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Thing is, I bet if there hadn't been all these financial problems and the economy had continued its unrelenting growth, we would just have had articles about how commercialised Christmas was and how ridiculous it was that people were spending so much and getting into debt over it and wasn't it all much nicer where you only got half a jumper for Christmas but everyone came together and enjoyed it for what it was really about....

Like flippin' house prices... Until a few months ago it was all, 'Oh no, isn't it terrible, young people can't get on the housing ladder, house prices are artificially high, what are we going to do?!' and now it's, 'Oh no, isn't it terrible, house prices have dropped to roughly where they were in 2004, we're all going to be poor, what are we going to do?!'



They never post my comments on the Mail website either.

I must admit, I've already had one letter in the Guardian, and two in the Sunday Herald... Not about this subject, though.

OK, but I fully agree with your rant. I've had Christmasses with no money - so what? It doesn't really happen for me anyway - ok, I love the German Christmas baking, and that (and mulled wine!) kind of belongs to the cold part of the year, but anything else? Can do without! Hate the shopping crowds, and the mad rushing and worrying...

everything I like about that winter festival thingy is the making and cooking. I love makign pressies, I love baking and preping. it does not have to be a huge financial hit.


and yeh Hamster - that thing on house prices makes me laugh too.. can't please some people..

It seems to me just another excuse to moan! There are lots of peeps who just love it!!!....moaning that is! ;)
But what is Christmas anyway....why do we celebrate it???? I realise it's 'supposedly' christ's birthday....and in pagan times a celebration of harvest.....but why do 'we' still set so much store by it???? A lot of us don't believe in 'God'....an awful lot of people don't even know what paganism is...but 'we' still have to 'do' christmas. Trudging around shops looking for appropriate presents...buying loads of food that gets wasted. Having relatives around us....(especially ones we don't like)....putting up with arguments and family feuds....just because it's CHRISTMAS...why????
Surely we can do this all year round, the buying and giving of presents to people and family we love....when we want to do it....enjoying having people round and sharing a meal, stories and games. Why does it have to be Christmas?
I'm as guilty as the next person for doing all this......but I still can't understand why we all do it!

We (or I anyway) do it because it's fun. It's a scaggy time of year, cold and dark. All the lights and sparkly things cheer me up. The giving of presents is exciting and if you know your friends and family well then you get things you actually like or want, that you wouldn't necessarily justify buying for yourself. You can indulge in great comfort food, drink as much as you want and there are some great parties.

The best bit is, coming as it does around the winter solstice, you know that the days are going to get longer and that spring is round the corner.

That's why I do it.

Zoe

I LOVE CHRISTMAS

I use the same hand-me-down decorations year after year (though last year I did make some new snazzy origami baubles (the origami paper cost me £1.50) We used the same fake tree for 9 years. I give homemade pressys, Santa brings us all a stocking full of gifts but it is all small things - a bargin DVD and CD, a banana, some chocolate coins.

We do have the full Christmas dinner (for 7) with all the trimmings, all homemade (I love doing it all) which is expensive, especially an organic turkey think I'll go with a ham or a chicken this year.

During the war they still had Christmas... you don't need money to do it, people just like being drama queens, they obviously have no real problems in there lives or they wouldn't need to invent them.

I like Christmas for the same reasons as Zoe, it is a miserable and depressing time of year we need the celebration.

I call it Christmas because it is the name it has become known by, the word 'Easter' is of pagan origin, Christians don't rename it.

Last Christmas I had no money at all, so I made cookies and fudge and gave that out as presents.

If I truly had nothing whatsoever, I would pick up fallen branches and tie them together to make a "tree", and hang bottles or cups from the roadside as ornaments. Pathetic? Probably, but it would be mine.

Holidays are what you make them.

Funny I cancelled Christmas years ago. The kids grew up, left home and got married so had other calls on their time, the grandchildren are now teenogres with their own lives to lead and for me there's no specific religious side. Presents are cash for the grandchildren still at home up to age 18 and not working. If they all get the same then there can be no squabbles

So I've got a couple of spare days to catch up on anything that takes my fancy. I suppose that if you are working well it's nice to have time to cook a decent meal and get together with the family (or the bits that you can stand). But to be fair I see nothing in making a big commercial thing out of it. I suppose that growing up on a farm where you did the stock rounds after breakfast and before opening the presents, it gives you a different outlook on the whole event.

...and they NEVER post my comments on the Mail website (Is it me or am I paranoid?)

You're not paranoid, but I'm afraid you must be seriously deranged if you read the Daily Mail and give any credence to its contents.

Mead for xmas pressies this year for the alcoholic members of the family. That should cover about 90% of my friends and family (the scots, the irish and the pisces)
Homemade silver jewellery for the ones with that kind of taste, and as much as we can spare on the kids.

As forhouse prices, apparently they've dropped £20,000 in a 6 month period. You'll be able to buy mine for a xmas present for your friends in 2009 for a tenner at this rate.

(not legally binding)

Well, hubby has been a mature student for the last 6 years and we have never cancelled Christmas.
We are religious so it is important to us, but it also a great time to have fun and be silly with the kids (ours are 3 yrs and 11 wks).
Things (non-religious) that we do are:
* Have an evening touring our village to look at the Christmas lights - they look almost magical to our son.
* We meet up with friends and go carol singing - not for money, just for fun
* We have a month long visit from our Elves (lol) - they arrive from the north pole with a note from Santa (well a homemade DVD lol), they cause havoc through the night like watching movies and popping corn all over the house, they make flour snow angels in the kitchen, they have cotton wool snowball fights - this is great fun
* We decorate the tree and house (we have used old newspaper paper chains and not at lot else on skint years)
* We usually have a hot chocolate Christmas Movie night

not a lot of money but a lot of time - and great times at that !!

I don't really 'do' christmas as such, but we do celebrate the solstice and have lots of fun making decorations and nice food.

I do love your idea of the naughty elves

My views on Xmas have changed greatly over the years! I have wonderful memories of it as a child. Searching for the pressies my parents had hidden somewhere in the house, prior to the great event and having a little snoop. The great surprise one year, to be given one I hadn't discovered. It was a beautiful, collarless style, Beatles jacket that my elder brother (who also shared my penchant for peeping) had hidden, undiscovered, in the loft.
Nowadays though my feelings have unfortunately soured towards it and I do have a great dislike of all the false hype created by the major distributors and their lackeys in the media. That said I still have a yearning to return to a simpler ways of enjoying it......

Hamilton

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