Not sure if this is a good thing or a bad thing….

You only have to see all this Christmas stuff if you want to. I know it is there but you can just turn your mind off, and run your mind over it indifferently, just as you do the rest of the year when you see things that do not interest you.

There is a football tournament in Qatar at the moment, DH and I are only conscious of it because of the politics surrounding it. We only 'see' it when it is on the politics pages of the newspapers. We dont 'see' or 'hear' anything about it, or indeed any sport, unless we want to consciously switch our minds on to it. I am aware of some adverts and banners outside pubs, but again they do not attract my attention and I do not 'see' them, because I am not interested.

It should be possible to do that for most of the run-up to Christmas.

Social media you choose to be on. If you do not like what you are reading, sign off.

Reading threads like this make my Scroogery more evident! I always feel for those who are dreading Christmas, maybe because of loss of family for whatever reason, isolation, or because they just don’t have the money.
It must be difficult to read of people’s preparations for big, happy family get togethers, or younger parents posting about expensive gifts etc they are buying for their children. It’s easy to say it’s not the gifts which matter, or that you can watch what you like on telly, but I don’t think I’d find that a comfort.
I don’t want to sound as if I begrudge folk sharing their enthusiasm for the festive season, I just think it’s another downside to Christmas prep beginning in October, and being plastered all over social media.

Inundating children with toys that you like and want to give them, but are going to be unwanted or lead to the children being over loaded with toys, is not a sign of love, more a type of self-indulgence, making you feel good imagining the childrens pleasure.

I have an invariable rule of asking for wish lists from children and adults. There is no guarantee they will get all or any of the items on the list, on occasion I know they want things not on the list, but it means everyone gets fewer gifts, but things they really want.

This year, like most families, DS and family are feeling the pinch, and we have all agreed to cut back on how much we spend on presents, even though, personally, we could afford to spend as normal.

We have always been charity shop and secondhand shop ferrets, and we all really enjoy it. This year we are doing it with our halos polished.

*sorry for repeat(of sorts) i thought i'd lost the original post😂🤣

I collect gifts throughout the year.Bu will have to start wrapping them soon & putting in bags for each family group before i lose them amongst the boxes still taking up my bedroom since i moved house 3months ago.😅

I collect gifts all year, when i see something just right for someone- but am going to have to start wrapping soon as due to the recent housemove my bedroom's over stuffed as it is! I dont want to lose the gifts amongst the boxes!😅

Annana15 you could donate the gifts, plenty of people, including the children, would be very grateful and happy.

Got most of presents online and we plan wrapping them tomorrow.
We've got loads of cards.
I have lots of stamps which don't have the barcode, so I'm hoping to use them up on the Christmas cards.
I'm not sure if I've imagined it but I think that I've heard that 'old stamps' can be traded in at post offices. This could be pure fairyland so please don't take it as gospel!

I think it's great. All the pressure is off and you can now relax and perhaps even buy some whimsical bits and pieces. I've purchased my major gifts and am already experiencing a degree of excitement at how they will be received. Bring it on!

Good or bad, it fills me with horror.

Grandmagrewit

I'm afraid that Christmas has turned into an event which I dislike more and more with the passing years. (Do I hear a chorus of "Scrooge" !?) For me it is still a celebration of the birth of Christ (the clue's in the name!), not a huge commercial opportunity, and my heart sinks when I see Christmas displays in the shops and ads on the TV from the beginning of October, urging us to spend money that many families just do not have. I no longer buy any Christmas presents for my small family - my grandchildren get many from their parents and other grandparents that seem to get opened and then discarded, so instead I buy them something that they want when they visit me during the year. I do like decorating my house although I regard it more as a ~"festival of lights" for the darkest months of the year, and I've had to abandon buying a real Christmas tree as these are now cut down in November to grab the custom of those who put up a tree 6 weeks before Christmas Day, and are invariably dead by then! And I do also still send cards to friends I don't see any more - with a short, and hopefully not boring, little "newsletter". My ideal Christmas? Well I do have a preference but maybe that's the subject for another thread?

yes please for the other thread !

Well done to those so organised re Christmas shopping etc. I have bought the cards, need to write them and addressed. Gifts this year are transferred cash to their banks. They purchase their own choice. Shops are too crowded, I use a mobility scooter and find it difficult to get around the shops as there are extra rails and not enough room/space for my machine to get by. I would like to wish everyone Health, Wealth and happiness for Christmas and the New year.

I have just finished wrapping the grandchildren's presents and just been informed this;
'Don't go crazy with the kids either! A couple of nice things each, not endless boxes andbagsofstuff!'
Having also being told I am not allowed to buy for my adult children and their partners earlier this month.
I am so upset that I cannot indulge my dear GC. So what shall I do now - unwrap the gifts?

Well I am enjoying November. Two grandchildren with birthdays and we have 2 Bank Holidays in France 1st and
11th so thats enough to be going on with

Just finishing buying gifts this week, and started wrapping this morning°. Reason so early as daughter and 3 children arriving 2nd week in December from Australia for Christmas. So happy they're coming. So I wanted everything done then we can just enjoy quality time together. Can't wait. Her youngsters want to see snow, and other grandparents who haven't seen them for 4 years.

I have just finished wrapping the grandchildren's presents and just been informed this;
'Don't go crazy with the kids either! A couple of nice things each, not endless boxes andbagsofstuff!'
Having also being told I am not allowed to buy for my adult children and their partners earlier this month.
I am so upset that I cannot indulge my dear GC. So what shall I do now - unwrap the gifts?

As I an alone I no longer celebrate Christmas. My late husband loved everything about it, the decorating of the Christmas tree, playing Santa Claus and the giving and receiving of presents. Christmas Eve Midnight Mass and the getting together with friends and family. Feel a bit envious reading about everyone's preparations!!

My cards are all done and ready to go come 1st December - but NO presents bought as yet.
This is unusual for me, but I've recently separated from my husband and am paying a high rent (instead of living in a fully paid for property), so funds are an issue!

I’ve stopped using wrapping paper because it’s bad for the environment, wasteful and expensive. I use brown paper and string, or the box it came in (most of my shopping is done online. Not as pretty, but the earth is more important.

Sago

MiniMoon

My cards are all written and stamped ready for posting. All the Christmas gifts are bought but not yet wrapped, that will happen this week.
I had to do it early this year as we are off to New York at the end of the month.

I wish I was doing it due to a trip to NY!
I just cannot cope with the shops at Christmas and all the plastic tat!
We also have a work project due to start in December.
I have become that person.

I hate the plastic tat too. I took two grandchildren to Hamley's a couple of years ago and there were aisles and aisles of ghastly plastic toys/games and too many huge soft toys. What do they imagine somebody can do with an enormous teddy?
They wanted some jigsaws - there were hundreds - but nothing that really appealed to any of us.
We used to go to John Lewis and Harrods toy departments too, but they're both much smaller now and seem much less appealing. And they have some of the same plastic tat.

I'm afraid that Christmas has turned into an event which I dislike more and more with the passing years. (Do I hear a chorus of "Scrooge" !?) For me it is still a celebration of the birth of Christ (the clue's in the name!), not a huge commercial opportunity, and my heart sinks when I see Christmas displays in the shops and ads on the TV from the beginning of October, urging us to spend money that many families just do not have. I no longer buy any Christmas presents for my small family - my grandchildren get many from their parents and other grandparents that seem to get opened and then discarded, so instead I buy them something that they want when they visit me during the year. I do like decorating my house although I regard it more as a ~"festival of lights" for the darkest months of the year, and I've had to abandon buying a real Christmas tree as these are now cut down in November to grab the custom of those who put up a tree 6 weeks before Christmas Day, and are invariably dead by then! And I do also still send cards to friends I don't see any more - with a short, and hopefully not boring, little "newsletter". My ideal Christmas? Well I do have a preference but maybe that's the subject for another thread?

We moved two years ago and I shortened my Christmas card list quite a lot. There were people on it whom I'd not seen for around 50 years.

I've started buying stuff this week, advent calendars etc. Also kitchen stuff for one of my boys. It's hard to work up much enthusiasm and I think that my older grandchildren would prefer money or giftcards anyway.

I gave up on Christmas cards a few years back when I couldn’t send any because I was ill. Same thing happened the next year, so I thought I might just as well not bother. I think Facebook has done away with them as a way of keeping in touch! I ended up with a load of old Christmas cards and I had to take the difficult decision to get rid of them rather than hang on to them ‘in case’ I needed them!

No chance of me getting presents wrapped, either - I shop mainly online!

SUCH ORGANISATION!

Well done, all.

I have just finished checking and carrying out minor repairs to the Nativity scene I am lending the local museum for the pre-Christmas activities for nursery school children that will be my daily fare from the 6th to the 15th December.

I still have to build a home for a myriad of Danish nisser - the gnomes that behave a lot like the Borrowers and are associated with Christmas as they are paid for looking after homes and livestock during the year with food on Christmas Eve.

Once it is done, I shall decide how much baking I shall do for Christmas. (Not much as DH and I will be on our own, I expect.)