Christmas ideas that are based on family not consumerism

[Happyspud]

Would love to hear the ways Christmas is Christmas for your family, not based on buying useless tat. I think it’s about:

• lounging around watching movies together
• A fridge full of things you look forward to eating
• visiting each other and having an Irish coffee rather than normal coffee for example
• fires lit and heating on
• letting kids choose more than usual, what they watch, how much screen time, what they eat, how much mess they make, when they go to bed
• family trips out in the cold for a good walk in the park or to the cinema or panto
• visit neighbours with token gift like box of biccies

None of that, except panto needs to cost much.

I'm honestly not being picky but movies and the movie industry are a huge part of consumerism.

If you're taking it down to brass tacks, then it's about the feast yes...so food is part of it. As is giving and spending time together.

The giving part was always meant to be giving to the needy...and gifts to family were meant to be small/practical.

I agree about the walks though and another thing which is great is making decorations together.

Playing board games
Sitting and eating altogether at the table and chatting away
Going out for parkrun, bike rides etc as it’s usually a great day to do this type of stuff and works up an appetite for lunch

Baking Christmas treats together or making something like a pizza as a family

Going for a walk after Christmas dinner whether you want to or not
Having sprouts even though no-one likes them
Having the same decorations every year, some of which are now quite battered
Watching the cat get its present of the box the turkey came in - cat is always delighted

I’m from a culture that doesn’t really celebrate Christmas but we have a fab time together and none of the stress of gifts.
We have a big family get together on Christmas Day and everyone brings a couple of dishes.
have a wander around London looking at the lights (we live on the outskirts)
some Christmas baking with friends who do celebrate.
tickets to a local theatre
lots of walks and lots of films
some charitable things like foodbank and donation to shelter

Working on crafts together to decorate the house

Working together in the kitchen, whether baking beforehand, or prepping on Christmas Eve or Day for the turkey feast, or making the most of leftovers - but enjoying the preparations rather than the usual rushing around, and doing it together.

Having music on in the kitchen and having a bop around while waiting for other things (like waiting for the washing machine/dishwasher to finish their cycle).

Taking time to read, all curled up in chairs around the fire

Going for long walks - we try to get out for a proper hike over Christmas as we are too busy a lot of the winter weekends

We also do a charity swim for the homeless on Christmas Eve - the sea is a little bitter, but we warm up afterwards with hot drinks and its both a nice way to start the holidays with friends from the sailing club (most people have to go on elsewhere afterwards so doesn't last for hours, but it is a relaxed time as people have started to slow down and take a while to chat over that drink) and raise some money as well.

Doing things for others is Xmassy to me- delivering cards for neighbours or helping out at charities etc. Taking toys to charity collections or singing carols at old folks home etc to help kids see that it’s not all about getting at Xmas but giving - of time and talents as well as gifts.

Write Christmas cards - yes, and I like getting them too.
Bake stuff
Make stuff
Play board games mid-afternoon

We are not church goers but always go to the carols on the green on Christmas Eve as do a lot of our village. We catch up with neighbours and friends, preschool staff and the children from the village.

Sometimes we bake something to take with us and share.

It's my absolute favourite bit of Christmas and definitely gives me that warm fuzzy feeling....

So many! We go to our local carol service, crib service and midnight mass, which are all free. We have Carols Round the Tree in the village on Christmas Eve with mulled wine and mince pies afterwards.

Our church makes mini Christmas cakes (people donate one ingredient and then we spend a afternoon baking). We then take these to people in the village who are housebound or alone, or who wouldn’t make/buy a Christmas cake “just for one”.

Advent activities with my children include making mince pies, paper chains and Christmas cards, which are all low cost. Last year my daughter made friendship bracelets for her friends rather than buying them gifts.

Invite neighbours around for drinks and mince pies.

As pp have said a walk in the dark to see all the Christmas lights that people have put up round their homes and of course lots of board games!

Carols! We’re Jewish and it’s honestly my favourite part of the year . Making cards for friends, decorating the tree, baking together. The crib service. Mince pies.

Booklists, gifts for teachers, presentation night, end of year excursions, Mass, I bake pan forte for particular friends, clean the house. This year I think I want to go out for breakfast over the week somewhere. Parks have free BBQ's so I might choose one and take bacon and eggs and just get out early.

Lovely thread OP.

I like the focus Christmas brings to baking, crafting, seeing family, looking out for elderly neighbors, wondering about relations, concern for society’s vulnerable people.

Obviously we should do these things all year round but we’ve largely lost touch with the old annual festivals that gave us pause, as the cycles of nature and the sun don’t impact directly on modern life. So Christmas is all the more special.

I love playing cards and board games. It’s hard to make time regularly for this sort of thing but it’s a ritual that must be observed at Christmas.

I love the carols, the meals in each other’s homes, retelling old stories, and melting the chocolate on biscuits in front of a fire. roaring

Family games - charades, trivia pursuit etc.

Putting out milk and mince pies for father christmas.

Walking round the village to see all the Christmas lights (although I suppose the sale of such lights is quite consumer-y)

Our town does a late night carol singing in the square the night before christmas eve and that's always lovely.

Crib service
Breakfast with Santa (although this costs money!)
Allowing the DC to decorate the tree then re-do it myself later
We take chocolates to the ambulance station, fire station and police station on Christmas Eve afternoon

I always take the DC on a drive to see the Christmas lights in the local villages one Friday after school. Some villages near us go all out.

We have a make Christmas cards and gift tags day, I love doing this every year. We also make gingerbread cookies. I also make sure we go and see a Christmas movie every year as a family, it's a lovely day out. I also enjoy having a festive hot chocolate and mince pie. Although you might class those last two as consumerist.

I still go to my parents’ on Christmas Eve, for me it’s about driving around and seeing the Christmas lights on Christmas Eve, our pyjama Christmas Eve service at church, going to sleep extra early and then waking up at the crack of dawn and still opening my Christmas presents with my parents

The Christmas food swap.[santa]
My dad drops off turkey and stuffing and picks up ham and christmas cabbage. Sharing the cooking makes the day a lot more relaxed.

Mass on Christmas Eve and the walk home afterwards.

Singing medieval Christmas carols and sharing the jobs of cooking and the pleasures of eating together. Celebrating the birth of babies and the bravery of women (I'm an atheist). The idea that a newborn is the most precious, innocent thing on earth, connected to the stars and the evergreen woods.

I love all of these ideas and, in my mind, it would be all lovely and magical to do them, especially on Christmas Eve. However, I always end up disappointed and we always end up falling out! Probably due to the pressure of it all needing to be perfect and over-excited children. As a result, I now put myself down to work Christmas Eve and get home just in time to put the kids to bed. I figure that if I'm not there, I can't cause it all to go wrong!

In the run up to Christmas, we watch all of the Christmas cookery programmes (we love Nigella) and try out some of the recipes. We go to a carol service at our local church and every Christmas market we can find, just to wander around and soak up the atmosphere. We usually go into London to pick up some bits and will wander around to see the lights then find a really old pub for a drink by the fire. Me and my DSIL will normally make holly wreaths for several loved ones we’ve lost and put them on their graves or where their ashes are scattered.

When we put the tree up, I’ll assemble it while DH untangles the lights that I didn’t put away properly the year before and we’ll listen to Christmas music while we decorate it. I normally make a wreath for the front door.

On Christmas Eve, we always put fresh Christmas bedding on, do some baking, then have bubble baths, change into new pyjamas and settle down for the evening with a Christmas film and hot sausage rolls.

Christmas Day, we skype with DH’s family in Wales then cook the dinner together. Family usually pop in throughout the day and it’s just a really lovely, relaxed time. It’s perfect for us.