Dosent time fly ?

[lozz]

Just Realised today, christmas is only around the corner,
Dosent time fly?

How early do you lot start preparing for crimbo?
ithink its one of the Most stressfull times of the year kids want This and that,

Havent they got it easy, iwish iwas a kid again, No bills or this n that to worry about,

[steve_earwig]

No bills or this or that to worry about, apart from this and that

Probably about December 20th when I plug the Christmas lights back in again... I don't have any kids so I'm probably not the best person to ask. I don't even remember peer pressure being much of an issue when I was at school, but then I guess I started off as an outcast because I lived miles away from any of the other kids and didn't get to see any designer clothes or any of that sort of crap, there wasn't much in the way of gadgets either. I can imagine these days it's all the latest Playstation, iPad, iPod, iPid, iPud, smartphone, fartphones, tartphones, "I want an iPhone 5 Jimmy Smith's got an iPhone 5 my iPhone's too old all the latest games only work on an iPhone 5 my iPhone seems to have had an accident..." And if you don't buy them the latest gadget so they can text the kid they're sitting next to you end up feeling like you're doing them harm. Welcome to hell.

I see some of this with my nephew (the mysteriously broken phone for example) but he is in a different country so the best he'll get is a quick chat down Skype Btw he's taken an interest in tropical fish, he's sent me pictures and he really seems to know what he's doing. He's also on a tropical fish forum handing out advice about diseases and such. He'll be 14 on the 25th.

[Welly]

I hate the whole concept of Christmas with a passion but LOVE the fact that it is my time to rest - it is the only time of the year I can escape my job without worrying about what I should be doing (difficult having time off for me).

There was no peer pressure at all when I was 14 to 16 in the mid eighties because there was nothing available to aspire to anyway I remember one or two of the kids who's parents had decent jobs had 'computers' - was it the ZX84? spectrum? BBC? I don't know I wasn't interested.

When I was 12 I had a Raleigh Chopper in Metallic Blue, brand new, and 'took it round the clock' honestly I covered over 1000 miles over a year in my local area. I then got into BMX's and could strip them down/rebuild with my eyes closed........were things really that much more simple then? probably were, there seems a lot more to concern ourselves with these days and we all seem to live at 110mph all the time

My kids are very realistic about money etc. because I tell them, I explain if I've got some and why and I explain if I haven't got some and why. I told my 13 year old daughter recently that my Gas/Electric monthly bill was £120.00 each month and she was shocked - she said "what? every month, all year?".

We spend probably £30 to £40.00 on both kids and relatives give them maybe £100.00 or so and I think that's plenty. As far as what the other kids at school have got I really don't give one, I'm not them, and they're not me so they can get the f*ck out of my face. In any case you can bet that whoever gets bought the new 'must-have' gadget it won't be 'purchased' rather it will be financed.......which aint buying in my book

Oh, and "Merry Christmas"

[DaiRees]

My kids are spoiled senseless, which causes more than the occasional argument in our house The wife is nuts, she buys incredible amounts of stuff for them, and her parents are just as bad, I'm sure her father thinks it's a competition to see who can buy the kids the most. Christmas day is usually broken down into 2 seperate present opening sessions, with a 3rd on boxing day when we go to the in-laws, there's just too much for one sitting!! I get really annoyed at the fact that we can't move around the house for toys and junk everywhere, yet they still buy so much more, and I get even more annoyed that a large percentage of the stuff is either played with once then "stored", or never even makes it out of the box! From a selfish point of view I say bring on the X-box / iPod /3DS phase 'cos at least they're small and can be kept in the kids bedrooms and not under my feet. I try to go down the "when I were a lad" route because times have changed and I'm glad we're in a position to give our kids stuff that we didn't have, but it's just total excess! I look at their presents and pick out the odd item that would be an equivalent of what I used to have as a "main present", maybe it's 1/20th of what they have, then I think "were my brother an I any less happy on Christmas morning than my kids are?" and the answer is of course no, in fact we were probably happier because we appreciated our gifts more.
[/rant]

As for the Chrimbo prep, I don't really get involved until December, putting the lights up, buying presents for the wife, etc. As far as present buying for everyone else and all other prep goes, that's the wife's responsibility, and I bet she's 95% finished!!

[lozz]

My ex wife spoils my oldest kids, theres 4 of them,
makes it hard tho as when igive them £150 each like idid last year and the years before they look at me like its that it ?

They wont be getting that much this year,

my youngest kids ihave with wife number 2 are happy with what they get
theres 3 of them so its still expensive,

[DiscoPol]

I have booked 8 days in Egypt for my christmas this year, oh Im taking the wife and little fella too, we have since we got married spent alternating christmasses in either Poland or England so this year i thought sod that malarky and we are going away somewhere hot.
We fly out on the 23rd so should miss most of the big celebrations here thank god and for the UK based family we will fly over some point in January or so i reckon.

It doesnt help that this year is also my 40th a couple of days before the big day so I a reckon i am just subliminally running away from it all.

[FarmerPug]

ah i rember the best present of them all the slide, i must have played with the box for years even had windows cut into it, keep your xbox i have a cardboard box
but children these days at the big boxing day family gathering all my young cousins were glued to nintendo ds esses i clocked about 15 that day and they all walked about quietly like zombies that day compared to the cousins of my age we would have been outside taking the cart rolling it down the hill or getting the dog to catch snow.
does anyone still cut down their own christmas trees?

[Welly]

It doesnt help that this year is also my 40th a couple of days before the big day so I a reckon i am just subliminally running away from it all.

I was 40 two months ago and haven't been the same since makes you take stock for sure.

High on the list was "is this really the career for me?", and "why is my midriff trying to become perfectly spherical?"

Bonus features of becoming 40, are larger testicles (although finding any use for that is questionable, I even sat on one of them the other day for the first time in my life ).

[mjb]

I miss my old Xmas routine. It used to be a case of:

Go out xmas eve, get loaded
Wake up on the sofa, watch Takeshi's Castle iuntil hunger takes over
Find the remains of last night's donner meat & chips, nuke, eat
Play on the xbox until 5pm
Order curry
Wait for curry to arrive, then put some clothes on and answer the door
Eat curry, retrieve copious amounts of beer from the fridge, go back to xbox
Pass out