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Christmas

From present ideas to party food, find all your Christmas inspiration here.

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Original poster

How Christmas is too Christmas?

155 replies

PaperDolphin · 19/09/2021 15:51

I decorate the house including tree and outside lights, have a Christmas jumper as do the kids (as well as other Christmas clothes including PJs), and read Christmas books to them throughout December. We have (chocolate) advent calendars and a Christmas puzzle that gets an airing each year.

I always thought that, as far as Christmas "stuff" goes, Christmas bed linen was a step too far. I have had a complete mind change on this and am absolutely 100% getting Christmas themed bed linen for myself and kids this year.

Just browsing and noticed that you can get Christmas themed crockery... again feel this is a step too far (would you only use it on Xmas day?) Does anyone have it and it brings them joy? What Christmas themed objects do you have that may seem a step too far for other people?

OP posts:

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Original poster

PaperDolphin · 19/09/2021 16:14

@ShowOfHands

The Spode Christmas's Tree collection if people are unfamiliar.

I've got a few Portmeirion Christmas things too.

Oh my good Lord they are beautiful.

OP posts:

Original poster

PaperDolphin · 19/09/2021 16:15

I like the idea of hand towels and tea towels. Never occurred to me you could Christmas-up a bathroom. I did once get Christmas hand soap but it lasted until March and got a bit annoying.

OP posts:

Original poster

PaperDolphin · 19/09/2021 16:16

@livingthegoodlife

Embroidered hand towels for bathrooms, reindeer & father Christmas (I also have Easter ones!). And a reindeer bathmat.

I want Easter hand towels.

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ShowOfHands · 19/09/2021 16:17

I've been collecting the Spode Christmas tree stuff for twenty years. I use it for an entire month and that adds up to a lot of use. The range is massive. DH bought a set of the cheese knives for me last year and they're flipping lovely. I figure people spend way more on say, a wedding dress and justify it for one day!

ShowOfHands · 19/09/2021 16:20

See, beautiful.

I have a couple of really beautiful Christmas soap dispensers which I inherited when my Grandma died. I refill them with ginger spice liquid soap on December 1st and one sits by the kitchen sink and one in the family bathroom.

Dearreader · 19/09/2021 16:21

@loopylindi I think you sound absolutely marvellous.

I have a Christmas gravy boat (can’t believe I even have a gravy boat. It’s not even big enough.) Salt and pepper set, tea towel, Santa plate and mug (chipped but Santa doesn’t seem to mind). Napkins with sprouts on them as well.

VivaJen · 19/09/2021 16:22

@PaperDolphin

I like the idea of hand towels and tea towels. Never occurred to me you could Christmas-up a bathroom. I did once get Christmas hand soap but it lasted until March and got a bit annoying.

I swap over my Molten Brown hand wash with their Frankincense one for December, it has lasted for about 3 years (last year almost finished it with everyone at home) 🎄

TwinsandTrifle · 19/09/2021 16:23

Yep

I think this is ok too, because you get a months use out of it. It's not wasteful or continual effort.

Just browsing and noticed that you can get Christmas themed crockery... again feel this is a step too far (would you only use it on Xmas day?) Does anyone have it and it brings them joy?

A couple of years ago, I bought the Spode service super cheap via tips from the bargain thread. It was cute. But a whole dinner service taking up the entire storage of my dining room sideboard, only to be used for one week of the year? The novelty pretty soon wore off. Actually just sold it on FB for sale for £20 more than I paid, so pretty chuffed with that.

What Christmas themed objects do you have that may seem a step too far for other people?

That fucking elf. Oh it encapsulates everything I think is wrong with over commercialised Christmas.

Advents are traditional. Whilst they come in all shapes and sizes now, they are still just advents. Christmas jumpers, can be used all December. Duvets etc not my preference, but again, can be used all December. Decorations, of course.

It's just that poxy plastic creepy elf who has appeared out of nowhere in the last ten years.

Wroxie · 19/09/2021 16:25

@ShowOfHands

The Spode Christmas's Tree collection if people are unfamiliar.

I've got a few Portmeirion Christmas things too.

Aw my mum had that. Brings back memories! She collected it for years and we got her a new piece or two every year. My sister has it now and uses it every Christmas.

mumsiedarlingrevolta · 19/09/2021 16:26

My dishes are Johnson Bros. Use them for December. DC love them as a harbinger of Christmas.
Lots of tea towels and hand towel in loo. Some Christmassy glasses, couple of spatulas, Christmas mugs. Have some fun aprons for cookie making etc.
I do go a bit mad- I love Christmas so much. Tend to decorate all the downstairs rooms. Everyone gets Christmas pjs on Christmas Eve- DC in their 20’s now! Dd has Christmas bedding. Lots of cushions snd throws. TKMaxx usually very good for Christmas!!! Started collecting nutcrackers.

Original poster

PaperDolphin · 19/09/2021 16:30

Oh dear, this thread has basically become my Christmas shopping list....

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ShowOfHands · 19/09/2021 16:32

I have Christmas jumpers, sort of but they're more winter jumpers so I wear them from October to March. Lots of fairisle and Nordic type patterns. Nothing ostensibly Christmassy.

I decorate mostly in a poncy way with foraged greenery and fir cones, dried out fruit and spices, popcorn, homemade bunting etc and the stuff I've spent money on like my Spode collection is something I can pass on. They're collectable items and either DD/DS will want them or they can sell them and buy something they prefer. I reckon they'll keep them tbh. Teen DD loves them as much as I do.

I do have a snowglobe collection actually. They sit by the fire and on bookshelves around the house for all of December. Again, they're mostly collectables so they're probably an investment or something I can pass on. Heaven knows, I won't have any money to leave behind so they can have my Spode Christmas stuff, some snow globes and an enormous collection of vintage Christmas books.

PattyPan · 19/09/2021 16:35

We have winter bedding rather than Christmas bedding - it’s a blue brushed cotton set from next which has got reindeer and forest animals on it but it’s not so overtly Christmassy that it can’t be used in January etc.
I would like some Christmas serving dishes (not the whole dinner service but nice dishes for serving at the table) but don’t have space to store them and wouldn’t use them all year round. DP wears Christmas socks all year though!
We had Christmas hand soap last year and also finished it around March, it didn’t occur to me to put it away and save the rest for next year but that probably would have been better 🤦‍♀️
I used to live in Germany and miss it most in winter. I really want a pyramid (a wooden decoration like the attached picture) but DP keeps telling me no

WhenSheWasBad · 19/09/2021 16:36

I want Christmas crockery now.

Impossible to be too Christmassy.

vincettenoir · 19/09/2021 16:36

I wouldn’t judge you too harshly for getting Christmas bedding. But I think you should consider buying it second hand or at the very least passing on or recycling the fabric when you’re done with it.

PattyPan · 19/09/2021 16:37

Oh I do have quite a lot of Christmas mugs but you can get them in Germany for like 2€ at a Christmas market by not returning them after you’ve had your Glühwein. They usually say the name of the market and the year so they are nice keepsakes. I’m not sure if British Christmas markets do the same thing.

loopylindi · 19/09/2021 16:39

@showofhands
You've made the point about collectables. Some of our glass baubles are over 60yrs old and are now sold as vintage - so I'll be keeping them for a while. Anyone else who is interested in adding to their collection of vintage type stuff go to Christmas Imaginarium - they have some lovely stuff

ShowOfHands · 19/09/2021 16:42

I have my Granny's glass baubles and she was born in the 1880s. I didn't dare use them when the children were small.

Off to check out the Christmas Imaginarium...

Puffinhead · 19/09/2021 16:44

I make and sell fabric advent calendars/stockings so Christmas starts early for me - in the summer!

I made my DC a calendar each (when they were small) so they come out every year and we have a Xmas dinner service that I’ve had for nearly 20 years - it’s hand wash only so actually more hassle than it’s worth tbh! That only really gets used for Xmas dinner. But I bought it before we even had a dishwasher (and pre-kids) and now sort of stuck with it.

I am tempted by the Spode one though…

I have Xmas mugs that I love and every day, dishwashable plates/bowls - various sets. And a red teapot that goes with my hand knitted Xmas pudding tea cosy (which matches the mugs and milk jug/sugar bowl). I went a bit mad when the kids were little! My DH moans every year when it has to come out of the loft but the kids love it and we use those for most of December.

I don’t have Xmas bedding though.

Puffinhead · 19/09/2021 16:46

@PattyPan, we have one of those too! DH inherited it from his dad. We don’t use it often but it comes out every year.

irregularegular · 19/09/2021 16:50

We have some Christmas serving plates, but only really because they were my mothers. I do like using them in the run up to Christmas and up to New Year. They are really lovely, and I have a few other serving platters, dishes, cake stands etc that aren't used all that much but still enjoyed from time to time so it doesn't feel much different.

I have to say I'm not at all keen on the idea of Christmas bedding. I couldn't tell you why. It feels wasteful. I think for me Christmas is tied up with friends/family/cooking/eating and the plates are part of that. They are a communal, celebratory thing, like decorating the living room. Sleeping? Decorating private bedroom space? No not really.

ShowOfHands · 19/09/2021 16:50

I really want a Gluhwein boot mug and look at them on eBay occasionally but actually, what I really want is to go to one of the German markets and buy my own. One day!

Puffinhead · 19/09/2021 16:53

@irregularegular, I think that’s how I feel about the bedding too - all our decorations are very much centred downstairs, where everyone can see them. I have some cheap Xmas throws that I bought the kids but they stay on the sofa in the living room.

waybill · 19/09/2021 16:54

We have a couple of Christmas cushions, one with a robin on it, the other with reindeer. I have a small plate (Spode I think it is) that comes out once a year for the sole purpose of serving mince pies on Christmas Day, and there are a few festive mugs knocking about in the loft too. Some years they get brought down, some years we forget.

Shodan · 19/09/2021 16:59

I don't have Christmas bedding, or specific Christmas crockery (only because I don't have the space tbh).

But I was told that white-tacking 100 individual, hand-cut (by me snowflakes to the ceiling in the hall was a touch OTT. Also that three trees weren't really necessary (completely disagree).

When Christmas starts rolling round I start getting crafty. Last year it was crocheted snowpersons . I have about five in the house, and made some for anyone who showed the slightest bit of interest.

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