Couldn’t Father Christmas help?

Talk about sucking the joy out of Christmas! (and yes, I know that a child can have a joyous time with a wooden spoon and an old pan, before someone points it out )

On DC's favourite pastime was emptying the Tupperware containers out of a bottom cupboard and playing with them.

We give different gifts in December. Experiences, lessons, holidays, charitable donations. We also observe older traditions apart from Santa.

Seems to cut expectations.

Who puts money into our bank account each month, then, if it isn’t FC?
I didn’t know Fanny Cornforth does that. I’ve missed out!!

Oh, for goodness sake! Instagram didn't exist when mine were little, but they still got a lot for Christmas. Much of it was from doting grandparents who didn't get a lot in their own childhoods, but we bought far more than they needed, too. I don't know that I would do it the same way if I were starting again (probably not), but it harmed nobody, it was not done to 'keep up' with anyone, and certainly wasn't for non-existent social media.

Talk about sucking the joy out of Christmas! (and yes, I know that a child can have a joyous time with a wooden spoon and an old pan, before someone points it out )

“They seem to expect an awful lot. They'll compare what they got, where they went and what they did with all their little greedy friends. Their parents will feel obliged to 'keep up with the Jones's', have a brilliant day (at any cost) - and will max out their credit cards and overdrafts to do it (then compare with their friends by posting online)”

I think the expectation is, in many cases, driven by the parents, with a view to the online posting. I bet the children would soon adapt to fewer gifts, like the ‘four things’ rule -

Something you want,
Something you need,
Something to wear,
Something to read.

And, I wonder how popular the Christmas Eve Boxes would be if Instagram etc did not exist?

That poem proves it then. FC must be real, or Clement Clarke Moore would not have had the inspiration to write it.

It's rather long to cut and paste
poets.org/poem/visit-st-nicholas

Here's an excerpt:

When, what to my wondering eyes should appear,
But a miniature sleigh, and eight tiny reindeer,
With a little old driver, so lively and quick,
I knew in a moment it must be St. Nick.
More rapid than eagles his coursers they came,
And he whistled, and shouted, and called them by name;
"Now, Dasher! now, Dancer! now, Prancer and Vixen!
On, Comet! on, Cupid! on, Donder and Blitzen!
To the top of the porch! to the top of the wall!
Now dash away! dash away! dash away all!"

Alioop

If I left out mince pies and carrots on Christmas Eve the bloomin dog would have them snaffled before Santa got one foot out of his sleigh 🎅

Our dog (RIP) would have had the carrots, too - she was very partial to a raw carrot!

Purplepixie

What no Santa????? So who has been coming into my bedroom on Christmas Eve? What the hell…………………(haha). thanks for the laugh! Tell the kids today that they are only getting 3 things for christmas……………………. Help my sides are hurting laughing!!!!

Well who has been coming into the bedroom?

Need to know basis, of course, to protect innocent GN's.

We track him here too. Log into NORAD even if there's not a child in sight. I also sometimes wave to the ISS when it passes over on a clear evening, started when Tim Peake was on it

He’s definitely real. Last year we tracked him on the computer, and we could see which countries he was travelling over. We saw him over New Zealand where three of our grandchildren are living at the moment, and we tracked him across Africa. We went to bed then and he arrived sometime later at our other grandson’s house in Surrey. Oh yes, he’s definitely real

mine pies
Not mine pies
Even the seagulls refused them 😲
They were made with my own GF pastry. Like concrete.

Mince pies

If I left out mince pies and carrots on Christmas Eve the bloomin dog would have them snaffled before Santa got one foot out of his sleigh 🎅

FannyCornforth

And don’t forget a carrot for Rudolf! 🥕

The reindeer visiting dd’s house have been known to leave very messy chewed up scraps of carrots around the plate where we left the carrots. Shocking behaviour! But as I said to Gdcs last Christmas morning, at least they didn’t poo in the garden.

Hetty58

Oh, but they have (ever increasing) expectations, don't they? They seem to expect an awful lot. They'll compare what they got, where they went and what they did with all their little greedy friends. Their parents will feel obliged to 'keep up with the Jones's', have a brilliant day (at any cost) - and will max out their credit cards and overdrafts to do it (then compare with their friends by posting online). (What we had was a stocking, a gift from Father Christmas, another from our parents - and a nice dinner. Anything from aunts etc. was a bonus - but never expected.)

ThAts rather a depressing post. Not every family is like that.

Well I think you'd better Doodle honestly what were you thinking were you really expecting you guests to eat sprouts that weren't properly cooked!!!

kittylester

Never ming GN, what about the broken grans who probably haven't even put the sprouts on yet.

Oh, I'm pleased you reminded me. I haven't boiled mine yet, and there is only 6 weeks or so. Do you think I could finish them off in the microwave if they aren't done on time?

Definitely mince pies, sherry along with carrots for the reindeers in this house.

Father Christmas devours the lot and leaves soot on the carpet between the fireplace and Christmas Tree 🤬🎄🎁

Yes, Witzend most people leave mine pies and a tot, that's why he gets round in record time.

Some people have seen him going across the sky in person..

GrammyGrammy

According to a vicar we know, he is not real 😲
Said vicar even told reception class that it wasn't FC, it was your p........
After a teacher washed his mouth out with soap, he went back and said he got it wrong

🤶

Witzend, you'll be pleased to know we always leave whisky and a brandy enriched mince pie for Father Christmas. Rudolph always gets a tasty carrot.

And don’t forget a carrot for Rudolf! 🥕

While we’re on the subject of Father Christmas 🎅🏻, I have it on very good authority that there’s something he’d like to make clear. When visiting anywhere in the U.K. on perishing Christmas Eves, he really does not want the (cold) ‘milk and cookies’ Americans seem to think suitable, which have very regrettably started to catch on on this side of the pond.

He would much prefer the traditional Brit offerings of a generous tot of something warming (whisky, brandy, rum, sherry at a pinch) and a mince pie or two. Who in their right mind honestly wants cold milk when it’s brass monkey weather and you’ve got to work all night?

And BTW, for anyone worried about him being drunk in charge of a sleigh, he’d also like me to point out that he’s MAGIC and can put away as many warming tots as he likes, without it affecting his driving.
Just so that’s all clear - many thanks on his behalf. 🎅🏻🎄

For all you who would deny his existence

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yes,_Virginia,_there_is_a_Santa_Claus

He definitely left 'snowy footprints' when my children were young.

Huh? FC isn’t re……? Who puts money into our bank account each month, then, if it isn’t FC?

Speaking of virgin births, my mother has a story about a friend of hers. During the war, the friend had a boyfriend who started to get a bit ‘keen’ one evening. He asked the friend if she was a virgin and she said no, she wasn’t. He then made a more…ahem…intimate move and she started screaming. He stopped and asked her what on Earth was wrong.

She said that she didn’t know what he was doing and was scared. He said ‘But you just said you’re not a virgin, you must know what happens.’ She said she’d no idea what he was going on about but she firmly denied that she could be a virgin because unlike the Virgin Mary, she didn’t have a baby!

Poor girl, her mum had never told her the facts of life. Once her boyfriend realised this, he spent the rest of the evening enlightening her as to the birds and bees.