Isn't christmas just a whole month of anti-mustachian lunacy? The decorations have gone up in our local stores and all kinds of adult (booze, wine, beer) christmas calendars are for sale for outrageous prices.
Toys are everywhere you go and I suspect helpless kids are being carpet bombed with commercials for this and that toy.
Personally this is my least favorite time of the year. The only good thing about it is that I got my family to drop all gifts, except those for the children (anyone under 18 or in college).
Now we just cook a duck, share some great wines and enjoy the evening. That's a really nice way to spend christmas in this rainy country.
That sounds lovely. I actually LOVE Christmas and probably drive everyone around me crazy. But I find a lot of it quite gross nowadays. The adult advent calendars has really set me off on a an anti-consumerist rant this year!
Making things, doing things (all the rituals), and having some quiet chilled out time at home = perfect Christmas. Maybe I should change this thread to 'your perfect mustachian christmas' :)
Hahaha do iiiit. :)
I adore Christmas. But, really... it doesn't have to be about money. Like, ok, we're lucky, we live next to a woodlot owned by my in-laws and can go chop down a tree. We have lights for the tree and a tree stand. Every year I make a few ornaments (this year I'm cutting up a slightly moth-eaten cashmere sweater for kid mittens, and the scraps I'll sew into white stars to hang in the tree. I've also got plans for making pinecone elves with the toddler, because she loves pine cones and we went to gather them together). The rest is all... candles that I make, wreaths we make from pine clippings and ribbons, etc. Like I ranted before, who on earth buys all-new decor each year, it's ludicrous.
Presents are affordable (mostly), and either handmade or put-together gift baskets based on personal interests (we have an extensive gifting list; we should come in under 500$ for 23 people, including our kid, with gifts that suit the recipient and don't look cheap).
Gatherings are... good family, good food, good wine. It's not compicated, and we all cook, so... excellent food, none of that catered nonsense, actually semi-affordable (I host Christmas Eve with my in-laws, and we do traditional Québécois food.... last year, tourtiere, cretons, fresh bread, 3 salads. Worked out, ingredients-wise, to less than 40$ for a fancy meal for 12 - which, frankly, is the cost of an average dinner party, give or take 10$. Add a bottle of wine, some booze-free punch, and cookies for dessert, and we're set). So... good food, carols on the piano or radio, fireplace, pretty candles and decor, sledding before dinner, usually church but not this year (minister has been getting progressively more preachy and I'm not putting myself or my daughter through that. I told everyone else they could go and meet us after, and they all looked super relieved at the prospect of skipping entirely). ALL of that is very Christmassy. NONE of it costs money.
