I'm finding this thread very interesting so many different points of view. I can't say I get excited about Xmas but it's nice to stick to the old traditions and mark the end of the year. I've only ever spent one Xmas on my own (between husbands!!) but still had a small tree and some decorations. I think if I lived alone again, I might still do it, albeit on a smaller scale but I'd certainly have to have a Xmas dinner, even if it was a readymade one!
I usually put the tree up a couple of weeks before and still have the artificial tree bought over 30 years ago, with some tree decorations being more than twice that age. Although not religious, I still look forward to this time of the year as it's a break from w*rk as much as anything else - I'd celebrate every religious festival if I could get time off for it! Also planning a few days of strenuous garden work, hopefully..
A trowel in the hand is worth a thousand lost under a bush.
I struggle to find the enthusiasm as I get older. When my girls were little, it was lovely, and I did lots of greenery and white lights and a real tree [ I hate coloured and flashing lights] As someone who worked every year at Christmas/New Year, it was nice to have time to enjoy it, even if I was doing all the cooking etc. We had our own little daft traditions, which we still stick to, but neither of the girls [now in their twenties but still living with me] are that bothered about all the hoo hah that goes with it. I'd be sick to death looking at decorations by twelfth night if they were put up just now!
I ticked the box for 'late' but it's not showing... 'tis now
It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
I voted Other. Normally it's about a week before Christmas day or a bit less, depending when the weekend falls, but this year my sister is visiting on the 14th so I'm aiming to have at least some decorations up by then (and pressies for her family wrapped so she can take them home with her).
Doncaster, South Yorkshire. Soil type: sandy, well-drained
No worries Hazel, my post wasn't exactly full of festive cheer either 😁. I know what you mean about some of the old traditions fading away and being replaced by bigger, flashier American influences. Houses lit up like Blackpool Illuminations and instagram worthy decorations. There's so much pressure on young families these days to have 'The Perfect Christmas'.
The old traditions don't disappear, they may go underground for a while, but they do resurface. Which is why things like Christmas trees are being pushed out in favour of lights - Christmas trees are a new tradition - barely 200 years old in the UK - in the scheme of a celebration that's been going for millennia. Even Jesus is a newcomer - Christmas (by that name) is what, 1500 years old, maybe? But the marking of the solstice is - presumably - older than Stonehenge (currently estimated to be about 5000 years old). The oldest known structures on the site are reckoned to be 10,000 years old. It's hard to tell if they measure the winter solstice, but it is possible.
Candles are quite dangerous in a modern house filled with flammable materials. The tradition of Christmas lights - which is bound to be as old as the settled northern civilisations (20 - 30,000 years?) - is resurfacing now because LED lights make it possible.
The point is that people get together, eat celebratory food and mark the solstice - the return of the light, a symbol of hope, the certainty that the world is still turning.
Communal singing won't die out either, it's far too fundamental to our collective psyche. But - speaking as someone who loves a good carol service - if you aren't religious, the words to many of them are, um, odd. We sing them as a series of rhyming syllables, really, not as 'lyrics' with a meaning. A lot of those are less than 100 years old, too. Wassail, anyone? Only 1000 years old but it's got about 800 years on 'Hark the Herald Angels'.
Gardening on the edge of Exmoor, in Devon
“It's still magic even if you know how it's done.”
I find New Year's eve/day to be more pointless than xmas. Christmas has a meaning behind it based on physical seasons and light or religious significance if you're into that but the new year is just a calendar date. The physical new year really begins in spring when life wakes up again.
If you can keep your head, while those around you are losing theirs, you may not have grasped the seriousness of the situation.
Christmas definately loses something once the children have grown up and left home. We didnt put up any decorations or a tree when we lived in Spain,there was no Christmas feel. The Spanish celebrate 12th night,Three Kings...then the children opened their presents. However,now back in the uk,the feeling is back!! We are decorating even though its just us two! But we will go to midnight mass. After Christmas i look very carefully in the garden for signs of daff shoots!😊😊
The whole truth is an instrument that can only be played by an expert.
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When my girls were little, it was lovely, and I did lots of greenery and white lights and a real tree [ I hate coloured and flashing lights] As someone who worked every year at Christmas/New Year, it was nice to have time to enjoy it, even if I was doing all the cooking etc.
We had our own little daft traditions, which we still stick to, but neither of the girls [now in their twenties but still living with me] are that bothered about all the hoo hah that goes with it.
I'd be sick to death looking at decorations by twelfth night if they were put up just now!
I ticked the box for 'late' but it's not showing...
'tis now
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
It was the opposite for me - I did all the Christmas stuff because my Mum loved it. Now she's gone, I don't bother so much.
“It's still magic even if you know how it's done.”
Candles are quite dangerous in a modern house filled with flammable materials. The tradition of Christmas lights - which is bound to be as old as the settled northern civilisations (20 - 30,000 years?) - is resurfacing now because LED lights make it possible.
The point is that people get together, eat celebratory food and mark the solstice - the return of the light, a symbol of hope, the certainty that the world is still turning.
Communal singing won't die out either, it's far too fundamental to our collective psyche. But - speaking as someone who loves a good carol service - if you aren't religious, the words to many of them are, um, odd. We sing them as a series of rhyming syllables, really, not as 'lyrics' with a meaning. A lot of those are less than 100 years old, too. Wassail, anyone? Only 1000 years old but it's got about 800 years on 'Hark the Herald Angels'.
“It's still magic even if you know how it's done.”
We didnt put up any decorations or a tree when we lived in Spain,there was no Christmas feel. The Spanish celebrate 12th night,Three Kings...then the children opened their presents.
However,now back in the uk,the feeling is back!! We are decorating even though its just us two! But we will go to midnight mass.
After Christmas i look very carefully in the garden for signs of daff shoots!😊😊