What are you NOT doing this year.

[BrisaOtonal]

Christmas with my little family is a WIP. Every year I try and add to it or tone it down. I keep a note book and as I put decorations away I make a note to myself for the next year. I just read the letter to myself and I can see the sarcasm in my writing.

So what are you changing or not doing this year? Here are the notes I wrote to myself:

You bought too much food. The shops are open on Boxing Day or 27th if you need anything.

Buy better crackers. They were rubbish.

Only buy 2 bottles of your favourite tipple for the Christmas period. You felt poisoned after finishing the 3rd bottle

Don't put up decorations until 01 Dec as you will get bored of them

Don't buy so much stuff. Book days out instead.

Suck up your Christmas obligations but make sure it is only 50% of the time and the other 50% is what you want to do with your family.

Reduce further the amount of effort and money spent on childish adults presents.

I'm not giving in to my sister's need to accumulate 'stuff'. It doesn't seem to matter what it is, she just wants piles of stuff, and we get needless crap in return. I'm going to tell her to just buy for the DC and they will get something for her. I've got rid of all other tit-for-tat buying but this one is particularly bad.

Big thing for this year is cutting down on present buying/exchange. Had a big declutter this year and I don't need more crap I don't need/want coming into the house!

Definitely only buying for brothers kids - He earns a mega salary and obsessed with Christmas presents and getting vouchers! And suggesting to parents they only buy for ds not us, we'll buy something consumable for them.

Aside from presents, I want to make a Christmas cake this year and hoping to make a crochet snowflake tree display for the house.

Note about crackers - buy fill your own, or fill cheap ones.

Can't go wrong with a scratch card/lottery ticket, miniature booze, £1 toy for the kids.

Better than the rubbish you get in most bought ones.

We are not staying at home. It's been an awful year. Bare minimum decorations and then away from mid December to early January in Florida. A major expense and luxury but we need to get away.

I made a note too! It said no one needs 15 different types of veg, never do a trio of desserts again and never ever invite 50 people to a Christmas Eve party thinking only 20 or so will turn up...

No Christmas cards, leaving the house!!! I can't wait to stay in my own home. I am not going overboard this year.

Not going to spend over £40 on kids presents
Not going to go ott for stockings (fewer quality things rather than lots of cheap tat)

Unfortunately, not to bother with any Christmas themed outings, such as Winter Wonderland blah, Enchanted blah, Christmas evening blah. I enjoy them, but DS complains the whole time so I haven’t bought tickets for anything this year. Sad but if he doesn’t enjoy it what’s the point?

Start buying stocking fillers now

Decent crackers, like the booze and scratchcard idea!

Don't try and do anything new and different, the teenage dcs like it to be exactly the same every year!

You lost me at point that I realised you were going through your Christmas decorations!

I love the not idea

Should include - the spare wrapping paper is in X draw - the plug for the lights can be found in Y box etc

We always do a Christmas show and kids love it!

No crackers (I always fall for the allure but basically they're a waste of money and showers the table with bits of paper)

No cake - I still have most of last years left , don't know if it's still edible

No Christmas Pudding - doesn't get eaten

Don't be dragged to Lakeside by DD at every opportunity

We have Christmas Meals on the 24/25/26 and they always follow a set routine.
We added take-out on the 23rd which works really well.
Just light 'normal' things until NYE

Don't try to make mince pies 70 you know you're rubbish at them . I can make pastry . I can make pies . I just cannot make mince pies. I'll buy some from Sainsburys Bakery (they are lush)

I always make and freeze a big vegetarian lasagne , carrot&coriander soup and some lentil soup. It's really nice to have something to go to.

Won’t be buying lots. Partly as I have been gradually cutting down (I love buying presents), and partly as the bulk of the budget will be going on a PS4. This is the first time we’ve bought anything gadgety for Christmas but the Wii was over 10 years old and on its last legs so we ditched it when we moved in summer. So that plus a few games will cost a lot and we are trying to be more careful with money as well.

But I can’t stand the idea of not buying toys... especially as I feel (as I have wrongly felt for the last two years) that this may be the last year of toys for DD1 who will be 11.5.

I also may have to wrap in advance as the old house had a built in wardrobe where we could stash everything, but we have no such place here.

I am so excited to be here for Christmas though. Old house was tiny and horrible and now we live here and it’s lovely and there may be quite a few tears as I’m just so happy and excited. We can decorate properly although I’m not sure what to do with the toddler and the tree

We're all going out for dinner. Nobody has to buy the food or bother about cooking it then (will have newborn baby)

Everyone this year has a present budget which I am going to stick to. I end up spending faaaar too much on DD and DM.

Will probably cave and put my Christmas tree up at the end of Nov though- I get too excited ☹️

I so need this thread. Every Christmas I think we overspend and every Christmas I plan to update my spreadsheet with comments but never get round to it. What I do know is that we need to cut back on food massively. The cost is astronomical, especially for the years we are NOT hosting.

We're not going to anyone's house or hosting anyone at ours. This year the dc can stay in their pjs playing with their presents as long as they please without having to be rushed to get dressed and go out! And we'll have the food the 5 of us want at the time that suits us. I am so looking forward to it.

We are not having a Christmas story telling competition again. Or a marathon baking session either. Big mistakes both of them. No more dancing either I sprained my leg last year. This year we might try a new Christmas tradition instead of eating truffles constantly. We are currently discussing the idea of getting the kids to do a short Christmas play or skit for entertainment.
Or a family game night affair with quizzes etc. Not decided yet about the entertainment question yet. Instead of having masses of wasted Christmas food we’ve essentially decided to cut down this year. No more beef or chicken.

This year I will not buy everything that I see,I say this every year but this year I am sticking to it.

This year I will treat myself to a very nice hard backed note book so I can make a note of everything I've bought for each person(as I buy it) and what's going into they're stockings.

This year our 5DC's stockings will only contain things they can eat/drink,play with,wear,or use in the bathroom.

This year I will not buy the chocolates/sweets and savoury bits until right near Christmas,note to self it does not save me money buying them earlier when they're on offer if we end up eating them all and I have to replace them(4)a few times before Christmas day.

This year we will make a note of where the presents are hidden so DH doesn't lose a large sackfull in the attic again,meaning I have to replace alot of presents on Christmas eve!

This year I will buy extra wrapping paper,cellotape,tags,ribbons and bows and gift bags so DH doesn't forget till about 9pm on Christmas Eve that he hasn't got enough(not bought any)and has to share what little I have left.

This year I will buy tons more tinfoil,clingfilm and blackbags because come Christmas Day we never seem to have enough.

We are but driving 1000 miles.

No more Christmas photo albums this year. Additionally we are not interested in carol singing this year either. However as a compromise I’m buying crackers, gift cards, mince pies, wreaths, etc for everyone.

Less present buying! We have finally decided to do a secret santa with the adults this year instead of buying everyone something for the sake of it. Saves money and can focus more on getting decent presents.

What a great idea - I am so going to do this after Christmas this year. I am not going to stress so much this year. I do it every year especially over the food but we don't have extended family this year so the food will be on the table whenever it's ready and will be however it will be.

If it's not perfect so be it im sure the kids will appreciate me bieng happier and playing with them more rather than running around the kitchen like a headless chicken having a melt down because the meats taking longer than I'd planned and the roasts don't look right

Why I get like this on Christmas day (not normal behaviour for me) I have no idea but I promised myself at the end of Christmas day last year I would be a lot more chilled this year.

Last year's was our most chilled. I refused to host the in-laws (Fil, Sil, Bil) as they have behaved atriciously to us (and the whole, large family), and as they live together, they won't exactly be 'alone' for Christmas. Plus we have hosted them the last 5 years.

Last year we:
Opened stocking on the bed.
Pancakes breakfast and playing with stocking gifts.
Showered, dressed, walked the (tried out DS' walkie talkies in the woods).
Home for a cup of tea and opened tree gifts.
Lunch was cheese, Ritz crackers, Catalan sausage (chorizo, fuet, salsichon etc), cheese and 'quince jam' (membrillo) zilch preparation, v little washing up.
After lunch went to the beach to try out new scooter, let the dog run again, saw the annual festive sand sculpture.
Home for more relaxing.
Dinner at 7 when it was dark.
Dinner wasn't a roast, we are abroad and can't get enough ingredients to make it as i am used to. That's fine, every year is different.

DH takes DS to see in-laws after Boxing day. We see his other sister late-January to exchange presents between cousins! She's hard to get hold of, is quite entrenched in her own in-laws' circle. We Skype my family during Christmas day, just 15/20 minutes hee and there, no biggie.

In January we announced we aren't buying gifts for anyone other rhat DS. He has a December birthday so it is extortionate for us to spend birtgday/xmas for him plus xmas for various kids.... We aren't made of money. But, we spend a decent amount on kids' birthdays instead.

Such. A. Relief! Even now in October i feel free and very zen. I can think about Christmas without my chest constricting. Apart from researching this Christmas' dinner, last years was so good! It'll be hard to top.

• Walked the dog

I won’t be driving for 4 hours to spend Christmas Eve quivering like Hyacinth Bucket’s neighbour as my MIL shrieks with horror every time our toddler heads towards any of her “precious” stuff that she won’t put out of the way, or tries to touch her clothes in case his hands are dirty