Am I being a Grinch?

[rackhampearl]

I have two DD ages 2 and 5 and I’ve always loved Christmas. I do trim the house up, we make decorations for the tree from pine cones ect (as well as our shop decs), watch Christmas films have Hot Choc and games nights throughout December. However, I keep seeing threads regarding Christmas Eve Boxes, December 1st Boxes and Luxury/Toy/Gift advent calendars. See, I don’t bother with any of this, and I don’t mind anyone that does, but have the times changed THAT much?? Should I be doing more and buying more? I would hate my kids to be going to school and feeling sad and that I’m stingy because all the kids are talking about a new treat everyday during December. We wear normal pjs sometimes new but not every year, we drink from normal cups and Santa eats his mince pie from a normal kitchen plate, nothing decorated or jazzy. We keep on our normal bedding and we buy a simple advent calender. Am I alone in this ? Or does anyone else do things a little more basic? I’m finding it hard to understand these new ‘traditions’ as each year passes.

I've just posted on the 1st dec boxes. Advent calendars I think, Mrsjayy and pyjamas, bedding etc...

We wouldn't bother, personally, but we have Sinterklaas visiting next week (chocolate letters and tiny, token gifts) and also celebrate winter solstice, so have no desire to be adding Dec 1st boxes to that!

1st Dec boxes *thread.

I think the worlds gone nuts. The whole elf on a shelf annoys me and the Xmas eve boxes. In my day the treat on Xmas eve was being allowed to crack open the tin of roses! All my kids will have is the advent calendar and then Xmas eve some chocolates and then their presents on Xmas day. They are 3 & 1 so don't need much to get all excited for Santa. It just seems to have gone overboard and we are a one income family I can't be buying into all these fads

I hate the elf on the shelf so much. I will never do it. We have new pjs on Christmas Eve and that I s only because I did it ONCE and they really loved it and said it was the best part of Christmas.

We do not do Christmas Eve boxes or fancy advent calendars. They get a normal cheap chocolate one. Stockings are full of tape and scissors and pants and chocolate bars. These are from F.C. because dc aged 8 and 10 refuse to believe he doesn't exist.

Then we have a big lunch, afternoon presents, a game with PILS and a nap. On Boxing Day I like to do nothing except eat leftovers. On 27th I take the tree down because it's pissing me off and I look forward to getting back to normal!

My DCs are older (young teen) but we've never done Elves of any description, Christmas Eve hamper (well I tried that once and they were too excited about the following day to be interested), Dec 1st hamper, toy advent calendar etc, new PJs. As far as I'm aware no one I know IRL does any of this either. We do get the Christmas DVDs and books out on the 1st, plus mugs and teatowels, bedding for our bed (DCs now think Christmas bedding is uncool) and we did go and see Santa till they were about 10, but only at the garden centre, not as an extravagant day out.

@ThisIsNotARealAvo I think you are me. I do exactly the same.

And This is how I feel about Elf On The Shelf

Ah right endehors youhave a lot going on without adding to it. I get that these things are tradition and fun for families but nobody should feel pressure or guilt for not joining in.

Oh and we've never had an 'elf on the shelf'.

Dec 1st at ours is just stuff we'd do anyway

Advent calendar
Cards/card making kit
Make your own decorations of some kind
Christmas pasta
Old Christmas books/CDs/DVDs/mugs/tea towels
Winter bedding goes on (brushed cotton winter scenes from BHS. Stays in use until March)
Family secret santa (everyone gets an envelope with one name and £10 in. Probably need inflationary rise. )

Christmas Eve - new PJs so that everyone looks tidy in photos
Jigsaw to share
Chocolate stirrers

Just do what you want. I can't stand the "have you been good" stuff, (i often said that everyone good or bad will get presents in our house) so wouldn't do the elf thing but it's fine if others want to.

I don't understand Christmas Eve/December boxes at all so we don't do that. We do have a Christmas film on Saturday nights in December with bog standard popcorn and hot chocolate. Definitely do not do Elf on the Shelf - it's weird, although my DD6 does know what it is, from, I guess, friends at school. This year is the first year that DDs 6 and 4 are getting toy advent calendars and that is because they have been so good this year. DD4 is getting the Peppa Pig Asda toy one and DD6 is getting the Smiggle one (bought by my parents). Then we just have a tree and normal decorations. No Christmas bed spreads/toilet covers/welcome mat etc. The only thing over the top I do buy is a new Christmas jumper every year but they wear them for Christmas jumper day at school and nursery and we take photos of them wearing them for relatives we won't see at Christmas.

Thing is, unless money is no object, we all have to draw the line somewhere. Round here loads of people have been heading off to our local holiday Park for a Christmas themed weekend or mid week break. I've seen people posting photos of whole families in their brand new matching Xmas pjs. Christmas jumpers are now also very much the thing. Kids have advent calendar with toys in while grown ups get their alcohol/make up/Yankee candle ones. Elf on the self gets up to all sorts of complicated shit which costs time and money to sort no doubt. Whacking a shit ton of light up decorations outside your house is very normal now. Most cities have Christmas 'wonderlands' which are basically expensive fun fairs - ours is £2.50 a ride. Then there are the Christmas themed days out on trains and the like. Christmas bedding anyone? Oh and the Christmas eve box that has been mentioned - another set of pjs, a new dvd etc. That's without the expense of the usual Christmas stuff - panto, grotto, tickets to see the kids in their school plays. It. Is. Insane. You can't do it all and shouldn't even try unless you want to go bankrupt or destroy your own enjoyment of the festive season.

Christmas pasta? What on god's green earth is that?!

I am far too busy with life to dream up extras for Christmas. I’ll probably take the kids to the local church on Christmas Eve, they need new PJs as they’ve outgrown theirs (I’ve been holding off) so will get them some festive ones. I usually make decorations with them and we go on local trips etc.

I just love spending time with the dcs.

Pasta in Christmas shapes from Lakeland. Yes really

I shouldn't be on this thread really

Oh yes definitely Church on Christmas Eve! Can’t wait for that at all!

We do elf on a shelf. My DS school started it. Son was confused about why he had an elf at school but not one at home. He asked did Santa not like him as much as other children. I felt horrible for him and guilted into starting it. I hate it but he loves it. We move the elf to a different place every day but no tricks or treats come with it. We do a simple chocolate advent and a book advent. No December 1st box. No toy advents. We are doing an Xmas eve box this year but it will have everyone’s pjs, hot chocolate, cookie/cup cake mix, the bath bombs they get for Xmas eve bath, and a list of Xmas movies we will watch. It’s all stuff we do anyway but this year I’m putting it in a box to make it easier on myself. I’ll know where everything is. The kids will know when we are doing what activities and what the plan for the day is while we prep Xmas dinner, and the general xmas eve tidying up.
At least that’s the plan. Don’t know if I could actually be bothered 🤣

No we do similar. We tried a Lego advent calendar one year and we heard no end of moaning about the cheap chocolate ones! I have a candle that is burned in the dark morning/night.

We will go to NT houses or go see the Christmas lights with a hot choc or pay out for something like ice skating, but that is it. No special glasses/plates/bowls, PJs, bedding or anything.

Also a tree that is up for 2 weeks (in total)

I’m so glad my kids are grown up and there’s not the pressure to do all this crap now.

We didn’t, still don’t, put the tree up until the middle of December because who wants over excited kids for weeks on end? There was no such thing as Elf on the Shelf and thank heaven for that because I really couldn’t have been arsed with it. As for Christmas Eve boxes just why? They’re already bouncing off the walls, why add extra to it?

We did have advent calendars, sometimes they were PlayMobil or Lego, not always.

IMO Christmas, and I do like Christmas, is getting completely out of hand. It’s all so driven by the retail sector and it’s making the season last longer and longer. The way it’s going now people will be putting their trees up the day the kids go back to school in September.

The first line of my post should say that there wasn’t the pressure to do all the crap that there is now.

I love the Christmas tree, so we get one at the beginning of December to get our money's worth. We don't do anything special on Christmas Eve, I want DD to be as unexcited as possible so she goes to sleep. She has new pyjamas when she outgrows her old ones, and nobody needs to still be wearing reindeer ones in April, so she has a couple of pairs of character ones and Asda's finest multipacks instead. We don't do the elf because I can't be arsed and I don't like him. We have a growing selection of Christmas books and films, we will make paper chains, decorate the Christmas cake and so on, and we'll go on a train ride because DD likes trains and we rarely have any other reason to. I'm hoping to get her to a carol service this year, but if they're all too late I'll go with my mum. We pick the bits we enjoy.

There was no pressure Fairy I put my tree up mid december as well 4 houses in my street have trees up already a neighbour is out faffing about with lights thatcan be seen from space will be switched on at the weekend I have a month of flickering and flashing

No you’re certainly not the Grinch. Just the mention of new feckin pjs for Christmas Eve makes me Grinchy add to that the constant drinking of hot chocolate whilst wearing the said nightwear.... why have these everyday things become the holy grail of Christmas Eve?

Surely the great thing about Christmas traditions is that they're personal and evolve with your family. You might think that they're commercial crap but most are european traditions that travel with families. It would be crazy to do everything, but equally very boring if we all did the same.

It’s nice to have a few traditions and things that you do as a family, but a lot of this stuff is pushed on us by other people or retailers trying to make money.

I prefer to keep it simple, otherwise you can miss the whole experience because you’re trying to hard.

We have a book advent calendar that I bring out each year. It tells a part of the story each day. For me, that’s perfect. Well-meaning relatives have delivered my children 3 advent calendars each! By the time we’ve opened all of them, we’ll be late for school.

Our Christmas is like yours, although I have been known to put a bit of tinsel on the normal tray that holds the mince pie.

I admit I do hanker after lovely bedding for December because it seems so cosy but DH would think I'd gone stark raving bonkers and so would I when I was trying to squeeze it into the cupboard to be stored.

I do love Christmas but our kids mostly talk about the late nights, the films, the lights, the food, the lazy bit between Christmas and New Year.