreman and Fields cheese - £40 worth

Ian Burnett chocs - £35 worth*

I'm jealous!

What a lovely thread. A seasonal concoction of sneering & boasting.

You do all realise that is says a lot about you (none of it nice) that you need a thread like this, right? Other people’s Christmases bother you so much you need an antidote?

Here’s hoping 2018 brings you the real life validation that you clearly so desperately crave. Then you won’t need to insult strangers on the internet to get it, eh?

“Oh, I wouldn’t stoop to Elf on a Shelf - I’m all about Fortnum’s game pie & carols at The Royal Albert Hall”

“My precious angel is far too smart to be an elf or a pixle like all those thick as shit kids. No, he had to be a rat with a vague Dicken’s reference because, you know, The Muppets is a far more worthy thing to watch than some Disney crap made for plebs”.

Fucking hell!

Love this thread!

Nothing special and magical happening in our house although DS is now old enough that I know I can sneak into this room to leave presents without waking him up 😂

F&M cheese though sounds like a fantastic idea!

Agatha I think you might be taking it a bit too seriously, the thread title clearly states that it's a thread about snobby Christmasses.

As much as everything I have said is true, it's also very light-hearted, and an active attempt to out-snob-snobby-Christmas, I'm laughing at my own (very real) pretentions, I cast no judgement on how other people choose to celebrate.

A gazillion threads about elves are fine but one about the finer side of Christmas isn't?

Christmas is a brilliant time of year but threads like this just give people the chance to do some anonymous boasting or even some creative writing. If they can make another person who they don’t even know feel slightly inadequate and maybe even a little jealous, they’ve done their job for the day. Celebrate Christmas however you think best. Shop wherever you like, visit anyone and anything you think appropriate or enjoyable. And maybe spare a thought for people who aren’t as fortunate - isn’t that actual the point of Christmas?

Aha I have found my tribe

No Elf here (can’t be arsed) or Christmas Eve boxes (ditto) or matching pjs (wtf?).

DCs have an advent calendar although admittedly it’s Playmobil and has plastic shit in it. Our Christmas starts with Olympia on the 16th, by which I mean the horsey thing, takes in a panto and possibly the ballet.

On the 25th we’ll land on my sister, get shedded on sloe gin and all cook a very chaotic Christmas dinner together. Boxing Day is family day with lots of champagne and “millennial food”.

Millennial food is so called after the Radio 4 show More or Less, which alleged that millennials spend $96 billion on breakfast. For example bagels which cost a fiver each but are DELICIOUS.

Agatha no kids at home now to do Elf with. Just dh and I and a bit of nice food.

Still no wiser as to what Elf on the Shelf is...

23rd - previously we would have gone to see The Nutcracker at the National Ballet, but since DD was born we watch the Mariinsky version of The Nutcracker (1992 if it makes a difference) on DVD. Lights low, snacks and drinks etc. In the evening we go to a Carol service.

Pleb. Nutcracker @ The Royal Opera House, then over to the Savoy.

Is this the poncetastic thread of old?

Loved those threads

I think I’ve found my people

AutumnFalling - no - the Poncetastic threads are still going. There is a current one in the Christmas topic

Kind of agree that this isn't a particularly nice thread. I'm not keen on the whole Elf on the Shelf thing but don't judge anyone who is.

Love my Xmas duvet too.

Museum you're right, if we were proper snobs, we'd go to ROH, rather than the Coliseum.

But the reason we do is even MORE pretentious... both the Artistic Director and Manager Director of the ENB left in 2012 - it was a company under a huge amount of pressure, and DH and I wanted to show support. In my defence, I was a dancer in my youth, and feel more warmth towards the ENB than the Royal Ballet.

I refuse to buy an advent calendar containing sweets or gifts. Ideally it will display the nativity. As a last resort I will tolerate a wintry scene with just a sprinkle of glitter.

This thread is an antidote to all the other Christmas threads which always have to contain at least one mention of each of the following words:

PJs
Hot choc
Cosy
Magical
Family tradition (which is usually watching a film with aforementioned hot choc)
Snuggle
Elf (on the fucking shelf)
Hampers
Twitch (as in, the huge pile of presents might not be large enough to outdo everyone else on Facebook, necessitating a late night trip to Asda for more tat)
Outings (as in a visit to an overpriced, Christmas-themed park, with some fake snow, a dodgy Santa and a few depressed-looking reindeer.)
Pressies
Christmas bedding

Yes, I'm probably a horrible person.

Hands up who thinks Anon is Alex Polizzi

I dont think so because Alex is my girl crush and Anon doesnt have that nasally posh sexy way of typing that Alex would have to match her make me keel over in a swoon voice.

Fair enough, Anon. You're no pleb.

Has anyone noticed that last year's Carols by Candlelight at the Royal Albert Hall is not on this year?

Any suggestions for a suitable alternative?

@reallybadidea you summed it up perfectly. I can't stand the obsession with hot chocolate like it's a magical elixir not an ordinary beverage available 365 days of the year.

I never thought of myself as a Christmas snob but maybe I am? We don't do the elf, don't do Christmas Eve boxes and only a couple of presents each. We also, and I know Mumsnet hates this, don't do Santa. DCs are nearly 2 and 5 and they will be bouncing off the walls come Christmas eve just like all the other kids. They will be caught up in the 'magic' and all the rest of it - they just know that mum and dad do it, not Santa.

Our tree isn't that snobby though, it's fake with mismatched mean a lot to us decorations.

Oh give people a break. I do everything the people on this thread hate, elf on the shelf, xmas eve boxes, hot chocolates, matching pyjamas, our favourite Christmas film is Elf, presents are ripped open first thing in the morning. But I’m still loving reading this thread just seeing what other people do instead. Clearly done in a fairly light hearted way calling themselves snobs etc. Each to their own & all that!

Unashamedly a Christmas snob. It’s such a beautiful celebration I like it done ‘properly’.
Christmas not Xmas
Father Christmas not Santa
Real tree and lots of greenery throughout house. Fresh flowers. Nothing inflatable.
Stockings hung by fireplace not pillowcases.
Presents under the tree for opening after lunch.
Advent Calendar is an heirloom with little presents in each box.
We have homemade fresh wreaths and Advent candle ring.
Our nativity set takes centre stage.

Christmas Eve is a village event so bizarre nativity from pub to church. Then supper with whoever picks names out ( might be friends might be strangers - everyone goes to one of about 10 houses and eats the same things. Finishes with Hark the Herald in village square at 1130pm ready for Midnight Mass. Children bring presents rather than receive them.

Boxing Day we do drinks.