Tuesday 8 November 2011
speaking of yulefest ...
the uhmericans are square dancing in the dumbdumb place over the yays and nays of it all, so I thought I'd wax yuley here - by way of a vox pop. I've been party to a few disgruntled mater eruptions by the school gate just lately, and thought I'd share. these cranky outbursts are essentially to the effect that xmas now costs - apparently - your average fam roughly $3000. and they say it goes up every year.
que?
really truly, what's the matter with these peeps? and how in jeebers name is it possible to spend $3k on one day? I could do a wedding AND xmas for that price, and have enough left over for a honeymoon (a camping trip, granted, but still!). anyway, in my gobsmackedness, I did a bit of a list for this year's lockdown and came up with roughly $400, and that's only if we feed the mob. so the plain old gifting side of things is less than last year, which was less than year before that, which was less than year before that. having said that, doesn't matter far back I go, we never came close to even $1k, let alone 3 times that.
as I'm heard to say at this time every year ... god bless vinnies, home-baked treats, and handicrafts :D
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nonononononononononono!
ReplyDeleteHusby cracks it with me if we spend over $150 per child. I'm pushing hard for an Ipad but i know what our finances ar elike and I dont like me chances.
Rellies are on a roster for hosting the do on the day. There's at least 10 families involved. NOONE martyrs themseles over it; we've been doing it over 3 generations now. Everyone gets something to bring. We've done the turkey a cuppla times, but even thats generally under $50. We all set up and pack up. We all recycle the same decorations; it's part of Christmas.
By the by....
helped a mate set up her 8 year olds birthday party last night.
3.30pm after school till 5pm. Local park. Balloons, cupcakes, fruit, chips, dips, juice and water. A friend brought homemade sausage rolls. Kids rocked up, took their shoes off & paddled in the creek for an hour, then everyone got a balloon. Hills party. They still happen without breaking the bank....
ps.
ReplyDeletethe i pad is obviously, for me, not the kids...
by the by, where's your dumb dumb place?
ReplyDeleteIt is this awesome place on the beat, with many brainiacs giving their well informed opinions on current political issues.
ReplyDeletesee now wilmsical, that's the sort of partay we do hereabouts (well, some of us. clearly not the $3k brigade). and it's the sort of xmas we aim for, despite the lofty aesthetics of one or two well-heeled relingtons. still, if they come to us they make do with bin ordinnaire ($8.99 a bottle in the doz), roast cornfed chook and homemade pudding. we can do nosh and plonk for 10 for $150, easy, and still have enough left for novelty crackers :p
ReplyDeletebut back to the $3k set ... it wouldn't flumox me so if they claimed to enjoy the process and the expenditure (though it'd disturb me ... the happy planet killers!), but they don't. they wail and moan at the prospect, then go and do it. suggestions of boycott are met with "oh but we couldn't not do xmas, the kids would be SO disappointed". any further suggestion that it's not a cancellation, just an adaptation, and they claim kids EXPECT a $3k xmas, ergo they must have one. who's running this show?
on the dumbdumbs ... it's the place we found that old coward, gaines. the one who said he was gamey then found his testicles had atrophied. writersbeat. anyway, there are a few more like him (sentient, as opposed to brave) and plenty of subsentients. altogether a mildly heady brew.
Xmas is a costly event here - namely 'coz there are zero pesos inbound when the self-employed are not working. As such, I've agreed, can you believe it, to work xmas day. WTF was I thinking? Of course, that will excuse me from rellie gatherings - so it's not all bad.
ReplyDeleteA couple of rules I adhere to for the festive season -
NO buying pressies for grownups ( no soap for teachers, tea for work colleagues, and hankies for aunts).
kids get pressies which I would need to fork out for either way: eg colouring pencils for the school year, togs, sox, school shirts, thongs. That way, their sacks look full, but are not full of Fisher Price.
And NEVER put anything on credit (or 48 months interest free)
ReplyDeleteI love that approach, betts! the filling of stonkings with school and extra-curricular related bibs and bobs. given that come the first week of Jan, the lesser brainiacally endowed parentals (me) have to troop off to Big W or Kmart and spend a small fortune on school supplies and rash vests and the like.
ReplyDeleteWe also (again, stupidly) are clinging to the gifting of adults here. Well, I cling to it and my lot cling even harder. His lot turfed it years ago. I don't mind, though, as I quite enjoy the challenge of tracking down hard-to-finds and making things that suit. anyway, we only gift adults in both immediate fams & a couple of spesh friends each. usually amounts to around $100 total, so not toooo bad.
Amazing the anticipation of new sox when enduring the 11th month holiness of term 4.
ReplyDelete