[tomtom]

We’ve had an artificial tree for the last five years or so (it’s been easier during this time with the cat and baby/small child). I miss the real tree smell though.

But when you see all the trees waiting to be picked up on Bin day after Xmas it seems like a lot of waste each year. Maybe a small item in the context of Xmas consumption.

[Will Hunt]

I chop ours up and put it in the garden waste bin. One likely destiny is to be shredded and mixed with sludge cake to make a fertiliser.

[ali k]

But when you see all the trees waiting to be picked up on Bin day after Xmas it seems like a lot of waste each year.

A few years ago in early Jan I saw a pile of the unsold trees from just one of those pop up markets. Hundreds of them all still wrapped up. Haven’t had a tree since, real or plastic. Just some lights over the fireplace is enough for me.

[SA Chris]

Now:
Main present, from us, under tree. Santa brings some fairly meaty stuff, but not too major. Presents from family and friends under the tree.
The kids have their own “Santa sacks”.

This. Kids now 8 1/2 and 11 (well will be on Xmas Day). Every year I think will be the last, but eldest keeps on believing.

[r-man]

But when you see all the trees waiting to be picked up on Bin day after Xmas it seems like a lot of waste each year. Maybe a small item in the context of Xmas consumption.

We get locally grown trees - there's a place just 5 min drive away! (Near Edgworth/Jumbles, for anyone local). And then chopped up and recycled, so the tree feels pleasingly sustainable.

[andy popp]

in our house nobody could enter the living room until everybody was up, showered, dressed, breakfasted, and teeth brushed.

That was us, except that we (i.e. the children) also had to do the washing up after breakfast. Bloody middle classes.

If I hadn't moved country then I expect very little would have changed in the Christmas my children experienced growing up, except presents would be pretty unimportant now.

Anyway, rest assured all you parents of young ones, at some point in the teenage years you actually have to start waking them up mid-morning in order to ensure Christmas Day actually gets underway.

[gme]

in our house nobody could enter the living room until everybody was up, showered, dressed, breakfasted, and teeth brushed.

That was us, except that we (i.e. the children) also had to do the washing up after breakfast. Bloody middle classes.

If I hadn't moved country then I expect very little would have changed in the Christmas my children experienced growing up, except presents would be pretty unimportant now.

Anyway, rest assured all you parents of young ones, at some point in the teenage years you actually have to start waking them up mid-morning in order to ensure Christmas Day actually gets underway.

Unless you have a christmas loving wife who will still gte us all up before 7am. She just cant sleep with all the excitement.

An on the christmas tree front real trees are far more environmentally friendly than artificial especially if you get them chipped afterwards. Plastic one is always going to end up as landfill at some point and be there for 1000s of years. Plus loads of charities and community groups sell real trees now so you can help things with your purchase. Its the biggest money raiser for our local rugby club kids teams. 4-5k each year.

[Will Hunt]

Some friends have rented a tree this year, which is the first I've heard of such a scheme. They dig it up and you take it home in a big pot and sit it in your living room till January. It then goes back to the site and in the ground until next year.

[spidermonkey09]

Some friends have rented a tree this year, which is the first I've heard of such a scheme. They dig it up and you take it home in a big pot and sit it in your living room till January. It then goes back to the site and in the ground until next year.

Yep, thats what we've got this year. They also label the tree so you can have the same one the next year if you wish.

[Oldmanmatt]

Some friends have rented a tree this year, which is the first I've heard of such a scheme. They dig it up and you take it home in a big pot and sit it in your living room till January. It then goes back to the site and in the ground until next year.

We had a massive garden when I was a lad. My uncle had subdivided a quite large field into four plots and built a bungalow for himself, one for us and two others to sell.
In the ‘70s, my dad started planting a Leylandii hedge down the fence line, adding a few trees each year. I can’t remember when he switched, but at some point he stopped buying Leylandii and started buying live Xmas trees, in a pot, that were then planted out onto the fence line.
That fence was about 100mtrs long, when they moved, 30 years later, it was still only 2/3 planted.

[SA Chris]

Our family did stockings from Santa. Presents under the tree from friends and family. Had to write my own thank you notes (felt like torture). So like your wife’s tradition. I still loved the magic of Santa with the stocking. So exciting having an empty one at bed time and then full in the morning. We did mince pies, milk and carrots etc too. Good memories.

Could you do a compromise? Santa does stockings and one big present under the tree. The rest are from family etc.

This seems to be the suggested modern day option, as it avoids the issue of some kids getting a lot more from "Santa" than their friends, i.e. why did santa bring you an X-Box, but I only got a toy car.

When my Mum remarried, they decided to "get religious" so in my latter years of "youth" I was usually dragged out of bed to sit through an early morning service before any presents were opened, or we even had a "proper" Xmas breakfast. This is a cruel and unusual form of punishment to inflict on your children, and one of the (numerous) things that has put me of organised religion for life.

[Wil]

Our Christmases varied quite a bit.

The basics were: Stockings arrive outside your bedroom (Mum insists that she used to ring a bell when she did it, I never noticed). FC would leave presents in the living room overnight. Under the tree was reserved for other gifts, which built up before the day (when I was younger these used to be from relatives I'd never heard of, and were almost all made of chocolate). We'd sing carols by the fireplace on Christmas Eve and leave a mince pie and a glass of something (brandy, sherry, port, whatever FC was into that year). We'd also leave a carrot and some hay for the reindeer (I grew up on a farm).

Some years FC would mysteriously leave gifts at my Grandparents, I think there was just poor communication about this, I wasn't clear on what was supposed to be from FC and what was from my parents. I've got 2 younger brothers and while I'd sussed FC out pretty early, my Mum made me tell my middle brother when she was worried that he was getting a bit old and would be made fun of at school. I've no idea how long the youngest believed, or if his experience of the whole thing was different. It all felt quite magical to me and it was definitely important to my Mum.

In terms of the day we sometimes went to church, generally that meant that we opened a stockings beforehand and nothing else until later. My Mum still goes sometimes, but more likely to midnight mass, and she's a Unitarian, so always feels she has to stealth it in the Church in Wales. There's not been a lot of routine about it recently, and I've got a young niece and nephew now so the focus is more on them. The best bit for me in recent years has been walking down to my uncle's house for the evening, where he's usually got an enormous stash of cheese and port and some terrible board games.

Best Christmas: The one when we had steak and chips.

Worst Christmas: The one when a cow went into labour and it was in breach. Unfortunately I had smaller arms and hands than my Dad at the time, so it was me who had to go full James Herriot in the dark, full of Christmas dinner. Luckily not a tradition.

[andy popp]

I think there was just poor communication about this,

Hahaha - great line. I have to say, I'm enjoying this thread very much.

[gme]

enormous stash of cheese and port and some terrible board games.

This is christmas to me these days, plus a ham and mince pies. Already have the cheese menu from my local mongers and intend to tick my way through the lot.

[Oldmanmatt]

Worst Christmas: The one when a cow went into labour and it was in breach. Unfortunately I had smaller arms and hands than my Dad at the time, so it was me who had to go full James Herriot in the dark, full of Christmas dinner. Luckily not a tradition.

I don’t remember doing at Christmas, but (along with all the other kids in the village), when you were still small enough, you’d be dragged out of bed in the middle of the night for this task, during Lambing. That and fetching the “still” lambs, to warm in the AGA.
Bloody thread got me all nostalgic. Google Earthed my old home yesterday and felt quite warm and fuzzy.

[SA Chris]

Already have the cheese menu from my local mongers and intend to tick my way through the lot.

If you don't have cheesesweats by 6pm it's not a good Christmas!

I normally plug for single malt and quality dark chocolate later on. None of this quality street shite.

[mrjonathanr]

I normally plug for single malt and quality dark chocolate later on.

Really, why wait?

[SA Chris]

Usually wait 'til kids in bed.

[tomtom]

[webbo]

Just had a visit from Santa, he’s riding round the village in a cherry picker on the front of a tractor.
Six year old grandson was impressed even though he was round at school yesterday as well.