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.

You wrap them in tissue paper, no sellotape.

Christmas is for looking forward to when the hot cross buns go back on sale in January.

I love a gift bag! Awesome invention for the terminally lazy. Not a fan of traditional Xmas dinner but so what - we have something else. I don’t like the commercial aspect but that’s ok, I just don’t buy into it (all puns intended). Twinkly lights, decorated trees, time off work (for some of us including me), what’s not to like.

I possibly miss the whole purpose of gift bags but if I put something in a gift bag, I still wrap it 😅

Bonfire Night aka Guy Fawkes night

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guy_Fawkes_Night

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cm0ldd8kyn36o

Christmas should be celebrated in December and not before. I know people who are bored looking at their trees by mid December - right around the time we’re just going out to choose ours and start celebrating the Christmas season. A few years ago the unpopular opinion would have been to decorate for Christmas pre December but now it feels like waiting until December is the unpopular opinion.

Never having had any Advent Calendar as a child, I do like the little-pictures ones, and treat myself to one every year.

I do prefer the run up and the week after to the actual day - plenty of leftovers to eat up afterwards, after a lot of prep.

I do like Christmas pudding, but ours is homemade from an old GH recipe - so much less dense and heavy than shop ones. Haven’t made a Christmas cake for years, though.

Carols from Kings on Chr. Eve is always a highlight, with mulled wine! But I love proper carols anyway.

One thing I’d like to ban is the pernicious new trend (from across the pond) of leaving out ‘milk and cookies’ for Father Christmas - who on earth wants cold milk on a cold midwinter night? In the U.K. he expects a tot of something warming and a mince pie or two.

My milk delivery service is even offering a special little bottle for Santa’s milk! Sacrilege!

Yorkshire puddings definitely do belong on Christmas dinner and on ALL roast dinners.

OP - as kids the majority of our gifts were unwrapped. Trust me - it did not detract from our excitement when we saw our pile of presents. We were materialistic little bastards 😂

My dislike is people fetishizing Christmas and wearing themselves out booking events and making up traditions in an attempt to make it magical.

Chill! Twinkly lights, some good food and drink, a thoughtful gift or two (ok maybe more presents for young kids) and you've got the ideal Christmas.

That's me ..... & it's bliss.

I love it so long as I keep out of shops in December and ignore all advertising. What's not to like about time off work, grown up children visiting with grandkids, lovely food and gifts. It's just a roast dinner with assorted buffet food later and on Boxing day. Obviously sad for some people and I'm sure my turn at that will come too. What I don't like are the implied expectations in the media that everyone must spend a fortune on tat and expensive consumer items.

My family still wrap the presents up but then proceed to put them in gift bags. I have actually said the last few years how I hate the bloody things ( I’ve not had a go at them about it), but I still end up with them 😩

Completely agree. I’ve had some lovely Christmas Days but Christmas Eve is magical and Boxing Day is incredibly relaxing and everyone has all their presents and there’s no festive tension!

bread sauce is my favourite

Fake Christmas trees are tacky, very tacky.

Pre-kids I’d got a bit disillusioned with Christmas but I really found my love for it once my DC were born and fully embrace the magic. Saying that, my one major dislike is Elf on the Shelf - it’s the one thing I’m a Christmas Scrooge about and have never done it!

The bit between Boxing Day and NYE, I find it really boring. I can imagine if you have a big family and lots of people to see it might be different,but to me it just feels like Christmas is over and the festive feeling is gone. I took it off last year but not going to bother this year, I'm taking the week off that runs up to Christmas instead as I love all the prepping and pre-Christmas activities.

I saw my first Advent calendars in the shops on August 31st, I don't think it would be an unpopular opinion to think that is ridiculous though.
Mine maybe is that decorations etc should go up much later, I remember reading older books when I was little and it was always a Christmas eve job which I always thought sounded really special. I do compromise and do start of the school holidays though.

Adults giving presents to other adults. Absolutely pointless.
Ridiculous statement. Why are adults any less deserving of a gift or should enjoy it any less?

Turkey is absolute shite. Christmas pudding is shite. But all the build up, decorations, lights, Christmas music etc is so magical and I just adore it. Mum and dad moved to the UK as teens from India in the 60s and we were all born in the 80s. We always had a Christmas tree, presents to open (often just bath smellies but we loved it), those massive shiny garland decorations and we always had Christmas dinner. The whole season is so lovely and magical and I love that my parents embraced the British culture and Christmas traditions so we never felt any different.

But yeh turkey can fuck right off, I do a leg of lamb every year😂

I think it's a good time to unwind, unless you have to go to work!

I use them if I have multiple for one person (still wrapped) just because it's easier to hand over and a carrier bag feels a bit shit.
I never ever write on the label though 😂

I entirely agree!

Completely agree. My dad was telling us all once, that he knew of a family who put their tree up in October - before Halloween! We all thought it was hilarious. I saw last Thursday (5th) someone had got Christmas decorations hanging off their gate. I have said exactly the same thing as you Ladybird, that they’ll be sick of them by December. They’re the type of people who take their tree down before New Year’s Eve. Someone up our road did just that 🙄

I can't get annoyed how other people celebrate christmas, it's fine to pick and choose the bits you like.

I celebrate Christmas, Yule and the Solstice, and like to spread the celebrations over several weeks.
I enjoy christmas crafts, and when the kids were younger we would do lots of things to celebrate winter, starting early December. We would make paper snowflakes for the windows, christmas cards, Yule logs, forest walks to gather pine cones.

I love wrapping gifts, even a huge pile, I have a small business I run from home , wrap and post 100 items a week, so my wrapping skills are fast and efficient.
I recycle materials and collect ribbon, bits and bobs from charity shops all year. I always have a bag of dried orange slices- I use any that are a little past eating, slice and dry, apples too. I have cinnamon sticks and lots of other things too that I use in my business and personal use.
I put up my bird and wild animal feeding stations over the winter- they get some extra,over the christmas period including wild deer.

I find shops a bit overwhelming, so I plan my visits carefully, and order most stuff online. I don't watch ads or TV, make sure my consumption of commercialism is limited.
There are many things about christmas that I choose not to do, but that's the fun part- we don't have to- it's all optional.

This year we will be having a few bonfires with my new fire pit, Solstice night and Christmas eve for sure. We are all adults now, but I love to do stockings, we hang them on Christmas eve- the most excited person in the family is my 94 year old mother, who still insists we leave out a biscuit and carrot !