Christmas unpopular opinions.

[Kickinthenostalgia]

Can we try to keep this lighthearted as I know some people can pretty savage on this site.
I was on the bus earlier today and I overheard a conversation between 2 ladies about thier Christmas shopping they needed to get. One said she needed to get wrapping paper and another said she doesn’t wrap presents but uses gift bags instead, how it’s saves so much time etc. Now don’t get me wrong obviously everyone’s situation is different but for me gift bags are so anti climactic. For me opening presents isn’t even really about the actual present it’s the anticipation of what’s underneath the paper as your opening it. I couldn’t imagine giving my kids or anyone for that matter, an unwrapped gift. To watch kids faces opening thier present on birthdays or Christmas makes me feel excited for them, even if I know what’s under it.

People not letting thier kids help decorate the tree, this leaves a bitter taste, trust me, as someone whose dad would change the tree around after we went to bed and thought we never noticed. It’s actually a bit soul destroying.

I often see on social media people absolutely ripping into people about how much they do and don’t spend. Christmas isn’t a competition. You do what suits your family. You don’t have to break the bank but equally people should be free to spend whatever they want on thier friends and family. I’m not sorry my kids get more than thier friends. I work hard for my money. I’ll spend it how I want, on who I want.

The attitude , very prevalent on here , that if you don’t do Father Christmas as a real thing that your children miss out on the magic of Christmas . Personally I think that one of the reason my now adult children have always loved Christmas through all their ages is that we did FC as a story , like any other story and Christmas has always been magical and fun because there was never anything to ‘lose’ . It also didn’t mean we didn’t go to see FC , we used to see a few a year and did all the experiences going .

I loathe "team bonding"

me too. like the current "hot honey" thing

24 Hours in the dead of winter.

Rather than a Christmas Eve box, why not do one at the first of December?

Because the vast majority of people don’t think any kind of pre-Christmas ‘box’ is either necessary or a tradition. And they are correct.

Someone upthread mentioned Christmas PJs for kids being a waste as they won’t fit next year…they just wear them into Jan, Feb and beyond as long as they still fit and are not too warm.

I remember being given some Christmas themed socks as a kid and finding them so incredibly depressing to wear once Christmas was over that I gave them to our dog to chew up. The thought of people wearing Christmas pyjamas in January and February feels really bleak to me. Like seeing sequinned festive party dresses hanging miserably on the sale racks at the end of January.

Whilst I agree on the wrapping I’m tempted every year to use foil like Smithy did on Gavin and Stacey.

Me too! Surely half the fun is in the unwrapping. The gift bags just identify the recipient.

My SIL used to use newspaper and just add some red or green shiny ribbon and it honestly looked really nice!

On your point about gift bags- I don’t see how bags involve any less excitement and anticipation than paper? I tape the top of them shut when I use them, and many use those reusable drawstring ones. I do however prefer paper myself.

Unpopular opinions

The build up to Christmas and especially Christmas Eve is better than the day itself. I do love the day, but it is exhausting.

Christmas dinner out is generally crap, unless you pay completely over the top prices. Give me home cooked any time.

Most Christmas music made after the 80s is crap.

Don’t get me wrong we use gift bags for outside the house family, we just simply wrap everything inside. I’ve just took the Christmas wrapping paper etc from the little cubby in DS room. My mum literally has a bag for life full of gift bags…

im not a fan of the week between Boxing Day and new years… crimbo limbo we call it.. never know what’s going on, eating leftovers for days 🫠

absolutely love Christmas music. It’s one of my favourite genres tbh. Carols, pop you name it… although there are a select few that get on my nerves.

we put our tree up around the last week of November, take it down between New Year’s Day and the 6th. DS birthday is the 5th so it just depends how busy we are etc.

The ONLY good thing about Xmas is mince pies.

But they are already doing a box on Christmas Eve. The clue was ‘rather than’

They were mere suggestions, if you don’t like it, you don’t need to justify it. I don’t do boxes or PJs, but others do and a box at the beginning of December with Christmas PJs in is far better than wearing them once after getting them in a box on Christmas Eve. For any avoidance of doubt, the suggestion was for those who are already doing those things.

How can that irritate you? It's just something you read on a forum from someone you'll (hopefully) never meet. Get a grip.

Twinkly lights should stay up after Christmas trees / decorations have come down. January and February are dark and cold and bloody miserable; keeping the fairy lights up for a few weeks would add a bit of brightness to the long dark evenings .

I love most things about christmas, but I think coming off social media has probably helped that as I don't see too much about it and I also don't feel pressure to keep up with the Jones'.

I suppose I don't like all the moaning about how over commercialised Christmas is. Christmas is such a personal thing, that it really doesn't matter to me whether someone else want to put their tree up on 1st August, if they buy Christmas eve boxes, if they have an elf on the shelf complete with all the branded elf accessories and want to spend £500 on their newborn babies Christmas presents. I don't do any of those things, and ours are pretty low key but I find the moaning about it more annoying than hearing about someone's more excessive celebrations. Separately, my brother has been coming to ours for Christmas for the last 11 years and yet every year he will no doubt remind me of how he hates Christmas which I can't help but take personally and I really don't need to hear it.

I agree. When I was a kid in the 1960's my parents did pretty much the same as you. I don't think I ever thought he was real and certainly by the age of 5 (when I started school) I knew for a fact he wasn't as did most of my peer group. But mum always took me to see a Father Christmas somewhere which I remember fondly. Of course we didn't use words like "magical" or "making memories" back then and Christmas basically only lasted 2 days but I loved every minute of it.

I quite like christmas cake and I can stand the odd mince pie but - yes, what the hell is it with cinnamon? As soon as the pumpkins come out every single thing you get in a cafe has to have cinnamon in it or dusted over the top! Disgusting stuff! And do not get me started on every single dish that contains an apple being loaded with (usually unadvertised) cinnamon!

We love Christmas season in this house

tree up 1st December with mulled wine and Christmas tunes. The nativity set always goes up first then we tackle the tree

i attend my florist friends Christmas wreath making activity and make one for our front door (first year doing it without my Mum, as she has mci and struggles with following instruction - her next door neighbour is going to make one with her as she too is a florist)

I attend a group I’m part of for a Christmas meal out where we all dress up and have a wonderful evening

we all meet up with husbands large family for food, drinks and a secret Santa which is hilarious (must be hand made, charity shop or regifted and to a set budget)

Christmas Eve is THE best day. We get up early, go wandering around the shops - have breakfast. We go out for afternoon tea. We go for a walk. I make turkey stock overnight in the slow cooker ready to make gravy with the turkey juices (if your turkey is dry - you’re not cooking it properly!)

Christmas day and Boxing Day is all about the food - all coming together for family meals, playing loads of games. It’s spending time together

we sit and open gifts in the afternoon, laughing at what we’ve bought each other! My brother and I swap Terrys chocolate oranges (I buy mine in Asda when on special for £1 - no expense spared)

tree goes down on 12th night

se buy treats which can’t be started till everyone has finished for Christmas and have to be eaten by 12th night

christmas cake is made in September and has a weekly feed of brandy. It’s decorated a few days before Christmas

New Year’s Eve we do Christmas 2 with our closest friends - Christmas dinner with all the trimmings and I mean ALL. Mad evening of eating, drinking and playing games. We watch bbc at midnight to welcome in the New Year

We LOVE Christmas. It’s not about presents, it’s about friends and family

I never did any kind of pre Christmas box, nor the stupid Elf on the Shelf.

I certainly never did any of these oh so serious sounding conversations with any of my children about whether or not Santa/Father Christmas was real. I just left them to work it out for themselves and didn't much care if/when they did that. Nobody was traumatised or died.

Each year I am unfailingly amused on here at the knots some people do seem to tie themselves up in about Santa and what a massive deal it seems to be. I rarely comment on those threads, but they are so funny and taken so seriously by some.

I must have been a dreadful mother. Oddly enough, my kids seem to have survived and are happy, healthy, well adjusted adults now.

Don't be so rude. It's a religious festival and Christmas day is the first day. If you're celebrating it in a secular sense that's fine, but very disrespectful to announce it's over at the crack of dawn on Boxing Day.

@Kickinthenostalgia sorry but I have to mention it as you’ve used the word so many times in your OP and each time spelt it incorrectly.

It’s their not thier.