Preparations for Christmas

It seems appropriate this year for us to do what we call our "Victorian Christmas".  This is what we tried a couple of years ago, and it worked really well.  I don't mean that we dress up in Victorian costume and eat traditional dishes which have taken weeks to prepare.  Our Victorian Christmas consists of asking family to contribute what they are happy to towards one present for each of us.  So we basically each get one present (plus, perhaps, a few small gifts from friends we exchange presents with: we don't always feel we can ask them to partake in our eccentric ways!)  So the boys got a table football set last year, Chris and I bought a bread-maker with the money given to us both, and Yasmin got a trike.  As everyone contributes, it means that the children are each able to buy something fairly substantial, rather than having lots of plastic toys that very quickly get discarded anyway.  And generally, it means we all get something that we really need, or would find very useful and engaging.

So, as this year is "living on a shoestring" for me at least, it seems right to have another go at our Victorian Christmas.  It was actually Felix's idea to repeat the experiment, as he enjoyed it last time round. So that's decided.  We just have to let our families know! But I think they're getting used to our funny experiments of electricity-free days and Victorian Christmases!