That time of the year again, what are you doing? One thing we are not doing is buying presents, we stopped a few years ago now, we buy toys for various charity groups and that about it. We will be spending Xmas with family and friend all meeting in Margaret River, South West WA MTR
kids have all requested cash this year, one of them wants $800 - yeah right. Xmas day is always at my house but my mum and mother in law do all the cooking and bring it over - works great for me
Bah humbug. To quote my husband "I just want to do something that's not christmassy on Christmas day" which sounds pretty awesome to me. Probably end up on the boat out fishing somewhere.
First Christmas in many,many years that I will be having a 4 day break over Christmas and the best one of all is we are not doing the family Christmas lunch at our house. We normally do the whole thing and really cater for the whole family but after this year we said no others can look after us instead..
Parents coming over from Perth (mum's side of family lives here). Mums side of family for lunch GFs dad's for dinner Incredibly massive to-do list to do between now and then Not really into Christmas though, its pretty over rated in my opinion
We celebrate every birthday milestone by going out to dinner as an extended family,it gets a bit expensive but it gets everyone together for a few hours. Not having to cater at your own house makes it heaps easier as well
We have a Christmas gathering with close family (parents, siblings, in-laws) on a rotating basis at each family's house, which is relatively painless. All the adults have one family member name drawn for them to buy a $50 max present, which cuts down on the commercialism of the day quite significantly. We buy presents for the kids, but keep them humble too so as not to detract from the family gathering nature of the day. It works out quite well.
I agree no presents. There is already too much junk in the house. My best Christmas present would be if all the stuff I don't want was sold on gumtree
Love it @HomePage As we did it every year it started to become onerous and we actually started to actual hate the day itself,rotating between families is the way to go..as long as every family takes a turn
Families coming to visit and stay over for Christmas. Definitely doing the decorated tree with presents and turkey
I LOVE Christmas! I've lived miles from my family for ages so it's always really special. We're not big present givers usually, we all get a name out of a hat and spend $50 on the gift. The best most funnest thing is that we also have to write a poem/song/media presentation/whatever and perform it to our Santee. Even the kids. It's loads of laughs. It's always a great lead up to it as well, lots of excitement after not seeing each other for so long, sending out wishlists, lots of banter....it's the best. Spending Christmas not being Christmassy would be really sad for me.
I really enjoy Christmas. My son and I go to the Beach House, I cook the turkey etc., we don't care what time its cooked, we just relax. My niece and 2 nephews and their kids all come round in the morning, no presents, just being together eating mince pies and shortbread and pulling crackers. . Its the only time all year that we are together. They then go off to their Mums/Dads etc for Christmas Dinner and the two of us just take our time getting our dinner ready to sit and eat on the balcony (weather permitting). Its just great.
Christmas was good when you were 8 and believed in Santa I don't even like when people buy me "presents" as it is always something I don't want and I feel bad for them spending their money on something I don't want or need. Anything I actually need I go and buy right now. Sounds grinchy I know lol Catching up with family is what it is all about. If you get along with your family that is
Why about the men in the family? No bbq rotisseries in the back yard with smoke covering the whole street? Neighbors looking over the fence to see what's burning?
yes they do that, my husband loves to cook and he will do the bbq thing every single day if we let him. However for xmas lunch, the mums like to organise it all. I put it all out on the table, but they cook it all and bring it over. Makes things so easy.
We will be driving down to Victoria with our oldest to spend lunchtime at the old folks home with my dad. It will be the first time for many years we three siblings will be together for Christmas let alone with the old curmudgeon and the child.
Haha...sounds like me. If they let me, I'd light it up every day too...there's just something about watching the meat rotate and cook slowly while the fat drips into the charcoals and releases the smoke which floats up again through the meat infusing it with a smokiness you can only find in heaven. All the while sipping on a shot glass of grappa/zivania.
