{"id":8122,"date":"2023-12-21T09:18:52","date_gmt":"2023-12-21T09:18:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/frugalfashionshopper.co.uk\/wp\/?p=8122"},"modified":"2023-12-21T09:18:52","modified_gmt":"2023-12-21T09:18:52","slug":"tell-us-about-celebration","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/frugalfashionshopper.co.uk\/wp\/tell-us-about-celebration\/","title":{"rendered":"Tell us about \u2026..Celebration"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hello!<\/p>\n

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It\u2019s time once again for the monthly Tell us About\u2026.collaboration between my lovely blogger friends from around the world. This month\u2019s theme is Celebration.<\/p>\n

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I guess this theme has been chosen as we\u2019re in the Christmas season and today is very near Christmas Day and although I could talk about the many different forms of celebration I\u2019m going to stick with Christmas!<\/p>\n

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Traditionally, in the United Kingdom, we all came together to celebrate a religious festival, but many of the rituals of a British Christmas comes not from centuries ago but from the Victorian age and Queen Victoria and Prince Albert\u2019s desire to depict themselves as the ideal family enjoying family life on this day.<\/p>\n

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Nowadays though, isn\u2019t it rather an over-commercialised and over-sentimental day when we are expected to get together with our respective families. And what\u2019s more spend humungous amounts of money on too much food, spending time with relatives that you might not truly like. I know that sounds harsh, but we don\u2019t all live in a bubble of loveliness, which is often how it is portrayed on social media.<\/p>\n

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There\u2019s also the spending far, far too much on presents that not everyone wants and\/or needs. Personally, I think the whole experience of Christmas pushes people into \u2018enjoying\u2019 this celebration whether they like it or not. What I\u2019m saying is that this particular celebration is somewhat stressful, for all sorts of reasons, and it really isn\u2019t a day that everyone can celebrate.<\/p>\n

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Nevertheless, I have some great memories of Christmas\u2019s past. When we were younger my mother did a great Christmas and I remember her lovely tree and the decorations on it and around the house. The latter were primarily those pull-out paper decorations that were pinned up at the corners of the sitting-room and entrance hall, up to the central light so that they criss-crossed both ceilings. In the sitting room there were also many of those ubiquitous fold-out paper bells that were hung up every year.<\/p>\n

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The tree always had a sweet little fairy doll, which I kept for several years after my mother’s death, replacing it with a Clothkits (remember that company?) rag doll. And in turn replaced with a smaller fairy as we have a small artificial tree now. But back then it was always a real tree (oh that smell of pine in the morning when you came down for breakfast). On all the branches we hung strips of tinsel (sometimes called lametta) which isn\u2019t much used these days but was very popular from the 1940s right through to the 60s, which made the tree look as though it was dripping with thin icicles.<\/p>\n

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Then there was tinsel that if I remember rightly wasn\u2019t coloured as it is now. I still have two strands of my mother’s tinsel which I get out every year. That must make them well over 50 years old.<\/p>\n

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We also had small candles in their holders, but we never lit them. And finally, there were many lovely baubles on the tree all made from glass, of which I have one left.<\/p>\n

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This bauble was bought soon after they came back from India and made their home in Edgeware, Middlesex which makes the bauble 75 years old. How it has survived our many moves I don\u2019t know! (I do wrap them up carefully though) I have other lovely decorations that are my mother\u2019s which she used over the years as long as I can remember, and as she died in 1996, they really are old!\u00a0 Do tell me have you got some heirloom Christmas baubles? I also have this lovely decoration made by my son when he was tiny!<\/p>\n

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I feel really happy and at the same time, ever so slightly sad when I get all the decs out as it does bring back loads of memories. And of course, there are the Christmases with the kids when they were young. We always had two Christmases as my parents didn\u2019t travel much so we either had our Christmas with Mr F\u2019s dad and his partner coming to us, and then a few days later we travelled from Brighton to Felixstowe in Suffolk to be with my parents. \u00a0And the next year we’d do it the other way round.\u00a0 Two celebrations!\u00a0 My kids loved it.<\/p>\n

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And tell me what are your traditions about when the presents are opened? My parents liked to open the main presents before breakfast, so it was all done and dusted, which rather contrasted with us as we liked to open ours after breakfast, but before lunch. So, there was always a slight tension in the air when we kept back some presents, why were we doing this? \u00a0But, my mother had a surprise up her sleeve and presents were not quite over in their household, as after the Christmas lunch with turkey and all the trimmings, they would fall asleep for about an hour and then soon enough it was time for tea!\u00a0 Tea included not only my mother\u2019s wonderful home-made Christmas mince-pies (her pastry was melt in the mouth!) and Christmas cake with lashings of marzipan and icing, again all home-made, but there were little Christmas tree presents hanging on the tree (hankies and soap and other small things). This was delightful and I never quite managed to recreate this lovely tradition. \u00a0And now my grown-up kids have a completely different traditions and they like to open presents after lunch \u2013 so there you go, things happen, and you think everything is fixed and then things change.<\/p>\n

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This Christmas it is the in-laws turn and we are having Christmas on our own. That\u2019s fine, we all did that a lot during the pandemic didn’t we, but I have decided that the next time that happens I\u2019m going to organise a trip away. This will be my new tradition, to go away, maybe on a cruise \u2013 woo hoo, I\u2019d like that!<\/p>\n

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But now I\u2019m going to swerve away from Christmas and just give a shout out to all those unsung heroes who keep voluntary societies and community activities going for nothing. I also acknowledge, honour and celebrate those wonderful people who work in low-paid but essential jobs, many of whom should get far more recognition and pay as they are totally necessary for society.<\/p>\n

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Let\u2019s start with the low-paid, and those lovely (usually youngsters) who work in nurseries. Well done them, as for very little pay, they look after a large number of the nation\u2019s children (or in my case grandchildren) while their parents go out to work. Likewise at the other end of our lives, let\u2019s think of the humble social carer who goes into the homes of our older more vulnerable citizens doing various tasks for them, some quite personal \u2013 I see them every day going to some of the people who live in my complex (over55 housing). Bless them as where would those people be without their carers?<\/p>\n

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Both these sets of workers should be lauded and paid far more. Indeed, what they need is recognition that their work is not only essential, their work should be recognised as a profession on a par with nurses, teachers and doctors. Why not, what would people do without them?<\/p>\n

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There are so many more low-paid workers I could name who do essential work for very little \u2013 thinking of office cleaners, the posties who deliver our parcels and post, and let\u2019s not forget the drivers of Amazon vans, refuse collectors, farm workers and those who work in the food industry. There are so many. Hats off, to them I celebrate and honour their commitment to their jobs.<\/p>\n

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And what about the voluntary workers that are so essential to so many lives, who work for nothing?\u00a0 There are so many, too numerous to name, but I\u2019m just going to pick out a few. Like, all the wonderful people who work in our charity shops \u2013 I mean I see these people often! It\u2019s not just that they\u2019re sorting clothes, they are also supporting charities. A big shout-out to everyone manning food banks \u2013 thank you. Another big thank you to everyone who helps to make refugees welcome in our country. There are so many volunteers, doing good things, let\u2019s celebrate these people for their kindness, their dedication to causes and to simply \u2013 helping people.<\/p>\n

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You know I think we can begin to believe that life, particularly this year, is suffused with war, pain, grief, loss and tragedy. But there are a lot of good and kind people out there. Let\u2019s, this Christmas, not only celebrate meeting up with family and friends, let\u2019s celebrate kindness and people who are kind.<\/p>\n

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And now it’s the turn of all the lovely women who take part in this challenge. First up is Debbie who blogs at Debs.world. Click here<\/a> to see that she says she doesn’t have grand parties or \u00a0drink to excess, so it’s not the party lifestyle she’s seeking, it’s the joy of celebrating with friends and family, and being in the moment that count. Debbie looks back at some big celebrations and shares the moments of joy with her readers.<\/p>\n

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Read all about Gail from Is This Mutton here<\/a> as she goes back to the 60s to recount a typical birthday and Christmas in her childhood. Expect lucky bags and a hedgehog made from a potato!<\/p>\n

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Then why not read \u00a0about Suzy sharing a glimpse of her world, where celebrations are all about finding joy in everyday moments, from cozy holidays with family to milestone adventures, highlighting the beauty found in life’s simplicity. See the full post here.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

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Take a look at Mary Katherine’s contribution as if there’s one thing about Mary K and her crew is that they know how to celebrate! Read about some epic celebrations here on her blog https:\/\/mksadventure.com<\/a><\/p>\n

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Marsha recounts the years leading up to and including her daughter’s wedding….a week before Christmas. Click here to read this on her blog Marsha in the middle\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

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Then there is Sue from Women Over 50 Living Well. She loves a celebration especially during the Festive Season spending time with family and friends. However, for the Celebration prompt she is taking a different angle and looks at areas in our life that we should celebrate more. Click here<\/a> to read her blog.<\/p>\n

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And finally, here is another very old Christmas decoration that came from my mother’s collection.<\/p>\n

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Here’s wishing you all a very Happy Christmas wherever you are and whoever you are with, and big hugs for those of you working on Christmas Day or are celebrating the day on their own. I shall be back for one more post (which is my \u00a0review of the year) before I go away to Dungeness on a writing retreat.<\/p>\n

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That really is all for now, but do tell me if you have some very old decorations!<\/p>\n

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With love, Penny, the Frugalfashionshopper<\/em><\/p>\n\"instagram\"<\/a>\"instagram\"<\/a><\/span>
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Hello!     It\u2019s time once again for the monthly Tell us About\u2026.collaboration between my lovely blogger friends from around the world. This month\u2019s theme is Celebration.   I guess this theme has been chosen as we\u2019re in the Christmas<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[169,1],"tags":[75],"class_list":["post-8122","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-memories","category-uncategorized","tag-frugal-fashion-shopper"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/frugalfashionshopper.co.uk\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8122","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/frugalfashionshopper.co.uk\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/frugalfashionshopper.co.uk\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/frugalfashionshopper.co.uk\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/frugalfashionshopper.co.uk\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8122"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/frugalfashionshopper.co.uk\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8122\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8138,"href":"https:\/\/frugalfashionshopper.co.uk\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8122\/revisions\/8138"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/frugalfashionshopper.co.uk\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8122"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/frugalfashionshopper.co.uk\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8122"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/frugalfashionshopper.co.uk\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8122"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}