Tis The Season...

So its that time of year again. Thankfully after a brief time a few years ago Christmas was being advertised in August the media are back to holding off until around October time. Once started though there is no stopping them. I think the advert I hate most right now is the new Toys R Us advert "I wanna be a Toys R Us kid" Im loathe to share it but I want you to know why I hate it.
 
Seb loves this advert and tells me that seeing it makes him want to be a Toys R Us kid. And being the stubborn pigheaded wilful determined type that he is,no amount of discussion of fat cat corporations or media hype will dissuade him from his stance. Of course every parent in the land is faced with these potential Toys R Us kids and it's hard not to feel obliged to make their dreams come true at Christmas Time. Im just as guilty of encouraging it as the next person. In years gone by when the Argos/Index/Tesco book came out each August I would sit with each of the kids in turn whilst they repeated that well known mantra "I want..." and I dictated their festive request narrations onto paper. Then as every parent does, I strived to get most, if not all, the things on the lists because THIS was the way to make them happy.
And it doesn't stop there! You also have those delightful festive cooking programmes from the likes of Delia and Nigella which show you have to have THE perfect Christmas meal. You of course know that to do this you must buy 6 types of meat, provide at least 7 choices of veg, and finish with a home made Christmas pudding which you should have made in July. And if you don't do that you FAIL!!! Those Christmas adverts tell you the best place to shop is Tesco/Asda/Sainsburys - Hell, anywhere, as long as you buy all those expensive 'special' foods that you NEED for Christmas.
And to do all these things and create that Christmas you must take out a loan, (at 187% interest APR if you read the small print), which you can then pay back over 5, 10 or 15 years and its ok because you have the ability to add to it each year. Yay! And maxing out your credit cards is no problem at all because you can just transfer them at 0% interest for the whole year so spend what you like because THAT is how to make a perfect Christmas.

**Sigh**

Gradually the materialism that I had somehow been gripped by (bearing in mind I have never been like that till the last 10 years) slipped away and I realised that I didn't want that for us. So we stopped getting any catalogues and tried to encourage the muting of adverts where possible and the ignoring of the I wants (Clearly it doesn't stop every request - see above) but it has helped immensely. So I started saying what would you like and more and more they would say "I dont know". The trend has been towards books-Nathan, craft - girls, and Lego - Seb. It makes buying easier and this year has been even better- all the kids requested one or two things each. Emma even went as far as to say "oh I like it when you surprise me, probably crafts or books or something". We think we'll keep her! 
And even better, this year we have done it all with no credit at all. Even with DH starting his own business, we haven't borrowed for anything business related and we are are determined to extend this to all areas of our life. I think a lot of good has come from DH burning lots of credit bridges because now he has to manage his money. This has extended to Christmas too and we have just found a way to manage.
Food is the other potential fail point and Im making it easy this year. Our dinner works best if we eat Christmas Eve. We prepare potatoes in the morning, Aunt Bessie kindly donates carrot/swede mash, roast parsnips and Yorkshire puddings, we do pre-packed sprouts, gravy from a packet and a Tesco basic Christmas pudding(due to there being no milk). Christmas day starts with pancakes (we cook and freeze them at an earlier date or just freeze the batter until needed) then we have an all day buffet which only involves sticking pizzas, chips,  mini sausages and a few spring rolls in the oven. There are no expectations so no let downs, we dont do the big family dinner and this year we aren't even doing "must-see-every-friend-I-have-and-deliver-cards/presents" either; very few people are getting cards and even fewer are getting presents. This year its about us as a family, enjoying each others company, eating nice easy food, and for me remembering why I celebrate the season.