Share your perfect mustachian Christmas

[Torran]

Hello,

Dedicated Christmas obsessive here.

I started this thread:

http://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/antimustachian-wall-of-shame-and-comedy/anti-mustachian-christmas-shame-comedy/

To share any eye-wateringly ridiculous over-spendy Christmas products/habits/miscellany you've encountered.

But it quickly became apparent from people's descriptions of their low-spend Christmas plans that it would be good to have a new thread to describe and share these. Please let me know about your frugal christmas (tips for making things, doing things, sharing peaceful times indoors with family/friends, or going it alone to escape all the noise).

For example: our tradition is to go and pick a tree from nearybe woodland, saw it down and take it home for decorating. (We're 'thinning out the trees' to help the healthy ones grow, is what the family call it ;). )
Cost: zero
Benefits: exercise, festive ritual, a lot of scope for the family arguments traditional at this time of year.

How do you make Christmas all kinds of wonderful without spending lots of cash?

[Bracken_Joy]

Following for ideas! =)

The only one that comes to mind for me is putting "dry" popped popcorn and some raisins on a string to put outside for birds to nibble on.

[Del Griffith]

Our gift-giving habits have evolved over the past few years for the better. With my side of the family (mother, siblings and significant others), we used to all give each other gifts. Then, a few years ago, we decided to implement a Pollyanna. You know, kill 7-8 birds or so with one stone sort of thing. Now that homes are being purchased, babies are being had, etc., we decided this year together to do away with gifts altogether, and, surprisingly, everyone has happily been on board. We will just have a nice day together with lots of good food. Along those same lines with my spouse's family, we have put a $25/per person limit on gift giving, which is a big improvement from where it was a couple years ago. There are still gifts to buy in general, which I enjoy, but this has cut down on costs significantly for us.

[mountains_o_mustaches]

I'm definitely working on making the holidays more Mustachian.  Here are some ideas I've come up with or heard and liked:

1) Skill share instead of gifts - each person in the family teaches a skill.  Best if it's something that can be learned easily and in about an hour.  Somethings my friend's family shared: juggling, teaching how to make a family recipe, learn a new dance, and a food tasting (tasted different citrus foods - talked about best uses for each based on flavor profile).  Some people in the family share a skill more by performing than teaching (e.g., reading poetry they've written).

2) Focusing on everyone contributing to and sharing a meal.  For a long time it was always mom doing like 95% of the cooking and everyone else chowing down.  It's actually a lot more fun when we each take ownership of a dish and all contribute.  We all get to choose our own recipe (we try to make things mesh) so you get some pride of showing off a good recipe.  Even my sister who can't cook contributes with the one recipe she's comfortable making - homemade cranberry relish. 

3) Exchanging memories instead of gifts - each family member shares their favorite memory of another family member.  One year we all did this for our grandma, typed them up, and created an album along with photos that we emailed to her.  I like the idea of sharing a memory or something you like about a person, sharing a story.  If everyone tells a story for everyone else in the family you'll walk away feeling quite loved and more connected!

4) Focusing on free / low-cost Christmas traditions - caroling, tree lighting, Christmas pageants at church, watching our favorite Christmas movies, decorating cookies, etc.

[sonjak]

So many good memories from childhood. 

We never had much money with so many kids and my dad being the sole (and low-income) earner but we had fun.  We baked lots of bread and gave away loaves to our friends & neighbors.  We cut a tree from our property and decorated it with the same ornaments each year (unbreakable ones on the bottom so the baby wouldn't break/eat them. 

My parents would do one or two presents per kid and us kids would make gifts (together or separately) or go in together to buy joint presents for each other (never anything fancy).  Lots of sneaking around at the store or telling people to go hang out in a different section of the store so we could go buy something and have it be a surprise.  Christmas pageant at church.  Christmas caroling as a family or with friends.  Favorite movies we watched every year.  Extended family would often send us a box from someplace like Harry & David's or a box of chocolates (the only time of year we ate that sort of thing).  When we got older we became "santa" too (we never believed in him except as an idea and we could be santa too) and made/bought stuff to put in the stockings.  Gingerbread cookies - cut out and decorated.  Christmas nativity store every christmas eve.  And of course turkey and stuffing and lots of pie.  We'd often pick a family or two to do something nice for when we could afford it - anonymous gift box, free christmas tree (delivered), etc.

Seriously, we didn't spend much at all (my parents were very frugal and didn't believe in debt/didn't spend money they didn't have) but Christmas was a blast.

As a single adult, I've kept things pretty frugal (not so much when i was married - we were ridiculous with money in so many ways OUCH) and although I miss some of those group family traditions, I still do/love the tree, music, food, gift giving (and some receiving), caroling & concerts, anonymous acts of kindness, etc. even though I'm agnostic.

I recently checked out this book "Gifts from the Heart: Simple Ways to Make your Family's Christmas more Meaningful" by Virginia Brucker.  If you're looking for good/inexpensive suggestions for more simple traditions, definitely see if your library has it.  I've found some fun ideas even as a single person (and tons for families and folks with kids).

[KMMK]

Working all alone or with minimal other staff and making extra money.

[Torran]

Working all alone or with minimal other staff and making extra money.

Lol yes my SO (lives on the other side of the country to me) is going to be working and earning that overtime :) His family live far away and it's hard for him to get time off at Christmas, so he works and looks on the bright side. Monnneeey!

Love to hear about people's frugal childhood Christmas memories. My parents were always really careful with money but as a child I genuinely didn't realise for years that we were having a 'frugal' Christmas. I just expected the same ornaments used every year because that was one of those super-exciting Christmas moments, getting the box of decorations down from the attic.

[frooglepoodle]

I'm not sure when I realized that not everyone uses the same ornaments every year but unpacking them all and decorating the tree was always a fun tradition. My parents still use the simple fabric ornaments mom made when they were first married and couldn't afford to buy them, as well as most of the ornaments we kids have made over the years, including the ones that are nothing more  glitter glued to small styrofoam plates from preschool. This horrified me as a teen, but I love it now.

Mandarin oranges in bowls on the breakfast table. Available for a few months in the winter, but I can't remember having them except for Christmas.

Hot cocoa in the Christmas mugs.

Making tamales. We don't make them on Christmas Eve as is traditional, but they are everyone's favorite tradition.

[kite]

We live near where the reenactment of George Washington crossing the Delaware happens every year on Christmas day.  It is free.  It gets us outdoors during the daylight hours on one of the shortest days of the year. And it becomes a reunion of sorts as people who are home for the holidays come out year after year. We do plenty of free church related things, but this is an entirely secular seasonal tradition that is neither religious nor consumer driven.  It appeals to the history buffs, people with dogs, those seeking fresh air & exercise, religious & atheist alike, those with families and those going solo through the holidays. 
Thousands turn out each year to cheer as George Washington addresses the troops and then rows across to New Jersey. 

[SweetTPi]

Last year was definitely my perfect Christmas.  I finally got it across that the only thing I wanted was to not have to shop for adults at all (the 2 kiddos got a few things sent to them from their auntie), and all agreed to it with regards to me.  Not having the stress of shopping for gifts was the biggest present from them to me.

On Christmas morning, we (5 adults) had a leisurely breakfast then proceeded to make multiple batches of cookies (then gave up without making the last 2 types).  Put on the requisite 'Peter, Paul, & Mary' CD and sang along too loud.  Took a nice walk outside.  Had a nice steak dinner.  Played board games.

It was great.  The only stress of the day was trying to make sure we had enough butter (yes) and the right ingredients (uhhh, oops!).

[Slinky]

Stay home, exchange gifts with husband, spend time together, play in snow with dog, make a nice dinner. The end.

[jodelino]

Get up while it's dark and attend Native dances at a Pueblo in New Mexico. Ancient cultural and spiritual traditions, freely shared.

[LiveLean]

1. Send no cards or gifts. Put up no decorations.
2. Leave country on Black Friday
3. Enjoy six weeks in New Zealand.
4. Return on January 10.

Rinse and repeat the following year in another bucket-list destination, preferably warm.

[G-dog]

Get up while it's dark and attend Native dances at a Pueblo in New Mexico. Ancient cultural and spiritual traditions, freely shared.

Ooh, that sounds very cool!

Is there some native holy day that time of year, or is it more an assimilation of the Christian holiday?

[ketchup]

No trips to any store (including grocery stores) between Halloween and New Years.

One day event.  People.  Food.  No gifts, no bullshit.

That would be ideal.

[G-dog]

Cookies - masses and masses of cookies. Especially chocolate peppermint pinwheels!

[starbuck]

We go for a family hike every Christmas morning, after a leisurely breakfast and before the family comes over after lunch. It's lovely.

[Caoineag]

I'm not sure when I realized that not everyone uses the same ornaments every year but unpacking them all and decorating the tree was always a fun tradition. ...

Wait what? That's a thing? Who doesn't use the ornaments every year? Now I feel very out of touch.

[11ducks]

We like to do special advent calendars. One year when DS was little, We created a book advent calendar- with secondhand books (I got a bag for $3 from a secondhand shop) wrapped up in different reused wrapping- each day we would open and read a new one! This year, we are doing an events calendar- each day he opens the little dated envelope to see the activity we are doing- on school days it's simple things (go to the park, Play handball at the courts, hot chocolate with marshmallows), and we have planned a few bigger things for the weekend (renting a movie, visiting the museum, putting up the Xmas lights, baking cookies). It's a nice way to do something together each day.

+ when we used to live on the Qld coast- we would go to the beach first thing Xmas morning (summer) for a swim (complete with Santa hats). Beautiful way to start the day!

[redbird]

We don't celebrate Christmas anymore at my house. I realized it was more stressful than anything else. When I brought it up to my husband, he agreed about the gift giving part, though he seemed more reluctant about not decorating, so we do a little bit. Ultimately, I see Christmas as having 2 sides - the commercialism side and the religious side. I don't buy things just to buy things and I am not religious.

We used to have an artificial tree that we would decorate, but it got ratty after being over 10 years old plus multiple overseas moves. We never bothered to replace it and sold off or donated the ornaments.

[PhilB]

The highlight for me is the morning of Xmas eve.  Whilst everyone else is frantically battling with last minute shopping, we all go to the swimming baths for a leisurely swim in the near-empty pool.  Free swimming for the kids as it's school holidays.
My most mustachian bit of Xmas is probably the 6 foot artificial tree we bought on ebay for 99p and take round to our elderly neighbours each year.

[jodelino]

Get up while it's dark and attend Native dances at a Pueblo in New Mexico. Ancient cultural and spiritual traditions, freely shared.

Ooh, that sounds very cool!

Is there some native holy day that time of year, or is it more an assimilation of the Christian holiday?

On Christmas, many Pueblos in the New Mexico have Catholic Christmas services in the Spanish Colonial mission churches on the Pueblo, but the dances are in the traditions of Native religions. Most Pueblos have dances on Christmas eve and/or Christmas Day, as well as on other feast days throughout the year. Not all are open to visitors. It's a wonderful thing to do. More info here:

http://www.indianpueblo.org/19-pueblos/feast-days/

[mwulff]

This year DW and I will be working the medical evening-shift. We get a very nice bonus for just showing up and we are together in the car.

Other than that we will spend the holidays with family. Food, french wine and the company of our parents. As I grow older and realize that my time with my parents is limited I tend to put a lot of importance on spending as much quality time with them as I can.

I will also put up decorations at home. Mostly with a lot of light. This is the dark period of the year and I don't really care that much for it.

[anotherAlias]

My mustachian Christmas fantasy is to wake up in my own bed, have a nice breakfast with my SO and open presents.  In our 5 years together we have never spent Christmas together because I always have to travel to my family's house. Maybe someday.

[Kitsunegari]

My fantasy for this year is: I wake up well rested because the baby didn't scream all night, DH makes gauffres for breakfast while I breasfeed, baby doesn't shit everywhere, then some friends arrive bringing cheeses and wine I can finally eat/drink.

For next few years: same, without breastfeeding, and with a toddler that doesn't receive anything because there is no point in giving presents before they can remember, then a kid that is super happy of receiving a single book or toy.
And possibly another kid with whom start the same cirle :-)

[G-dog]

My mustachian Christmas fantasy is to wake up in my own bed, have a nice breakfast with my SO and open presents.  In our 5 years together we have never spent Christmas together becauise I always have to travel to my family's house. Maybe someday.

As someone who faced a similar conundrum in the past - I want to gently challenge "have to".

Why do you have to? Surely you are making a choice - for some reason. What needs to change for you to make a different choice, or to no longer have to.

If you really want this, you CAN do it (stay home). Your family won't die - they are grown-ups and can adult one day a year.

I was a chickenshit, I would use my work schedule or weather as my reasons - passive aggressive, just like my family taught me!

[anotherAlias]

My mustachian Christmas fantasy is to wake up in my own bed, have a nice breakfast with my SO and open presents.  In our 5 years together we have never spent Christmas together becauise I always have to travel to my family's house. Maybe someday.

As someone who faced a similar conundrum in the past - I want to gently challenge "have to".

Why do you have to? Surely you are making a choice - for some reason. What needs to change for you to make a different choice, or to no longer have to.

If you really want this, you CAN do it (stay home). Your family won't die - they are grown-ups and can adult one day a year.

I was a chickenshit, I would use my work schedule or weather as my reasons - passive aggressive, just like my family taught me!

You are right it is my choice but leaving two old people to spend Christmas by themselves is more guilt than I'm willing to take on.  I already get the guilt trip for not staying more than a couple nights.  It would be different they lived closer but we live in different states so don't see each other often.

Edited for spelling

[Cativa]

Gifts for children only.
I'm close to this now.  The only adults still on my list are my parents, one uncle, and MIL.  Not perfect, but a far sight better than it was years ago when the list was pages long.

Lots of free activities.
In our little town we have 3 different parades - very festive and absolutely free.  Load up a couple mugs of coffee or cocoa and drive or walk through neighborhoods to enjoy the lights.  A couple neighborhoods near us block traffic and create little winter wonderlands for pedestrians to enjoy a few weekends during December.  If you bring your thermos, you aren't tempted to buy the cocoa, cider, etc that is always for sale!  I find it easy to walk through the malls and just people watch and enjoy the music and decorations - no need to buy a thing except maybe a couple tacos for lunch.

Movies!
Christmas Story, Christmas Vacation, How the Grinch Stole Christmas...on a very bad weather day spike a mug of tea, make a batch of peanut butter cookies, and set me in front of the tv please.  I have been given many as gifts, but I've picked up a few at after Christmas sales for just a dollar or two.

Decorations that mean something.
I can't imagine throwing out decorations at the end of the season!  Not only is that so wasteful, but nearly all of my decorations were items picked up from travels (add a bit of ribbon to an item found at a flea market), were home made (items made by our daughter in school, stockings hand knit by my grandmother, etc) or were gifts.  Every item is pretty, but more important, very meaningful to us.

[Mtngrl]

Very early in our marriage we made it clear to both sets of parents that we wanted to spend Christmas at home -- traveling at the holidays is stressful and expensive, and the hectic nature of both our family's celebrations (big parties, big dinners, lots and lots of people) made visiting with them in any kind of relaxing way impossible. Fortunately, we both have siblings who live nearby who wouldn't think of missing the big family Christmas, so no worry about our parents celebrating alone.

We start the day opening presents, then hike with our dogs, then have a lovely dinner -- just the two of us. We're both introverts, so this suits us nicely.

Every year we cut a tree in the national forest and decorate with ornaments we have collected over the years -- every year we buy a new dated ornament, often from a place we have visited that year, or representing some milestone of that year. Decorating the tree is a trip down memory lane. This will be year #37, so we're getting quite a collection.

The season consists of reading Christmas books, watching Christmas movies, and church activities. I decorate, but use a lot of natural materials or items collected over the years, so it's not expensive. Gifts consist of books and homemade items, though we do splurge on one 'special' gift for each other.

[RetiredAt63]

My mustachian Christmas fantasy is to wake up in my own bed, have a nice breakfast with my SO and open presents.  In our 5 years together we have never spent Christmas together becauise I always have to travel to my family's house. Maybe someday.

As someone who faced a similar conundrum in the past - I want to gently challenge "have to".

Why do you have to? Surely you are making a choice - for some reason. What needs to change for you to make a different choice, or to no longer have to.

If you really want this, you CAN do it (stay home). Your family won't die - they are grown-ups and can adult one day a year.

I was a chickenshit, I would use my work schedule or weather as my reasons - passive aggressive, just like my family taught me!

You are right it is my choice but leaving two old people to spend Christmas by themselves is more guilt than I'm willing to take on.  I already get the guilt trip for not staying more than a couple nights.  It would be different they lived closer but we live in different states so don't see each other often.

Edited for spelling

Can you visit before or after but not right at Christmas?  I find that with our weather, committing to specific dates for visits can mean driving in unsafe conditions.  If you aren't driving, you are traveling with everyone else, and that leads to crummy travel conditions.

Also, not sure where you are, but I gather that Americans do more travel to be with family at Thanksgiving?  And since Christmas is so soon after, Christmas travel is less.  Of course since our Canadian Thanksgiving is in early October, and historically tended to be the time to get the garden put to bed or the cottage closed up, it was not the big travel time.  Instead we all travel at Christmas - kids to parents, or parents to kids, or kids to multiple sets of parents.

[EEBookDesign]

My perfect christmas:

- no presents!!!
- singing classical Christmas carols with friends
- tasty primal home cooked meal with good friends
- no tree or decorations, but dimmed lights and some candles
- Christmassy crafty family activity like making cards with the kids

unfortunately it will be
- lots of crappy presents from family although they are told not to buy
- multiple family dinners full of tension
- children will be sad without tree and decorations
- no time and patience for crafty activities (that one is on me!)
- thank god there is some caroling with friends

:)

[Torran]

My perfect christmas:

- no presents!!!
- singing classical Christmas carols with friends
- tasty primal home cooked meal with good friends
- no tree or decorations, but dimmed lights and some candles
- Christmassy crafty family activity like making cards with the kids

unfortunately it will be
- lots of crappy presents from family although they are told not to buy
- multiple family dinners full of tension
- children will be sad without tree and decorations
- no time and patience for crafty activities (that one is on me!)
- thank god there is some caroling with friends

:)

Ha I like your honesty! As I live alone I have the luxury of deciding on no christmas tree this year (just too expensive and wasteful, and I live on a top floor flat so a bit of a nightmare to haul it up and then back down again).
I spent £11 on decorations and that will do.