The colour, the gloss,
the expectation, the size - the cost!!



The wood, the holly, the decoration
and the meaning - no cost!!

The saddest thing about Christmas nowadays is that it starts as soon as the kids go back to School in September and if you have kids and don't spend a minimum of about £200 on them (each), you're seen as being a cheapskate.

I will avoid being 'Baa Humbug' as much as possible, but it seems crazy that so many people load up their Credit Cards leading up to Christmas, then spend the following year paying it back!
If there are two thing's which can break you financially, it's Holidays and Christmas!

The values and meanings of Christmas seem to have gone out the window and replaced with a Commercial overkill which is all over and forgotten by most in just a few days and moving swiftly into the January Sales where you see the presents you purchased 3 weeks earlier at half price!

So, are we to go along with the commercial roller-coaster or are we going to 'train' our kids and ourselves to believe that Christmas can be enjoyed without so much cost and advertising hype?

Maybe I'm just getting on, but I remember.....

Not receiving more than about 6 presents from all the family and carefully storing them on the floor next to my bed for weeks after.
I remember Christmas Eve's where we sat around the Log Fire listening to my Grandmother playing her Grand Piano and opening her present (which is what that age group did).
I remember the greens and reds of holly and berries and nothing else, but conjuring up a special decorative setting which will remain in my mind as long as I live.
and finally
My sister and I going to bed and not sleeping because we were straining every tiny muscle of our ears to catch the sound of Santa's Slay Bells flying closer to our Grandparents Chimney top and climbing down for the Sherry left for him.

They were happy days. Other kids may have got more in financial terms, but we were happy with our lot because Christmas meant and represented something far above todays ridiculous statement from advertisers who show the happiness of the child opening up the £200 Game Consule.