Just one more thing to buy for that child. Have I bought enough for the other child? Maybe that means that I have bought more for them than the others. I will just get them one more thing. Right all done. That stocking looks bigger than the others. Maybe I should buy one more thing.
Sound familiar? The sound of your ever dwindling budget slowly disappearing down the Christmas plughole and that is only just for starters.
After the presents comes the food and drink shop. Speeding around Tesco like a woman possessed. Should I get one more bottle of wine. I need one more box of biscuits. Maybe I should get one more box of Celebrations, I have three large tins already, but you never know. I had better just get one more bag of peanuts that will sit in the kitchen until June. Ooh, ooh and one more selection box for the children as they never receive enough chocolate at Christmas.
Why do we do it? What is it about Christmas that turns us into demented over spenders of money?
My children have too much already. They get lots of presents from other people apart from us. Yet, I can always think of something else. They seems to have this uncanny knack of changing their minds about a week before Christmas which doesn’t help. That thing that they so desperately wanted two months ago suddenly evaporates into thin air in favour of some new thing that they can’t possibly live without. But that’s ok mummy, to change our minds as Father Christmas doesn’t mind and all presents are free right?
This year we were doing Christmas on a budget. Supposedly anyway. Somehow that budget has increased and I know that on Christmas morning, our living room floor will be groaning under the weight of the ridiculous consumerism that will be sitting there.
As for the food, I have come to realise over recent years, that we really are all mad. It came to me about three years ago when I had to stand in a queue in Tesco for two and a half hours (yes, two and a half hours) surrounded by wall to wall trollies, stacked high with festive fayre, that we are mad. We buy all of this stuff to eat and drink for one day. One day people. Yes, I accept that sometimes people entertain, do social things like have parties. I also realise that most supermarkets shut for one whole day on Christmas Day, which strikes fear into the hearts of many. But can you all say hand on heart that every single thing that you have bought has really been needed? Really?
That year was the last excessive year for me. I buy a few extras. I love Christmas dinner with all the trimmings. I like to have a nice tea on Christmas Day and it is nice to have something nice for pudding. It is very boring, but I plan my meals over the Christmas period and apart from the odd bag of nuts and maybe some nice biscuits, I do not go crazy.
Well apart from the tins of Celebrations maybe as I do like those, maybe I should get just one more of those…
It is crazy, isn’t it? We never go mad with the food – there’s no point with the fussy eaters. I suspect Father Christmas may not have treated all the kids equally, but it’s so hard to know. They will be happy with what they’ve got, though. Great post 🙂
This is so true … every year I make a list and every year I buy just ‘a couple’ more bits … and then some more, and more! Would love to say this year will be different, but the cupboard is already stacked with Terry’s chocolate orange and we’ll never fit everything into the kids’ stockings! Maybe next year I’ll stick to the list … yeah,right! 🙂 x
You are so right, it does get crazy this time of year. Well said x
I don’t have to do dinner this year because we have three family ones to go to… Saying that I still bought festive booze, boozy cream (I don’t drink much but love eating alcohol) and loads of sparkly decs for cake I haven’t made -yet!
When it comes to presents I am rubbish; I have a list and try to stick to it but with elders wanting tablets and toddler toys being weighty piles look incredibly imbalanced and they’ll just have to be. Saying that I think Madam may need just one more thing… 😉 xx