Post by britishbea on Sept 15, 2015 6:41:11 GMT -5
are you ready? do you prepare? or very last min?
we have bought a few things for M but always give him them early, i so cant do waiting haha. ive realised his selection of clothes is getting smaller, especially now our 1 day summer has ended, so i decided to do some online window shopping, saving things in baskets to get a rough idea, i think i got carried away. £156 later i decided to stop and look for toys!! toys that i will add he never plays with!!
we dont do presents for anyone else, its not fair if we did, i have 3 neices and nephews, OH has 3 (plus 1 on the way) then theres a million cousins and aunties and uncles each, then parents, grandparents, siblings.. we just cant afford it its not fair getting some without others so we dont buy anyone anything
When life hands you lemons, make grape juice then sit back and watch as the world wonders how you did it.
Cleaning and scrubbing can wait ‘til tomorrow For babies grow up we've learnt to our sorrow, So quiet down cobwebs Dust go to sleep I’m rocking my baby and babies don’t keep
Post by heatherly on Sept 15, 2015 10:52:50 GMT -5
I don't prepare for it; I never celebrate here, and we always go to someone's house who does. The most I do is buy presents, but I usually wait until it's closer to the date, unless I find something on sale I know someone will like. I just buy gifts for my boyfriend, mom, dad, and brother... and we give money to his family because he doesn't pick out gifts most of the time lol we don't give much or get anything expensive usually. I do spend the most on my boyfriend, though, and my brother I spend the second most amount on. Sometimes I can't find anything for my mom or dad, so I let them know there was nothing good to buy.
Post by britishbea on Sept 16, 2015 5:23:42 GMT -5
That sounds nice Heather, when i am able to, financially, i will make up for not buying gifts, i cant wait to be able to spoil people like they do me.
what do you guys typically do on christmas day
When life hands you lemons, make grape juice then sit back and watch as the world wonders how you did it.
Cleaning and scrubbing can wait ‘til tomorrow For babies grow up we've learnt to our sorrow, So quiet down cobwebs Dust go to sleep I’m rocking my baby and babies don’t keep
Post by heatherly on Sept 16, 2015 10:59:57 GMT -5
We usually just eat a meal together and open presents. Sometimes there will be a game where everyone brings a present around a similar price, and then people have to pick out the gifts at random, and people can "steal" presents from you lol I think each person can swap one present from someone else, something like that. I ended up with a clock one year. But we only do that if more of my boyfriend's family gets together, otherwise we just celebrate with his mom and sister, etc.
Post by britishbea on Sept 17, 2015 6:18:41 GMT -5
i love Christmas, my OH not so much. i know hes getting there, atm we have a 3 foot tree, tiny, pointless. he hates them, so he said the other day 'tree will be up in a few months' so i replied 'its only 3ft you cant complain its not like it gets in the way' he then said 'yeah but M is older now, he will love a tree' so thats one step closer to him being excited for xmas. before we had M we would literally get up open the few presents we had at home and we would be straight out. with M it hasnt changed much. we get up and M opens presents and has breakfast and we get ready to go out. first stop; OH grans, we usually get there while his uncle and famiyl are there, we stay a couple hours, open presents, usually eat cake or some sort of food watered down with some sort of alcohol!! next stop (after nipping home) OHs oldest sisters, we always see his niece and nephew on christmas day, he likes to play with their toys, his nephew is 10 so its always nerf guns, so they spend the next couple hours shooting each other and OHs sister, then she shouts and they both get done haha! from here we usually go to my mum and dads, we have been there a few years for dinner, so we usually stay here the longest, last year though my mum was working christmas day morning, she then cooked for 8 other people (not including mum dad sissy me OH and M) we didnt plan on staying for dinner, i have no idea what we was going to do because i dont think we had anything in haha!! anyway last year we both got blathered (first time i was drunk since M) so my sissy came back home with up to help with M. i was capable, but it wouldnt be the besst idea. this year i hope to do a dinner at home, but im debating whether or not to. my house is tiny, i only have a small living room kitchen so would be horrible to cook a big dinner. OH sister is due to have her baby on xmas eve (not like it really affects us) and we have never gone to his grans for dinner yet, but because he likes to smoke, and his gran doesnt know nor would she like it. meh.. now im debating what to do...
When life hands you lemons, make grape juice then sit back and watch as the world wonders how you did it.
Cleaning and scrubbing can wait ‘til tomorrow For babies grow up we've learnt to our sorrow, So quiet down cobwebs Dust go to sleep I’m rocking my baby and babies don’t keep
Post by heatherly on Sept 17, 2015 12:00:44 GMT -5
I love the way the trees smell, but I have no plans for a real tree for a looongg time. I don't want to put it on top of carpet really, and that's all we have here.
Post by britishbea on Sept 18, 2015 5:11:48 GMT -5
i love big christmas trees, and there really is no better tree than this one...
i just wish my OH would let me have it!!! my house isnt big enough anyway, i only have a teeny living room/kitchen, so the tree i have is a good size, but it looks poop, i will sacrafice the room just to have a bigger tree for M to look at
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Last Edit: Sept 18, 2015 9:28:56 GMT -5 by heatherly
When life hands you lemons, make grape juice then sit back and watch as the world wonders how you did it.
Cleaning and scrubbing can wait ‘til tomorrow For babies grow up we've learnt to our sorrow, So quiet down cobwebs Dust go to sleep I’m rocking my baby and babies don’t keep
Post by tricolporate on Sept 19, 2015 9:45:06 GMT -5
My family is Jewish, and when I was a little girl I was told Santa Claus brought presents only to gentile kids... I could stay up late on Xmas eve to watch for him I wanted to. LOML grew up sort of atheist/christian. He like a tree and presents, but is happy enough to pass on the rest. My family is in another city, and I don't know if they never forgave me for marrying outside the faith or for moving to another city, but either way, we never get invited to Channukah or much else, so I let LOML have a tree. And of course presents. But I get him to make Latkes, and we get bagels and cream cheese...
i love big christmas trees, and there really is no better tree than this one...
i just wish my OH would let me have it!!! my house isnt big enough anyway, i only have a teeny living room/kitchen, so the tree i have is a good size, but it looks poop, i will sacrafice the room just to have a bigger tree for M to look at
Post by usmichelle on Sept 20, 2015 4:57:06 GMT -5
Although our family has Christian/Judeo roots, I am unaware of any family or external issues. We are definitely not practitioners though so that may be the reason.
One of my dad's best friends from college is a Rabbi though, and he is almost part of our family.
I cannot remember a single issue regarding us, but friends of mine said they experienced some discrimination.
Our family is completely non secular.
We would never.
Last Edit: Sept 20, 2015 4:57:40 GMT -5 by usmichelle
Post by heatherly on Sept 20, 2015 10:27:28 GMT -5
Yeah, I grew up celebrating Hanukkah as well! I am a JewLu. Jewish Lutheran =p Every year we'd have a tree and a menorah :-) Okay, well, I'm more agnostic, but I still enjoy the cultural/traditional aspect of the holidays. It just doesn't mean much to me religiously.
That reminds me, I need to make some latkes for my boyfriend still. We do the apples dipped in honey for a sweet new year sometimes, but that's about all lol
Post by britishbea on Sept 21, 2015 4:02:20 GMT -5
we are currently trying to think of ways not to lie to M. as ive said before my OH is not christmassy at all!! He hates the thought of lying to M that santa is real, so i said fine we will meet half way, if he ever asks if santa is real, we wont lie and say yes but we also wont just say 'no hes not hes made up its all s**t' so we are trying to think of how to do it for when the time comes. whats your opinions on this. do you think we should just 'lie' to him - i know its not a lie as such but thats the way my OH sees it, and he just doesnt like the idea of it.. any advice on a way we could do it without taking the imagination and magic away from christmas.. i really wanted to do the whole 'leaving a key for santa' leaving treats and a beer for santa etc. but sacrifices have to be made in relationships so we will meet half way with it
When life hands you lemons, make grape juice then sit back and watch as the world wonders how you did it.
Cleaning and scrubbing can wait ‘til tomorrow For babies grow up we've learnt to our sorrow, So quiet down cobwebs Dust go to sleep I’m rocking my baby and babies don’t keep
we are currently trying to think of ways not to lie to M. as ive said before my OH is not christmassy at all!! He hates the thought of lying to M that santa is real, so i said fine we will meet half way, if he ever asks if santa is real, we wont lie and say yes but we also wont just say 'no hes not hes made up its all s**t' so we are trying to think of how to do it for when the time comes. whats your opinions on this. do you think we should just 'lie' to him - i know its not a lie as such but thats the way my OH sees it, and he just doesnt like the idea of it.. any advice on a way we could do it without taking the imagination and magic away from christmas.. i really wanted to do the whole 'leaving a key for santa' leaving treats and a beer for santa etc. but sacrifices have to be made in relationships so we will meet half way with it
I don't think there is much risk of supporting Santa. I mean far more people support a God which to me carries some serious pitfalls.
Santa is a non threatening fantasy.
Hs/she is of our dreams B.
Dreams and fantasies are a very important part of our creativity.
I would encourage your SO to rethink this.
Remember, Santa represents a sort of love and caring, initiated in Germany during very depressing times so beautiful children could have hope.
Christmas allows us to put to rest our differences if only for awhile.
Post by heatherly on Sept 21, 2015 12:03:02 GMT -5
I don't really consider it lying because children love to play and imagine things. Imaginary friends are a thing for a lot of children, and they don't feel they are lying to you when they tell you, they are just having fun and using their creativity. I consider Santa similarly to that. Have fun with him while he is still young enough to have that sense of wonder and enchantment over such things. The compromise can be that you tell the truth at a certain age, say... 7 or 8... if he asks about it lol
My brother told me Santa wasn't real when I was kind of young, and it upset me. So, I just pretended he was still real for a few years because I thought it excited my parents lol my parents never gave us big gifts from Santa, it was usually small things that don't really matter much.... tiny toys and candy mostly. That way I guess you won't be too disappointed if Santa isn't real because he was never the one to bring you the best gifts anyway =p
When your son tells your OH what his teddy told him, he is not going to turn round and say "Your teddy is just a bit of stuffed cloth and cannot speak!"
It is good for children to practice their imagination, and santa helps them along the way.
There cannot be a child who has not speculated as to how santa gets all round the world, or how he knows where to drop off each present.