What is Christmas all about?

[Green Aura]

I gave up sending cards to anyone years ago. This was mainly because I bought the cards every year, sometimes even wrote them, but never got round to giving them out. When I found a pile of several year-old cards that I'd not done anything with I gave up.

[red]

I still like sending cards, and even to people we only have communication via cards once a year - in fact particularly them. My OH's parents both died fairly young, andthe annual christmas card to some of those 'friends of the family' we inherited, is nice - reaching out just a little, staying in touch.. we are not going to phone up or visit.
I always make my cards - nothing grand, expensive or time consuming. Last year's design was a picture of one our our sheep, that i altered on the pc - added snow and a silly hat. People laughed. This years design is something I put together using MS paint. It does not cost a lot of money, not a massive environmental impact (I know its some but lets put it into perspective) and the bottom line, I enjoy doing it.
Sometimes himself and i swap cards t Christmas.. its always homemade though.. and a bit of fun/serious message that somehow is easier to write.

the thing people forget about Christmas is that it is optional. you dont *have* to do much really - so many people i know end up *having* to go to certain relatives etc. we always have Christmas day at home. its a fact.
I think the suggestion that you buy one book you like and give it to everyone is just very very silly. That's goign to work for everyone you know? your baby nephew and your great aunt. it will just be a waste. Far far better to come to some sort of arrangement.
When my son was born, I asked everyone if we could make christmas presents just be for the kids. I was teh first of my generation in my entire family to have kids, and frankly I asked to ease the financial burden on us.. but many rellies thanked us for our kind gesture.
With family and friends we swap home made things - biscuits, chutney, jam, fudge, knitted thigns etc, but it is entirely optional. For me - making things prior to Christmas is part of the fun.

[Shirley]

‘Give everyone the same thing,’ Dr Cottrell said. ‘Choose one book that you love and give everyone a copy. ’

Yeah... like the Selfsufficientish Bible

Good article actually - I hardly send any cards any more - I really don't see the point. I send e cards to some people (often because I've missed the last post) and I've still got a box of cards that we bought several years ago.

[Millymollymandy]

I send cards, or when finances are bad, emails to those who have internet. All these people are friends and family from way back and I really like to hear how they are getting on with their lives, however mundane, and hope they feel the same about us. My family are all in Oz/NZ/Fiji so it's not like I see them! Haven't seen any of my friends for years either - they are in UK, NZ, Germany, other side of France etc etc, so don't see them either!

I don't give presents to anyone in the family unless we are spending Xmas with them. Here in France we have little choice of gift type of things anyway so it is really hard to find presents. In the UK you are so lucky with gift shops at almost every venue like gardens open to the public, and NT shops all over the place, not to mention all those charity Xmas catalogues. We have absolutely nothing like that in this country. So that's really why I stopped giving presents cos I couldn't buy any!

[Green Aura]

MMM, I'm guessing you've not seen the sort of sh!te that most of these outlets sell - I avoid these places like the plague.

[Millymollymandy]

Yes I have, which is why I mentioned them! I think they are wonderful for finding presents - when I was last in England I went to two of these kind of shops and at each one I found cheap and fun (very belated) birthday presents for my Mum. I love National Trust and similar shops. Don't know why you think the things they sell are shite?

[Annpan]

Language Ladies please

I like the national trust shops - very gifty if overpriced. The NTS shop I go to has a big selection of books too, and handmade soaps and stuff. But there are those gift shops that sell tat (the Royal Mile in Edinburgh is sadly full of them)

[red]

i really dislike email cards. the kind that is a 'free' service. nothing is free.. they are collecting email addresses, my email address if i am sent one, along often with personal info - like names, thats where spam comes from.
email your own pictures and a message - lovely - but not one of those 'free' sites.

imho

we all have our personal opinions though. I dont do secret santa. but i don't tell everyone else not to if they like it. The bishop writes his own cards? really? but I would not take his advice anyway, as actually i agree with the third comment on that article.

[invisiblepiper]

. But there are those gift shops that sell tat (the Royal Mile in Edinburgh is sadly full of them)

AArgh - don't mention the Royal mile - one mile of endles shindogu tat!

[jim]

Dear invisiblepiper,

"shindogu"

Wow! Creative swearing? Or just a Southerner being ignorant of dialect?

If the former I take my hat off to you, if the latter please give a dictionary style definition ......

Love and Peace
Jim

[hedgewitch]

Last year the only card I gave was to my Gran and it was a CD card at that.
Apart from my Gran everyone else has email so I send home made ecards.

The rest of the people I physically see so I don't see the point.

[StripyPixieSocks]

Dear invisiblepiper,

"shindogu"

Wow! Creative swearing? Or just a Southerner being ignorant of dialect?

If the former I take my hat off to you, if the latter please give a dictionary style definition ......

Love and Peace
Jim

I'm not Invisiblepiper but: http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=chindogu

I have to say though I love sending Christmas Cards to family and friends... sometimes there are people who are very down or lonely at Christmas and getting a card with at least a warm greeting and a promise of meeting up at some point is all they need to make the seasonal time bearable!

I do think that in alot of peoples cases the meaning of Christmas has been lost along the way to commercialism and spending thousands of pounds on gifts etc

I watched horrified as some woman outlined the £8000 worth of gifts she had bought her 12 year old some last Christmas... top spec lap-top, x-box etc etc etc only on Christmas day he threw a huge tantrum because he hadn't been bought a particular game that he wanted... how's that for gratitude?

When I was little I got a large gift (usually between myself and my sister) and several small gifts along with the gifts from the family. We invited over whoever my parents wanted to invite for Christmas Day and no one got huffy because they weren't invited this year and the gifts we gave were nice but not the main focus of the day!

This year we cannot afford to give ANY gifts because we just don't have the money to put food on the table let alone buy gifts and we have told the family that and they response was 'that's ok, we'll get together later in the year and do something nice together instead'

I will still be hand-crafting the cards and my parents and my sister will still get a phonecall on Christmas Day and then later in the year we'll all do something nice... however I told someone what we were doing and they thought we were just 'being tight' as you're 'supposed to buy stuff at Christmas!'

Quite honestly just spending one day with my OH, alone, cuddled up on the sofa watching DVD's will be just a nice a Christmas than getting hundreds of pounds worth of gifts I don't want or need to be honest!

[Annpan]

Am I the only person who like to see a line of cards on the mantlepiece? I send homemade cards, I hope people appreciate the thought and the effort.


*crashed with sps*

[Silver Ether]

I gave up on christmas when the kids were old enough ... if you take the meaning... and much happier with Yule ... I send Yule cards to pagan folks who know what they are. I make my own using photography so their card can be framed like a picture ... this year will be a beautiful snowy scene off my local bird watching area... blue skies, sunshine and deep sparkling snow ...

Taken in April .... yep it snowed really deep in April.

I dont see the point of sending cards willy nilly to anyone ... my hubbs sends cards to folks when they give him one and he tells them he doesn't do cards ??? I have yet to get my head round this... he will send ones to folks he doesn't like I have stopped that now though ... silly bugger. I do like a nice card and feel deeply hurt when I get one that I know come from the 50 for 99p box sign from bill and gill ... couldn't even be bothered to put our names on it. ... A home made card can cost pennies and I would much rather have a card like that that was made for me ... its nice when folks spend a little time on you ... we all like to be liked.

[red]

Am I the only person who like to see a line of cards on the mantlepiece? I send homemade cards, I hope people appreciate the thought and the effort.


*crashed with sps*

nope as i said above.. i like sending cards. i also like receiving them. seeing the funny home made cards of friends particularly make me feel warm