Bah Humbug!

I'm not sure where all the time's going recently. I seem to be up for hours doing a great impression of a headless chicken (running around in circles with no real sense of direction), tiring myself out but at the end of the day not having an awful lot to show for it!



Smalls have been mithering the life out of me for days now to put the decorations up, i suppose i'd better put up my hands now and admit straight out, I HATE XMAS!!! Always have and likely always will. Even as a kid i can remember getting a knot in my stomach whenever i thought about it. From a young age i can remember my mam stressing about xmas. We were a big family on one not big wage and i knew from being little that it was a hard time. For one reason or another we didn't have any contact with our extended family, it was us kids, mam and dad. My dad was first a miner -until they closed the pits down that was. He then worked for british steel - until the bottom fell out of the steel industry too, Margaret Thatcher was not a popular politician in our household. One year when my dad was out of work i can remember lying awake listening to mam and dad talking about ways to stretch the little money around the lots of us. we didn't ask for big presents, we knew how things were and were glad for what we got.



I don't remember it being as bad then as it is today, am i the only one who thinks that it's getting worse each year? The prices are just ridiculous. £100 per child goes nowhere - Ha! - like i have that to spend, everything is just so expensive, i don't know where to start. I hate, hate, hate it. I really do feel sorry for the kids, if they don't get the super brain musher 3,000 other kids make fun, the one they got 6 months ago for their birthday is out of date. even the dolls are like £40 a go. It's just absolutely appalling. The adverts on the tv are just brilliant, they make me want to have some of the toys! Butterscotch the pony or something like that is something like £250! For a toy! What?!!! I would've died to get my hands on that when i was a kid, i loved all things horsey and would've traded my soul for a horse of my own. No wonder more people crack up at this time of year than any other. It's enough to make anyone depressed.



The amount of money wasted on material things at this time of the year is disgusting isn't it? We throw money away without a second thought, all the uneccesary extras, crackers, tinsel, flashy things, baubles, a new tree every couple of years whilst the other 27 that we've got bored of lie in landfill for the next million years or so. why do we feel the need to spend all this money? Why do we have to have more lights, a bigger turkey, more food and the most expensive wine? Then spend the next year working all the hours under the sun to pay it off, ignoring our kids and becoming a stranger to everyone we know? Just to start again next year? It's the biggest con ever. Meanwhile, whilst half the 'civilised' world is gorging itself into a heart attack the other half is slowly starving to death. This is one of the things that i find the most disturbing. Whilst our country grinds to a halt and nearly everyone goes on a two day gorge fest there are mams holding their dying kids for the lack of basic rights, water and food. How do so many people ignore these things and act likt they don't know or care? I know one person can't fix the world but if every one person did just one thing to help then perhaps this world would be a better place to live in.


i know there are lots of other mams - and dads too - who are realising that things are going to have to change but if we all wait until everyone else decides to do something about it then it's sadly going to be too late. Our kids need to be aware of the plight of families far away, living through warfare and famine. No matter how poor we in this western society are reckoned to be, living on state benefits, driving 2nd (or 7th) hand cars, living in rented accomodation we are not poor. we have a home, food, electric or some other form of energy and we are rich. Rich in that our families are healthy and well, our kids are free to be whatever they aspire to be, they are allowed to be young and free. For many families this is not an option. All they can hope for is food tomorrow andto live another day. Is that really living though? Or just existing?

So,what i'm trying to say here, in my usual rambling fashion, is the next time we worry that we haven't got x, y or z, STOP! THINK! Not just at xmas but all year round. when we worry 'cos we can't buy exactly what we want, when we're on stew again for tea 'cos money's tight, when we flick over the channels on tv 'cos there's nothing on, when we log on to our computers to chat with friends half way around the world, REMEMBER, there are people dying of hunger whilst we moan 'cos fuel has gone up by 3p or whatever. I know most of the people on here do have a social conscience, most of us do try and do something , however small, to make our world a better place to live in. I'm as guilty as the rest, i hate xmas 'cos i'm afraid the kids won't get enough, i worry when they want something that i struggle to give. I feel guilty if my kid can't have a new pair of trainers when his old ones still fit. My kids're blessed! We have the riches of kings! A warm home, food, clothes and the love both of each other and those around us. Who cares if Sonys profits falls by £3 million? Not me. Who cares if we can't get an x box? not me. I wouldn't want to swap what we have got and can afford for all the world. I and my family are blessed, you and yours are too. We should continue to lead by example and show people that there is another way. Who knows maybe some people might pay attention and listen. They might even be inspired to do something about it. Wouldn't that be the greatest xmas gift of all?.....

Comments

sarah said…
Great post. I'm sorry for your bad memories of Xmas. I hope you can come to a sense of peace this year. We always try to donate something at this time if we can, and I know someone who spends Xmas morning helping out in a soup kitchen.
Ariad said…
My thoughts exactly hippymummy! I'm trying to down grade xmas this year. We're staying at home instead of hauling to the rellys. We're having a normal amount of fod instead of a disgusting wasteful feast. I've even told the kids to expect less...but I am still stressing about how I'm going to afford to buy what they want. I think to get rid of xmas entirely I'd have to take the family to live on a small desserted island!
Geraldo Maia said…
Hello Hippy Mummy,
Thanks for droping by my blog and nice comment.
I want to tell you it is a great pleasure to be visiting your nice blog.
At this opportunity I send my best wishes for a wonderful weekend as well the desire for a merry Christmas fol all the family.
Geraldo
karisma said…
Here! Here! (Says the lady whose kids are still jumping up and down to get her to put up the tree! LOL)

I still have not even gone shopping! I just can't seem to do it! My oldest is horrified that I have announced there will be NO xmas wrap for presents! (What a waste of some poor trees life!)

Yes I can honestly say I am quite over xmas and would prefer to just celebrate the seasons. (Having said that, I do enjoy the family time at that xmas brings)
MOUSE said…
double bahumbug to that sister, I am not one for the rot either but with ayla being four and all I will go along with it all for her sake. She is so excited and I sapose there is plenty of time in the future for her to see the crazyness in it all.
Hope you and yours have a safe and peace filled holliday season.
Unknown said…
Its nearly 4 oclock and I cant sleep so am catching up on blog post reading....
I agree so much with your sentiments on Christmas, its so sad isnt it that its warped and twisted by money and greed. Im not religious and Christmas for us becomes more and more every year, a time to give thanks for all that we have as a family. It doesnt have to be anymore than that, actually what more important thing can there be!! Enjoy Christmas as a special time for you and yours and make it a new tradition, just for you! Not what the past taught you it was. You can make Christmas anything you want it to be.
Ive scaled down and spent less and less every year that goes by and the children make all of their presents for friends and family. I spend £50 tops on each of them, plus some homemade treats. A fair bit of that money will be tools, materials and books! I dont buy anything that isnt useful or practical. That way I dont feel guilty buying something new. My son has had tools since he could hold them.
Christmas is an environmental disaster BUT it doesnt have to be, if people woke up and saw how wasteful everything is.
Drives me mad!
BUT I am determinded to have a magical Christmas in our own very simple (cocoa sipping on the front porch under the fairy lights type of way) regardless!
Ren x
p.s. Congratulations on the shared bed saga... Id have done the same!

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