I know I can come across as a bit bah humbug, or even a grinch; truth is, I don’t like Christmas all that much.
It’s not even that the ghosts of Christmas past still haunt me – coz they don’t.
It’s more that I don’t like all the Christmas hype. It reminds me of a a wedding in some ways – all that fuss and bother over just one day!
Don’t Like Christmas? Try these!
I’ve learned how to cope over the years and even kind of enjoy Christmas nowadays (shhh don’t tell anybody)! So here are my tips – what I won’t be doing this Christmas, in a bid to keep things simple and fun, rather than frenzied and full of pressure.
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- Sending Christmas cards. I gave up on this tradition many many years ago now, so anybody that knows me, knows not to expect a card. And anybody else, doesn’t matter. As a result, we don’t tend to receive many Christmas cards either but it really doesn’t bother me. Think of all the trees we are saving!
- Cooking a turkey. It’s so dry and I just don’t like it. So no turkey in this house (except for the one writing this blog post, haha). I will however probably do a glazed ham. Simple and soooo yummy.
- Driving all over the countryside to visit family on Christmas Day. When the hubster and I first got together, we had to do 3 Christmases in one day – his parents, my dad, and my mum. By the time the kids arrived, we’d narrowed it down to visiting just one side of the family on Christmas Day, taking it in turns each year. A few years back, after spending over two hours in a hellish traffic jam, we decided we really wanted to spend Christmas Day at home with our own family – and we love it! Mind you, now our own kids are grown and finding partners of their own it will probably be a bit more complicated in the years to come … so may as well enjoy it while we can 🙂 .
- Place Settings for the Christmas table. Pffffttt. Who can be bothered?!
- Going to carols, light displays, or any other Christmas “must do” – unless of course, we want to! This year I’m hoping we’ll see the tree and light display in the city.
- Spending any more time in the shops than I have to. Hooray for online shopping! And there is no way I am setting foot in a store after about the 21st December except to get fruit or vegetables.
- Hanging tinsel anywhere except the Christmas tree. I’ve been reliably informed* that tinsel is OUT this year anyway. And secondly, that glittery crap gets everywhere and I find bits of it on the floor even months after it’s all been packed away!
- Cooking a full Christmas dinner. Unless the air conditioning is cranked. Which it will be. I love my air conditioning!
- Elf on the Shelf. Although it looks kinda fun, my kids are wayyyyyy past that stage 🙂 .
If like me, you are thinking “I don’t like Christmas” – my advice (apart from just grinning and bearing it!) is to keep it simple as possible. Who knows, you might even find you start enjoying it!
What optional extras have you eliminated from the silly season?!
I love Christmas and miss what Christmas was in our family. However, I do not miss how stressed I would get and not enjoy it nearly as much as I had hoped. Still I am missing what used to be wonderful family time traditions as grandparents…we have moved and the kids are older…even though if we lived close by they would still come and help decorate the tree. I stopped cards etc a while back (tho last year I sent a few as a creative thing to do), presents to adults in the family and huge expectations of a large Christmas lunch. I am glad I have my memories and that my grandchildren carry on what they like from Christmas I helped teach them.
Enjoy whatever you do Janet!
I think I will be the same once our two have both left the nest and busy with partners/families of their own!
I love the Christmas fun, but you are right it’s impossible and rediculous to try and do it all. Keeping it simple enough to enjoy the special moments and relaxing is key too.
And stopping long enough to remember the reason for the season! 😉
Pretty much all of it. Though in recent years it has been a family secret santa and a bring a plate anyway, so hardly high stress. This year we’re not even doing those. I don’t mind Christmas lights because they remind me of a little town in the US where we have family that have pretty lights up all year round.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – you’re my kind of people Ness x
I’ve eliminated most extra things, and love to keep things very simple. We move on the 21st, so I’m trying for super simple this year!! However, hubby has promised the kids we’ll put the Christmas tree up when we get there… I had a bit of a tantrum over that, but eventually agreed, on the condition that he takes responsibility for packing it up again after Christmas !
LOL I’m glad I’m not the only one who has tantrums over things like this, but sounds like you had a win as your hubby will take care of it for you!
Great tips, Janet! I agree – no Christmas cards or turkey for me! I do need to get on board with online shopping, I left it a bit late this year. We did go to the Hunter Valley Christmas Lights Spectacular, which I enjoyed. That will be enough Christmas lights for me!
Because I work online it’s all too easy for me to get distracted by shiny new things and click on links and whammo … Christmas shopping done. When I should have been working. Oops!
I love Christmas, but I think we are pretty similar in our approach!! x
My mum used to get so stressed and cranky, no way did I want to be like that!
I love Christmas but it can be chaotic. I think having young children helps keep the Christmas spirit alive though. x
It does feel different when there are no little ones in the family x
I do not like tinsel but LOVE other decorations! I have things all over the house ?
I must confess … we are getting more and more. I’m loving some of the ones at Kmart this year, the little wooden reindeer and Christmas trees …
I love Christmas and I love it hard but we’re actually quite similar in our approach. I don’t send cards but I do give the money I would have spent to charity instead. We only really buy pressies for kids and any presents I give to adults are more like thank you gifts than christmas gifts – including the doctor, postie, caretaker etc. The first Christmas we came to Australia, we cooked a full roast dinner and it was like 40 degrees so we spent the rest of the day basking in the joys of air con. The air con is for keeps but we’ll never cook a festive roast again! Hope you have a very merry time with your gang!
It is a great time of year to express thanks and appreciation to those who work hard all year long x
I do love Christmas. The fact I don’t have to wrap 60 presents anymore is one of my favourite things. It’s cash and vouchers for my kids these days. I think the thing I love the best is all the get togethers with friends and neighbours.
That sounds wonderful Pinky! (says she with a mountain of pressies waiting to be wrapped!)
You’re not a grinch and your choices are not that different to those of many of us. I choose to call it evolution (or maybe it’s just part of growing up). I totally agree that it has become over baked and far too much emphasis on presents rather than presence. It’s your Christmas, you should get to enjoy it however you and yours wish.
Oh I like that Jan – it should be about presence, not presents!
I’ve never done any of those things! This year we have gotten all Christmassy though! I think it is because we have a new lease on life! And Tinsel, well our cats eat it. So it has all been put away!
I was half expecting our new cat Seth, to climb the Christmas tree. But both cats have been really good (so far)!
We have a pretty low-key Christmas generally, but this year we’re off to NZ to have Christmas with my dad, so will be having an early Christmas with my mum before we go! Double Christmas!
#teamIBOT
Enjoy your time in NZ!
I love everything about Christmas Janet probably because we have young grandchildren and it is so joyous to see their excitement building. These days as we have a blended family, we have our get-together a week before Christmas. Everyone brings a plate and it is more about getting everyone together and having Santa Sacks for the littlies. I’ve learned that everything doesn’t have to be perfect – we are making memories and that is what really means the most to me.