It's Christmas!

[Ganymede]

I hate Christmas and everything about it, I hate the time of year, the weather, the expectation, the food, the sense of entitlement kids have, the fake bonhomie, the decorations, I hate how busy everyone is, getting ready for it, I hate the traffic on the roads at that time of year, the TV, the relentless feckin adverts, the same old feckin Christmas songs on the radio time and time again. I hate how Christmas stuff is in the shops earlier and earlier. Gah, it's not even here yet and I'm dreading it. And I really loathe turkey, bah, a time of celebration and the best thing they could come up with for a celebration meal is to roast some dried up old bird, that tastes so bland they have to cover it with gravy, and serve it with some jam.

Most of all I hate how much I hate it.

I hear your pain, brother. However, you should taste the turkey at our house - nothing like your description due to buying beautiful free-range turkey and cooking it like my mother taught me (breast down, stuffing inside, plenty of streaky bacon).

I do dislike the "present-fever" that the kids get. My eldest grandchild is pretty well brought-up but he gets very nakedly acquisitive. He has a slightly obsessive nature so it's partly that. And the TV is just shockin'.

 

[andyfraser]

Me and my sister had to write a list of what we wanted Father Christmas to get us. It was made perfectly clear that we weren't getting the whole list and anything that was too expensive was definitely out. Now we have parents going into hock to get little Johnny a PS4. My Dad would've told me to get knotted if I'd wanted anything that expensive!

 

[Fnaar]

Miss Goodbody always rubs butter on the breast to keep it nice and moist, and boy! can she put lot of stuffing in that cavity!
She's promised to save the dark meat for me, this year, but on Christmas day she will be entertaining the vicar, whose wife has disappeared.

Mrs Fnaar will be keeping the old bird moist with her special basting techniques.

 

[Saluki]

Being married I don't have to think about Christmas until the 24th December.

Having no living rellies on my side of the family, neither do I. Hubster can get his sisters pressies if he chooses. I have done in the past but after 10 years coughing up twenty quid in their respective cards with no 'thank you' ever forthcoming they can poke off this year.

I'll probably give Hubster the same as I gave him last year, just a different colour.

 

[stephec]

Miss Goodbody always rubs butter on the breast to keep it nice and moist, and boy! can she put lot of stuffing in that cavity!
She's promised to save the dark meat for me, this year, but on Christmas day she will be entertaining the vicar, whose wife has disappeared.

Mrs Fnaar will be keeping the old bird moist with her special basting techniques.

Who'll be roasting your spuds?

 

[Fnaar]

Who'll be roasting your spuds?

Mos' def... and straining my sprouts, and no doubt trying to persuade Miss Goodbody to at least try my chipolatas

 

[stephec]

Mos' def... and straining my sprouts, and no doubt trying to persuade Miss Goodbody to at least try my chipolatas

Wrap them in bacon first, she'll have her mouth round them in no time.

 

[tyred]

One of the few good things about Christmas is being able to listen to the wonderful Bob Dylan Christmas in the Heart album

 

[EltonFrog]

Vouchers for Christmas. What's the point of them then?

Look here is a voucher for your present which you can spend in any Boots/WH Smith/HMV in the country.

Or

Here is some cash which you can spend in any shop in the world.

 

[Ganymede]

Vouchers for Christmas. What's the point of them then?

Look here is a voucher for your present which you can spend in any Boots/WH Smith/HMV in the country.

Or

Here is some cash which you can spend in any shop in the world.

I agree, I just give cash to all the nieces and nephews. A bit weirder with adult friends though. John Lewis vouchers are better - I think you can spend them in Waitrose as well as the store and online. Also you might not be too sad if it was a bike shop voucher...?

The thing I am going to enjoy is singing in a scratch "Messiah" in the village.

 

[martint235]

I'm in charge of the turkey at our house. 16lb beast collected on Xmas Eve, taken for a pint on the way home. I wouldn't say I hate Xmas, I hate what it does to people. My OH gets so stressed by it all and she ends up cooking 5 kinds of veg, preparing a starter for me and her dad, making a trifle, buying a cake, buying a pudding. This year I've told her to forget about the starter (her dad won't be happy but I've said we'll start mentioning it now so that he's ready), just have roast spuds, sprouts and cauli and only have a Xmas pudding. She's not buying into it yet but hopefully....

Then there's just the sheer cost. There's 2 of us plus her parents for dinner. Then there's presents for us 4 plus her sister and two kids. Add in Xmas parties for work etc and I felt lucky last year to get it to under £1500. I'm aiming for less than £1000 this year but we'll see.

 

[andyfraser]

Vouchers for Christmas. What's the point of them then?

Look here is a voucher for your present which you can spend in any Boots/WH Smith/HMV in the country.

Or

Here is some cash which you can spend in any shop in the world.

I quite like getting vouchers. Amazon for Kindle books, Google/iTunes for music, HMV for DVDs and that's me sorted.

 

[byegad]

A house at the end of our street had their decorations up on 5th October!

I used to live opposite a family who put theirs up on 1st November and took them down, aptly, on 1st April.

Meanwhile I'm going shopping this on Monday for Easter eggs for my Grandchildren as they're sure to be in the shops by then.

 

[Ganymede]

[QUOTE 3354214, member: 259"]Yo ho ho, middle-class vouchers! [/QUOTE]
Heh. Good for someone to splash out on a prezzie though!

 

[guitarpete247]

We started buying prezzies about a month ago. Got some decent looking bottles of beer for OH's youngest from a little shop in Robin Hoods Bay. Getting the odd thing for granddaughters whenever we see something decent for a 4 and 6 year old.

But, most importantly, I've started making the wine this week. 23 litres of Pinot Grigio and 23 litres of Merlot. should be ready couple of weeks before the festivities and should see us into the New Year

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