Competitive Christmas

With christmas just round the corner (have you seen the John Lewis Christmas Advert!! :D :D :D), but money tighter than ever, I'm beginning to panic. Due to the difficult year, I haven't thought about buying presents throughout the year like I usually would.

Each year, for some unknown reason, I try to beat the previous year (present wise). I know, ridiculous right? I know I'm not the only one.

Check out our christmas 2012...

Not too OTT, although the tree is disapearing slightly. But when you consider that each present is worth £10+, its a hell of a lot of money.

Now check out our christmas 2013...

Ridiculous!! And thats not including all the small presents under the christmas tree (which I couldn't fit in the photo). And this is just the kids presents.

Christmas, and I know it's not just our household, has become more about the amount and cost of presents then anything else. I've has a think about why this is happening and have come up with these three main reasons.

'The Kids Faces'

Seeing their little faces light up when they see a room full of presents is pretty special. Their smiles beam from ear to ear followed by an excited squeal as they run down the stairs and bundle on top of everything. This is definitely my top reason for doing this.

'Social Media'

This has become sort of a competition between my social media Mummies (although no one will ever admit it). No matter who you are, you're bound to see a sea of rooms filled with presents at 11pm on Christmas Eve. The more presents you have, the more "OMG your children are so lucky" comments you get.

'The School Playground'

"I can't believe I spent over £2,000 this christmas!", "Mine have been glued to their new iPads!", "My house looks like Toys 'r' Us has thrown up all over it!". We've all heard it right? And we've all wanted to join in? I know I have. It seams to be whoever spends the most gets crowned 'The Best Parent'.

After writing this out and reading it through, it all seams pretty ridiculous. Especially as now, less than a year on, the presents they recieved are at the bottom of the toy boxes and haven't seen daylight since the day they were unwrapped. As there were so many presents, it's pretty much an impossible task for them to appreciate any, if not all, of them.

This year, not only can I not afford to 'compete' with last year, I also don't want to. I want my children to change their attitude towards christmas instead of seeing it as 'present day'. To me, as a non religious family, I want christmas to be about family, tradition and memories (with a few presents they will really love as an added bonus).

This year will now include our 'alternative advent calender' (blog post coming soon), christmas light switch ons, pantos, family, films, reading stories and so on. I want to add unforgettable memories rather than getting myself into more debt paying for useless, unwanted plastic cr*p.

I will be sharing our christmas 2014 with you all along the way. If you have any family traditions, festive ideas etc, please feel free to share them with us. I would love to see how other families enjoy their chritmas.