Stocking Fillers

[janie]

it's not just qvc though is it? it's become the norm since we went so totally overboard about everything. look at the huge deal halloween is now. despite everyone constantly banging on about the recession, people still are prepared to spend ridiculous amounts on xmas - the vast majority of them giving it zero religious significance except maybe to stagger in to midnight mass on the way home from the pub. it's not just the unwanted gifts, the trollies piled high with enough food for a year positively offend me. then of course there's the fact you have to cope with the pushing and shoving and queuing if you only want a loaf of bread and a pint of milk!

min - if the season DID start on dec 1st, i might be able to tolerate it a bit more. in reality it starts in july and is full blown by september. that's a quarter of every year, year in, year out.

 

[PrussianRed]

Oh Janie, how I agree with you!!!!

Over the years I have come to, if not hate Christmas, then to feel grumpier and grumpier about it. If it started later and wasn't so 'in your face' and commercialised, I might be more tolerant.

My family stopped trading gifts years ago, and more recently we have stopped on OH's side too. We now just give to the children in the family. I send cards but have cut down on this too. OH and I just buy each other something inexpensive.

This year, hopefully, we will be escaping by going to a cottage somewhere - just the two of us, the dog, a wood burner, nice countryside, books and some non-Christmassy food!!

 

[rainbowdottie]

I've never done stockings...just seems another expense to me and on nothing.I'd prefer to put that money towards something my kids would really like instead.

Have to say I've always loved Christmas but its changing in my house.My teens are getting older...all they want is clothes and trainers and a lay-in on Christmas morning...I'm personally getting quite grumpy at buying presents for family I rarely see and children I never see.I'm quite "over" Christmas at MIL's where you could set your watch by the time we have to have dinner,blow the cobwebs off the same old games,eat the same old nibbles......

This year is the first year I've truly cut down and properly cut down,and refuse to feel bad about it.I shall send my cards out,have all my own traditions...but will I commit to my MIL as to what I'm doing? Will I bu$$er!! Am I going to spend the usual amount of money on 10 children,plus a handful of family members I never see? No I bl00dy won't!!!

I shall enjoy Christmas in my own way with my own little family :wink:

 

[minim]

it's not just qvc though is it? it's become the norm since we went so totally overboard about everything. look at the huge deal halloween is now. despite everyone constantly banging on about the recession, people still are prepared to spend ridiculous amounts on xmas - the vast majority of them giving it zero religious significance except maybe to stagger in to midnight mass on the way home from the pub. it's not just the unwanted gifts, the trollies piled high with enough food for a year positively offend me. then of course there's the fact you have to cope with the pushing and shoving and queuing if you only want a loaf of bread and a pint of milk!

min - if the season DID start on dec 1st, i might be able to tolerate it a bit more. in reality it starts in july and is full blown by september. that's a quarter of every year, year in, year out.

I have to say janie, Halloween was big in our house when I was a Rugrat.
Pa lit a bonfire outside, we had 'sausages in wraps' (bread, nothing exotic) then we did a bit of apple play - apples on string and dunking.
The highlight was Pa's ghost story :grin:

I don't mind pushing & shoving. Being a shorty it's more ducking under elbows lol
I've already bought a sack of chocolate money (Tesco) .... and Himself has almost polished it off :grin:

 

[Frazzled]

I love Christmas but never spend a fortune. My family agreed to only buy for the children many years ago and I only buy a few gifts for my step family and friends. I'd much rather buy something a bit special for peoples birthdays, it's a bit more personal.

Stockings in my day were a puzzle, a small toy, a tangerine and sugar mouse - wonderful!

 

[Diamond Diva]

Stockings in my day were a puzzle, a small toy, a tangerine and sugar mouse - wonderful!

When I was young life was much simpler, in those days everyone's expectations were a lot lower and with no peer pressure less stressful, happy days !

!

 

[janie]

I have to say janie, Halloween was big in our house when I was a Rugrat.
Pa lit a bonfire outside, we had 'sausages in wraps' (bread, nothing exotic) then we did a bit of apple play - apples on string and dunking.
The highlight was Pa's ghost story :grin:

I don't mind pushing & shoving. Being a shorty it's more ducking under elbows lol
I've already bought a sack of chocolate money (Tesco) .... and Himself has almost polished it off :grin:

but min - that's the point. simple family pleasures. now it's wigs, masks, full outfits and all the trick or treat malarkey. i still got sticky string all over the canvas hood of my car even after getting up to answer the door and dole out goodies countless times.

and my maths was wrong - it's a THIRD (minimum) of every year we spend on xmas. if you include 'xmas in july' and the stale sausage roll atmosphere of the first 2 weeks in january, it's nearly half!

aaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrggggghhhhhhhhh

 

[YORKO]

Im dreading Halloween, I really dont like to think of little kids wandering around the streets knocking on peoples doors and effectively begging (I know that sounds extreme but its how I see it). Bloody dangerous aswell with the amount of weirdos knocking about.

I know some people go out in groups with a mixture of kids and adults but a lot are out alone. We dont answer the door and have had the usual eggs and crap thrown at the windows. Now that in itself it out of order and some elderly people will be quite scared.

Im not a miserable old git but dont like being held to ransom by this every year. I was even stopped on Saturday by a young boy asking for penny for the guy, all he had was a track suit with a teddy bears head on top, now if thats not begging I dont know what is.

Thats it from Grumpy Old Cow Yorko

but min - that's the point. simple family pleasures. now it's wigs, masks, full outfits and all the trick or treat malarkey. i still got sticky string all over the canvas hood of my car even after getting up to answer the door and dole out goodies countless times.

and my maths was wrong - it's a THIRD (minimum) of every year we spend on xmas. if you include 'xmas in july' and the stale sausage roll atmosphere of the first 2 weeks in january, it's nearly half!

aaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrggggghhhhhhhhh

 

[janie]

Im dreading Halloween, I really dont like to think of little kids wandering around the streets knocking on peoples doors and effectively begging (I know that sounds extreme but its how I see it). Bloody dangerous aswell with the amount of weirdos knocking about.

I know some people go out in groups with a mixture of kids and adults but a lot are out alone. We dont answer the door and have had the usual eggs and crap thrown at the windows. Now that in itself it out of order and some elderly people will be quite scared.

Im not a miserable old git but dont like being held to ransom by this every year. I was even stopped on Saturday by a young boy asking for penny for the guy, all he had was a track suit with a teddy bears head on top, now if thats not begging I dont know what is.

Thats it from Grumpy Old Cow Yorko

i fear for the elderly as well. my aunt in her 80's had eggs thrown at her front window - not easy for me to get off never mind her. and i'm always telling the really scary halloween masks not to knock at number so and so cos it's an old lady there.

as for the held to ransom aspect, "carol singing" ie 'we wish you a merry xmas' and an outstretched hand, is to me, demanding money with menaces. the same car that got the sticky string had the bonnet scratched all over by some thug masquerading as a carol singer, because i didn't answer the door. i also had all the heads pulled off my pansies in pots by the door. real xmas spirit huh?

i live on my own and will answer on halloween as it's one night only, it's usually preceeded by a lot of giggling and i know what it is. "carol singing" goes on for weeks and i'm not going to open my door at night to a total stranger - they don't stand outside and sing, they bang on the door then do the one line 'we wish you a merry xmas'. yeah right............

 

[loujareth]

Ahh the annual christmas thread :grin: I was hoping this was coming as it really pleases me every year to read of so many different points of view. I love christmas an I try and make it a good one but his year we have hit rock bottom financially and are on the edge of loosing the house we are scraping by the best we can, things go up and christmas has to take a back seat, I said this last year but this year I def have to do it, its my kids ONLY and then I can only spend a few pounds on them, it's like living in the early 70's, (my own childhood.) I have spent the last few months telling anyone else I normally get pressies for and they look at you with disbelief. I don't frequent here as much and have stopped buying from QVC full stop so they have lost me with their 'stocking fillers' line, me and the hubby will do the best we can but when your sat sewing your 16 year old eldest daughters' seams on her trousers and she tells you her best friend had £100 in her purse today when the went out to dinner together in college lunch and she had 50p in hers, christmas is a pipe dream

 

[Loveinamist]

I dearly hope your financial situation improves loujareth.

 

[iloveshopping]

Ahh the annual christmas thread :grin: I was hoping this was coming as it really pleases me every year to read of so many different points of view. I love christmas an I try and make it a good one but his year we have hit rock bottom financially and are on the edge of loosing the house we are scraping by the best we can, things go up and christmas has to take a back seat, I said this last year but this year I def have to do it, its my kids ONLY and then I can only spend a few pounds on them, it's like living in the early 70's, (my own childhood.) I have spent the last few months telling anyone else I normally get pressies for and they look at you with disbelief. I don't frequent here as much and have stopped buying from QVC full stop so they have lost me with their 'stocking fillers' line, me and the hubby will do the best we can but when your sat sewing your 16 year old eldest daughters' seams on her trousers and she tells you her best friend had £100 in her purse today when the went out to dinner together in college lunch and she had 50p in hers, christmas is a pipe dream

Ah the dreaded 'peer pressure' - unfortunately that is how children and many adults measure things. If one person has something then so should they. I'm not sure how you get round that one.... perhaps some other people on the website have some ideas, but please do not measure your parenting on what other people's children have.

If you need to raise some money for Christmas, do you have anything to sell on Ebay? Or sell second hand books on Amazon - but check the prices first if you do have some books to make sure you charge the right price.

Good luck - I hope you don't mind me trying to help you feel a little better

 

[Mam]

I'm on my own too Janie, and I never answer the door to the begging carol singers or the trick or treaters. I do however, love it when the Salvation Army band play Christmas carols at the end of the cul de sac and I always look forwards to the local Mendicants annual visit with Santa on a sleigh, carols and the little ones get to talk to Santa. I don't think they're allowed to sit on his knee anymore though :thinking:.

Min, we always had apple tucking when I was a child too, albeit usually at a friend's house. Bonfire, apples on string, apples in water and toffee apples rounded off with baked potatoes cooked on the bonfire. I don't remember anyone knocking on doors begging for money back then, I'm sure this trick or treat nonsense is sadly yet another American custom we've chosen to adopt.

 

[janie]

i sincerely hope things improve for you loujareth (((big hugs)))

 

[Tinkerbelle]

Me too Loujareth. I've been there my lovely. A few weeks away from losing it all but we survived and things got better. We were lucky and surrounded by a loving and supportive family. The elusive job turned up in the nick of time. I hope something turns up for you too.

I should add that was years ago.

If you need legal help or advice about the house try talking to Shelter. They can help before things get to crisis point. They help people like you and me.