My sentiments exactly. I keep trying to recreate the special Christmas moments of the past, but it never works out. Somehow watching It’s a Wonderful Life became an event. It’s a nice film, but we try and plan Christmas around it, but Christmas Eve for me is cooking the shepherds pie we always have, served with pickles. Rushing it down, ushering the kids up to bed and waiting for them to settle so that I can retrieve all of the presents from their clever hiding places, wrap anything I haven’t wrapped already and get it all under the tree. It’s usually after 1am when I can settle with a glass of something, and by then, the wife is fast asleep and I get to watch Ghost Stories on BBC by myself in the dark, eventually turning it off when I get freaked out. That’s the side of Christmas that i love.
That sounds FANTASTIC. That (or something similar) would be my dream way to spend Christmas Eve actually.
I thought the same thing cosmic! Like wow, that sounds like A Wonderful Life! Butters, you always have the most delightful things to say about your family life. It sounds so incredibly dreamy. Between you and @Blue Xmas Balls I’ve come down with a 100.5° baby fever.
We are going to my mother-in-law’s for a big turkey supper on the 25th, and I have sparkly reindeer antlers to wear so I can feel extra festive.
I've always said that I hate all the commercialism associated with the holiday season, but in essence, I'm part of it when I shop for presents. It is what it is. My focus has always been to give rather than receive. I have a little more to spend this year, but I have mostly everything I need.
I love giving gifts-- figuring out what people want, what they might like; it makes me happy. Unfortunately, I don't have much money, so it can be challenging.
I like doing the whole Christmas thing at work because it's a great social opportunity. We do ugly sweater contest and yankee swap. Plus, I have family members with way less money than me, and kids to support, so the consumerism gives us all a good opportunity for a charity hack: We can give them money without damaging any pride. Plus my office shuts down from Christmas Eve through New Years so I can go on a vacation without taking any PTO! For my parents I just take them out somewhere and make that their gift, thats what they want from me more than some trinket.
there you go: We had similar games at some of the places I've worked--like a cross between Secret Santas and White Elephant game.
in my family we mostly give gifts that take up no space. For example doing all my sister's darning and sewing for a year or going on a road trip with dad. On my wishlist for this year is tuning the piano - I haven't played in decades and would so much like to try it again. So far I've baked almost all cookies. Only 2 sorts left and maybe I'll make another batch of walnut brittle since the first one already fell prey to my sister I don't have Christmas decorations up yet. In my region we do that on Christmas eve. But then we leave the tree standing till Candlemass Right now I only have window stars folded out of transparent paper - they look very pretty =) And an Advent Wreath: a wreath made of spruce or fir twigs with 4 candles on it. Every Advent sunday one more gets lit.
I’m just gearing up now for Christmas. So many things to buy for the children. They’ve asked for so little you can’t help but love them for it. One side of A4 each, with their big primary school hand writing. Not everything that they want can be obtained though. I bought decorations for the tree yesterday at half price and the tree can go up tonight. I’ve got another concert to see tonight and some presents to buy this afternoon. I don’t tend to do a lot of baking. I’m more a main meal and starter type of cook, but this year I’ve said I’ll make mince pies and this year I bloody well will. Store bought mince pies contain about 90% of the sweetness I need to feel sick, but home made ones are gorgeous, with the crispy caramelised leakage. The tree should go up tonight. Starting to feel positive about it all.
We are all decorated. I actually take the day after Thanksgiving and do it all then. We ahve everything for the kids, except an American Girl doll for my daughter and something else for my son. We are going in to the city this weekend to do Bryant Park/ Rockefeller Center and decided to throw in FAO Schwartz for my son and American Girl doll store for my daughter. My husband cannot pick out gifts to save his life, so I got three new purses I have had my eye on for a while. Still need to get for nieces and nephews. I hosted Thanksgiving, so my brother is hosting Xmas Eve and my in laws are hosting Xmas day. Should be fun.
how about some old-fashioned board games the whole family can play? That's often more fun than expensive toys for playing alone with.
Board games are far too provocative in our house, and chaos soon descends. We started our first game of monopoly last month, when the dust settles, we’ll carry on. I’m about done with the kids’ presents, but it doesn’t feel like enough. They haven’t asked for much, and I’ve managed to get almost everything. We don’t want them to be materialistic, and to value what they have, so I should be pleased, but their piles seem small. This is the Christmas pressure I always dread.
We went to New Hope PA last night. It’s my favorite place this time of year with my favorite shithole bar. It’s this dive called John & Peter’s. They were voted the best small town bar in Pennsylvania this year, I hope that doesn’t start to change things there