The very first mustachian Christmas

[Gizsuat2]

If the majority of the day isn't focused on presents ... how do you spend the time?  How do you make it special? 

I've found some good suggestions on the web, but my current challenge is having two little ones, so for example, volunteering at a soup kitchen isn't yet for us.

[okits]

General comment for anyone considering the soup kitchen idea: I've been volunteering for years at a soup kitchen, and the one day of the year they do not need volunteers is Christmas (scads of new volunteers show up for that one day, then never again.)

In the true spirit of giving what's needed, please volunteer on a holiday long weekend in the summer.

For Christmas with little kids: playing outside, reading together by the tree/fireplace, eating Christmas foods, calling/Skyping out-of-town loved ones, Christmas movies (if you allow TV.)  There's no way I'm going to get my gift-free Christmas this year, so DD will most certainly have a few new things to entertain her, as well.

[gooki]

Do what you normally do, but be more jolly.

We just hang out with family, the kids mostly look after themselves, and the little extra attention from the grandparents helps.

[MayDay]

One idea I read about last year but failed to enact was this:  Wrap up a bunch of "activities" and put them under the tree.  As you unwrap them, do them.  Get creative- wrap up a box of brownie mix, then go bake Brownies.  Wrap up a movie or game (could even be one you already have) then play it or watch it.  Wrap up a box with "go sledding" written inside it.  Then go sledding.

The idea was to make the "fun" of unwrapping gifts last, since if you are getting your kids 1 or 2 gifts only, then the "magic" of christmas morning is done in about 5 minutes. 

We also as kids (as we got older, not toddlers obviously) got gifts like Lego sets, and we spend hours working on them. 

[TrMama]

We cook up our traditional Christmas morning breakfast of eggs benny. We don't eat this any other day of the year, so it's pretty special for the kids (unlimited bacon!). They play with whatever toys they got from the grandparents, aunts and uncles and loaf around in their pj's. This takes us until at least 1pm. Then we start getting ready to either go to a relative's for dinner, or we start cooking and tidying in earnest to host the great feast.

When they were toddlers, it was just another weekend day, but with a tree in the corner.

[ysette9]

We have always had a "slow" Christmas day growing up though we always got plenty of presents. The rule when I was a kid was that only one person opened a present at a time and we had plenty of time in between presents to ooh and aah over it, take photos, thank the giver with a hug, wear the wrapping bow on your head, etc. We play music and have nibbles out to eat along with adult beverages. Someone always receives a box of See's as a present so then we all get to eat chocolate as well.

My family also starts out by reading the section of the bible talking about baby jesus being born and all of that. Personally I could do without that, but it wasn't my household.

On a related note, last year we pretty much did away with presents entirely and I found it depressing and pointless. This year I am voting for small token presents with an emphasis towards consumable gifts. That experience of Christmas morning really is something special, at least for me.

[Gone Fishing]

We've done our best to avoid it, but it seems lots of folks spend a good portion of their day riding around in the car to visit various family members.  At first glance this may appear anti-mustachian, but if done in a fuel efficient vehicle, the tab would be pretty modest.  Still not my idea of fun, though.

[hunniebun]

How old are your little one's because I think the activity will vary by the age.  I am drastically limiting gifts this year as opposed to the insanity of previous years and the gifts will include a game/activity and an independent play toy and they are 3 and 6.   I like the idea of unwrapping an activity. Also if you have any seniors in your life, taking them a little something (baking perhaps) and letting the kids brighten their day could be a form of service that is age appropriate.   We usually have a very lazy day that involves movies, playing cards or board games and eating...and I think that traditional will continue!

[NeverLost]

I am posting to follow.  My kiddos are 6 and 8 and I am struggling with how to make this Christmas special without breaking the bank.  Last year my son really wanted the new Xbox (like all his friends) and I could tell he was bummed he didn't get it.  Last year we spent about 1/2 of what we had previously and this year will be even less so I am hoping you get some great ideas!  I love the idea of unwrapping an activity.  We tend to have a busy day that day so activities for the actual day aren't as big of a deal, however that does give me some ideas...

[elaine amj]

My kids also open their presents from their grandparents and their aunt on Christmas morning. When they were little, DH and I didn't give them anything. Now that they are older (and notice), we give them something under $30 each. DH and I don't exchange gifts. 

By the time everyone opens everything, we feel overwhelmed with an avalanche of gifts. (avg of 4-5 gifts per kid). We take time and open slowly, oohing and aahing appropriately. I guess it doesn't sound like a lot....but it sure feels like a lot :) We spend the morning playing with the gifts. The kids love their Christmas morning.

I must say - I can't even conceive of a "conventional" Christmas morning - with 4-10 gifts per child from the parents alone plus Santa plus stocking filled with an assortment of whatever. My brain shuts down.

[sandandsun]

Ours are 11 and 12, but from the time they were about 7 and 8, we have talked with them about children who have less and they have participated in picking out a gift for a child (from angel tree or the stories that our local paper runs).  We typically buy the gift and they usually want to add something to it from their own money (smaller things- gloves... football one year)... I realize this is still 'buying things'- but it is one less thing that clutters up our house, and I think its a good lesson for them.  Having them go w me to deliver it to the childrens' home or similar is also very instructive, I think...  They get tons of gifts from relatives- we get them very little for the holidays...

[EAL]

Make it special with activities. Create memories and traditions. Making cookies or going sledding.  I'm not sure how young your kids are but when I was younger, our teacher had us all make a bunch of a small Christmas craft. They were then given to meals on wheels to serve with their meals and brighten up their day a little bit. 
What about watching the same movie every year? There's a lot you can do if you focus on memory making activities based on what your kids enjoy doing.

[La Bibliotecaria Feroz]

A slightly off-topic tip: I read that if you want your kids to be happy in the afternoon, don't feed them cinnamon rolls for breakfast. Sausage and eggs will do better at preventing a crash :-).

Just spend time with your kids. The best presents will lend themselves to this: Do their new puzzle. Watch a movie. Read their new books. Build something with their new Lincoln Logs. (I once got a giant bag of these at a consignment sale for $6. Score!)

[MayDay]

Also, for the non-church going Santa-believers*, we spend Christmas eve tracking Santa on the computer, which for some reason my 5 and 8 year olds think is the best thing ever.

*Defying all logic, they think the idea of Mary being impregnated by God and having baby Jesus makes no sense whatsoever, and that Jesus could not possibly float up to the sky when he dies, but they are firmly entrenched in the belief that Santa is 100% real. 

[Ceridwen]

We keep our gift-giving to the kids very simple and follow the old saying of: Something they want, something they need, something to wear, something to read.  So 4 gifts max per kid.  Our kids are still young (1 & 4), so really, we can get away with less than that if they want.

We usually sleepover at my parent's our in-laws on Christmas Eve, but this year we want to have our own little Christmas morning so will spend it just the 4 of us at home, and then go visit family later on that morning.

We are also doing the advent calendar of books this year, using all books that we already had (anything wintery or Christmas themed got pulled from their stash earlier this year and wrapped), so we will unwrap and read a book every night before bed.  We also have a nice wooden advent calendar that has an M&M for each member of the family per day.

[jeninco]

Our parents are both divorced, and spread all over the country, and no one really gets along with anyone else, so we ruled out traveling to see family before we even had kids. Plus, the huge pulse of commercialism makes us both a bit ill.

For years and years, we've taken our family into a backcountry hut for Christmas. We live in Colorado and had done a fair amount of backcountry skiing since long before the boys (now 11 and 14), and the only years we've skipped are when we had newborns. We towed the first kid in a polk (http://www.wildernessengineering.com/KinderShuttle.html) (rented or borrowed) for years, then skipped a year when we had the second, then put the second kid in the kindershuttle and the first one negotiated snowshoes/riding on the cargo sled when dad was OK with it. (The deal was: you walk on the steep bits, he'll tow you on the flatter bits.) We started with huts that were quite close to the road (under 2 miles), and have now progressed to full-fledged winter adventures.

We stay for at least two nights, so the first day is spent driving to the trailhead (early!), climbing to the hut with all our stuff, and making dinner and getting set up. The second day we have a leisurely breakfast, go out for a ski, come back for lunch, make snowcaves and practice searching for avalanche transceivers, make a big fancy dinner, and hang out ski hats out for Santa. Santa brings by things that are small and light, and also maple sugar candy. We make Santa Lucia rolls for Christmas breakfast. 

Sometimes other groups are there (and sometimes we take people with us), but everyone is pretty chill. Even the year we had a 3-year old and a 6-year old, the group of rafting guides in the hut toned down the rousing game of "pigs" and chilled a little on the questionable language. (In return, we encouraged the kids to enjoy breakfast at a normal human volume, instead of racing around the hut screaming, the next morning.)

Last year was the first year in a decade we didn't spend Christmas in a hut: there was a huge snowstorm a day or two before we were supposed to head out, and between getting slowed on the roads, having to dig out the trailhead, and breaking trail in 18 inches of heavy snow (and shockingly cold temperatures), we skied uphill until 3:30 or so, thought about how much farther we had to go (and what the terrain was like), and turned around and went down. Burgers in a warm restaurant were so much better than anything in an emergency snow cave!

Granted, we're crazy. But if you're not going to spend the day with family, I suggest excusing yourselves from "civilization" for a few days. The presents from the grandparents will still be there when you get back...

[MicroSpice]

We are struggling with how to approach Christmas with our newfound frugality and the insane number of houses we're supposed to go to each year. My parents are still married, DH's parents are divorced, and all the parents live in town. We have an 18-month old who everyone insists they must see on Christmas day.

I would be happy to host family gatherings at our house just so I don't have to drive to three places spanning thirty miles, using up my entire day, and resulting in a cranky-ass baby who is pissed that she's getting dragged everywhere. However, FIL and MIL don't like each other, FIL insists that he gets to eat at 12:30 pm (and he wants what he wants and is generally a rude turd), and MIL plays the guilt card because her birthday also happens to fall on the same day as that of our Lord and Savior. And so the thought of having approximately 12-15 people at our house at the same time - a few of whom won't tolerate a passing second of discomfort - makes DH uneasy and anxious about the entire situation.

I have just about had it. I want to boycott, but my parents are actually the sane ones in the scenario whom I have no interest in punishing for the others' bad behavior (they always offer to celebrate on a different day, just to make it easier on their kids' schedules and traveling).

I think I went pretty off-topic there, so my apologies for the vent. That said, I think it's a great idea to just create traditions that are treasured. In my family, that means presents first-thing in the morning, lots of thanks back and forth, Mom making pumpkin pancakes, and now that my sister and I are of a certain age, spiked coffee and/or mimosas. The grandpas/dads/uncles put the toys together for the kids and cheesy Christmas music plays in the background. After breakfast, phone calls are made to far-flung family and the phone gets passed around to everyone and much smack gets talked of each others' favorite football teams. The best memories have nothing to do with the things you get, and much more with the warm fuzzies that you experience.

[NeverLost]

I hear ya, Mrs.MoneyNoob!  We have my MIL, my Dad and my mom (3 hours away) to accommodate.  We finally got it down to where we celebrate with my mom's side a week after, which works well because all my cousins are married now so we all have day-of conflicts.  My MIL and fam come over to our place on Xmas eve.  This always used to be a struggle because we'd try and go both places for Christmas day and I hated (selfishly) going to MIL's house because it wasn't Christmassy.  They are Asian and aside from a tree, we'd have fried rice and shitty mashed potatoes and it kind of ruined it for me.  Now, I can have everyone over the day before (put in my time) and spend Christmas morning hanging out at home and the afternoon at my dad and stepmoms. Everyone is happy(ish).

[La Bibliotecaria Feroz]

My sister got so tired of overblown extended family Christmases, she just started volunteering to work. Our immediate family celebrates on a different day (traditionally, but not always, on Dec. 23, or as we like to call it, "Christmas Eve Eve"). Her kids spend the day with their respective fathers.

Unfortunately, that trick really only works for health care professionals.

[shelivesthedream]

The things I treasure most about my childhood Christmasses:
- Decorating the tree (we'd buy one new decoration a year, and then my mother, brother and I would spend an afternoon a few days before Christmas decorating it, then lead my father in blindfolded and he'd always say it was the best job we'd ever done, then we'd have the first mince pies of the year for tea)
- Christmas dinner (Turkey, roast vegetables, Christmas pudding set on fire)
- My grandmother coming to stay
- The puzzle (one new one every year that we'd all sit around and do. When that was finished we'd get old ones out again.)
- Watching Jumanji (for many years this was always on at Christmas for some reason - then it stopped, but I bought my brother the DVD last year and we watched it again - it was great!)

This is what Christmas REALLY is to me. So I'd really recommend picking some special foods and games and making them the focus of the day.

[Kaikou]

The things I treasure most about my childhood Christmasses:
- Decorating the tree (we'd buy one new decoration a year, and then my mother, brother and I would spend an afternoon a few days before Christmas decorating it, then lead my father in blindfolded and he'd always say it was the best job we'd ever done, then we'd have the first mince pies of the year for tea)
- Christmas dinner (Turkey, roast vegetables, Christmas pudding set on fire)
- My grandmother coming to stay
- The puzzle (one new one every year that we'd all sit around and do. When that was finished we'd get old ones out again.)
- Watching Jumanji (for many years this was always on at Christmas for some reason - then it stopped, but I bought my brother the DVD last year and we watched it again - it was great!)

This is what Christmas REALLY is to me. So I'd really recommend picking some special foods and games and making them the focus of the day.

This is the best one.

Also going to church.

[Kitsune]

We've been replicating my childhood Christmases, which CAN be but don't HAVE TO BE expensive. (NOTE: this is our general schedule, but we're a reading family who banished the TV into the corner of the basement from sheer lack of interest. If your family is more into Christmas movies and the like, adjust accordingly.)

Christmas season in general:
- Bake cookies, cretons, tourtiere, and the like
- Decorate the house and tree (tree and greenery from outside, decorations saved over the years - possible expense of MAYBE buying a new string of lights for the tree, since one of ours seemed to be giving out last year)
- Make ornaments (a lot of decorating blogs have tutorials that are easy enough for most kids over 5, if you need inspiration! Also, you can incorporate learning activities - with my niece, for example, I made paper snowflakes and we read the book Snowflake Bentley, about photographing snowflakes)
- Listen to Christmas music, etc
TOTAL COST: tree if you can't just go get one, baking ingredients, time.

Night before Christmas
- Go to church (with my in-laws... I grew up in a seriously non-religious family and am an atheist, but I'll bow to familial culture once a year, fine)
- Unwrap new PJs and a book (and a new set of winter PJs one a year isn't outrageous for most of us!)
- Have a simple dinner that's prepared beforehand (traditional Quebecois food: cretons, tourtiere, fresh bread, salad, christmas cookies for dessert...)
- Curl up in front of the fire or tree, read books, listen to music, go to bed.
TOTAL COST: Maybe 60$, and that's PJs for everyone and a few books. Less if you sew the PJS, which I don't.

Christmas day:
- Wake up, eat the traditional Christmas breakfast (kugelhof bread made the day before, sliced oranges, coffee/tea/mimosas)
- Open Christmas presents (which can be as lavish or not as you like)
- Hang out as a family in PJs, playing with new toys/reading new books/etc (note that this is more functional when there are fewer toys; kids tend to be able to concentrate on what they're doing alot more...)
- Get dressed in semi-fancy clothes (which are not bought specifically for Christmas!)
- Either drive to the grandparents house or have people over, hang out with family, hang out with cousins, go sledding, have some wine, excellent homemade meal, songs, games, more sledding, exhausted children collapse to be taken home or upstairs to bed.

Boxing day: stay home, go sledding, light a fire in the fireplace, read books, play with toys, maybe invite the cousins over for company...

So, other than presents (which, as you'll notice, are not the focus of the day), planned expenses are baking ingredients, new PJs and books, and ingredients for the meal and a few bottles of wine and bubbly. It's absolutely not outrageous.

Mind: the presents can be as expensive (or cheap!) as you like and can afford, but in my experience you're better off with one more engrossing (and potentially more expensive) gift than with multiple cheaper gifts - the kids play more with the one thing instead of getting super-distracted by ALL THE THINGS. A good train set, or a play kitchen with gear, or something of the sort, is preferable to a bunch of single-use plastic toys that all get mixed together. Also, once the cousins get there, they're more likely to ALL play with it, instead of arguing over who gets the use of a smaller toy.

[Helvegen]

Before Christmas, we spend a lot of time holiday baking for ourselves and as gifts for others. Stollen, lebkuchen, krumkake, cannoli, pfeffernuesse, etc. We go to the Christmas tree farm and pick out a tree and decorate it. We always get either a gingerbread house kit or gingerbread man kit and decorate that together. Last year, my daughter had a friend over for a sleepover and it was a great activity for all four of us. I generally buy Christmas gifts in the fall for our daughter, husband, and our niece, with the exception of the gift I need for whoever my husband and I get in my family's traditional gift draw. We get all the holiday cards and gifts sent out.   We do celebrate Nikolaus on the 6th and give our kid an advents calendar. I desperately try to avoid stores during December, particularly Costco. I have to go there at least once during the month, but ugh, I dread it already and it is still 6-7 weeks away.

Christmas Eve is eh as both my husband and I have to work. Our kid's daycare is closed, so we bring her with us to work. There is nothing going on at work except tumbleweeds rolling by on occasion, but yet we are still open for some reason. Whatever. After work, we go home for dinner. I'm thinking about attempting a veggie Chicago style deep dish pizza this year. Have some beer with that and then eggnog for me and gluehwein for the husband and baked goods for dessert. We let our daughter open one present on Christmas Eve and then it is off to bed.  We'll stay up for a bit longer, watching TV and drinking some form of alcohol.

Next morning, I get up and set out breakfast. It is a traditional German breakfast of rolls and bread with a bunch of different toppings. Cold smoked salmon, brie, Schwarzwaelder schinken, Nutella, cream cheese, butter, jams and jellies, soft boiled eggs, herringsalat, sauteed peppers, mushrooms, and onions. The cat gets a special treat breakfast, but I haven't decided what it is this year yet.

We don't live anywhere near family and don't make any plans to visit during Christmas. Instead, we just Skype with our respective families on Christmas morning. We hangout with them for an hour or two and open presents.

After the presents have been opened and the Skype sessions ended, we try to go up into the mountains for fun in the snow. This means, we drive until we find snow on public land then have snowball fights and make snowmen and what not. Only cost is in the gas to get out there.

Come home and I am thinking this year we are having Alaskan king crab for dinner. Then another lazy evening of drinking and eating baked goods.

[shelivesthedream]

Ha ha, I forgot to mention something which has only become a thing in the past few years but is hilarious. My parents' two cats love this particular kind of cat toy which is a fabric banana filled with catnip. They love them so much that they turn grey, so every year now my mother buys two new ones, wraps them, and hides them somewhere in the sitting room. The catnip in the new bananas is so fresh compared to the old ones that they go crazy trying to find them and tear the paper off! Then the old bananas get thrown away.

They don't get anything else like treat food, but the bananas is an intergral part of Christmas Day now. I don't know what we'll do if they ever stop manufacturing them!

[chouchouu]

Christmas is about food for us. I read them stories about Christmas which they love and we do things like make a gingerbread house for the centrepiece, drink spiced chocolate and cook all the Christmas foods. You can make salt dough ornaments for the tree and make a wreath if you can get your hands on foliage or just use willow sticks. Decorating can get really fun when you use your imagination and if you get snow make maple syrup snow cones! Kids just love having their parents home and giving them attention, they will love the mustachian Christmas!

[mamagoose]

We go geocaching on Christmas & sign the papers as a family. It's a great way to get out and enjoy fresh air, and burn off the mega-meals. Also it takes a lot of time that we'd otherwise be watching rerun movies.

[Maya]

Enjoying all the suggestions! Thanks.

[Jschange]

I like all of these! Christmas in my family has gone away from how it was when I was a little....My brother has the only littles in our family, and now the day is nuts.

TLDR Lots of rituals mean that presents stop mattering.


When I was a kid:
Christmas eve we got hot chocolate and some kind of fancy evening snack. Played board games (started with hungry hippos and snakes and ladders, turned into monopoly or scrabble as we grew up). Periodically checked Santa's progress on the tv or radio, left out a plate for Santa.  Sometimes went for a walk to look at lights.

Christmas morning, open stocking alone without waking parents. Always had a book or magazine. Second hand books are just as special and distracting as first hand books.

Get up, 'help' mum bake muffins and set the breakfast table, everyone shows each other their stocking contents while muffins bake, this is still my dad's favorite part of Christmas.

Eat breakfast slowly.

Open presents slowly. Everyone watches each other open, enjoy, and appreciate gifts because they are all special, and getting presents is luxurious. If 4 people each give each other gifts, this is 16 gifts, or almost two hours. Regardless, you quit after two hours because it is exhausting and the cooking needs to happen, and you can skip presents but not food.

Everyone now heads into the kitchen or dining room, much cooking and table setting and decorating occurs. Eventually, everything is on course and there is about an hour to get dressed and have some quiet time.

Then you eat, and do Christmas crackers. If there is snow, you discuss going tobogganing, if not. Walks, board games, or playing with someone's new ball/frisbee/drone are also excellent.

Later in the day, leftovers are eaten, and if there is time, you can open more gifts. But it's good to save  gifts for boxing day or later too. Depending on how many people are giving things, you may need to each open one Christmas eve, or one a day until you run out. On years that we drove to my grandparents, we had presents almost until back to school.

[aperture]

Best thread ever - hearing about everyone's family traditions to celebrate Christmas without the Las Vegas style toy review is really heart warming. I have been lurking, but am already making plans for baking game playing, snow shoeing and book reading in new winter PJs. Thanks to all who have contributed - and to those that will continue. -ap

[Kitsune]

Best thread ever - hearing about everyone's family traditions to celebrate Christmas without the Las Vegas style toy review is really heart warming. I have been lurking, but am already making plans for baking game playing, snow shoeing and book reading in new winter PJs. Thanks to all who have contributed - and to those that will continue. -ap

I think this thread is basically the essence of Mustachianism : how to have a GREAT life, and an amazing time with people you love, without needing to spend tons of money. It's not about sacrificing and feeling poor and miserable. (This is why there's a fire in the fireplace, and decorations, and good food: because NOT having those would feel poor and cold and that's no way to live.)