How to Make Sure Christmas 2021 Doesn’t Suck

Christmas might be the last thing on our minds right now, but retailers are stocking Christmas gifts, the TV ads are being shown, and the media is telling us there’ll be a shortage of turkeys. The bells of Christmastime are ringing somewhere in the distance.

Post-Halloween, the big push to get all the Christmas decorations in our faces will begin, and ahead of that, I wanted to share some suggestions about what we can do to make sure Christmas is not just bearable, but enjoyable.

Don’t Be Afraid to Break Tradition: Create New Ones

The fact of living through something big, such as a Pandemic, often means it takes a while to get back to ‘how it was before’. This leaves room for uncertainty, which nobody likes, but adapting to the present situation is vitally important in terms of survival.

After Christmas 2020 saw so many families forced to spend the festive period apart, 2021 will no doubt see families eager to have that time together. Focussing on this aspect – being together – is far more important than whether or not there’s a turkey on the table.

So be prepared to break tradition, and put a fun spin on it. If we have food at all on the table on Christmas Day, we’re lucky. And if we find ourselves with people we love, we are doubly lucky.

Be prepared to trade turkey for something else – lots of people don’t eat turkey at Christmas, and lots of people usually have more than one choice available on the day. So switch it up.

There’s also no point stressing out about Brussels Sprouts – a good deal of people claim to dislike them anyway. As long as you have some veggies on your plate, you’re good to go.

Plan Ahead

With postage delays, driver shortages and the threat of stock shortages, it is worth getting started as soon as you can. This method isn’t for everyone, especially those who struggle financially; planning will be crucial. But the sooner you can start ticking things off your list, the better.

The Gift Guide

Pre-Loved Gifting

Discuss with your close ones whether or not you’re happy to receive pre-loved gifts. I say discuss because I appreciate that this might not be for everyone. However, it does leave room to get creative – maybe your pal needs an upcycling project, or you’ve seen something on eBay that you can’t buy somewhere else, particularly if they like collecting things.

It’s a great move for the environment too, and there are smaller companies out there upcycling old stuff into new stuff, ready to be loved again.

If and where you can, support small businesses

If you can. Although it is worth noting that not all small businesses are more expensive, I would argue that it depends on the product. Small jewellery businesses are a good shout if you’re looking for something unique, for example.

Homemade Gifting

Get crafty! You don’t have to have your own workshop to make great gifts. Bake a cake or some cookies for the sweet tooth in your family, try making your own jams, or crochet a soft toy. Perhaps you’ve been waiting for the perfect time to try a new craft, like candle-making. Gift your creations to your family and friends.

Set Budgets with Your Family and Friends

This is a key one, I think. Not only does it lessen the pressure, but it can also be a fun challenge. Agreeing not to spend more than X amount puts everyone on the same affordable page.

If you can’t afford the big presents, you shouldn’t feel bad. There are multiple pressures on all of us at Christmastime, and a good deal of those are based around gift-giving. It has taken me a good few years to realise that it is impossible to quantify my love with material goods, mainly because advertising around the holidays suggests it is possible. With slogans as good as explicitly telling us to ‘show your loved ones how much you really care by spending lots of money on this very special item’, an individual can certainly feel guilty about not being able to afford certain things. Unfortunately, the truth is often that we often spend money on unnecessary gifts.

Try to Enjoy the Day

The holiday season can be tense, and so can Christmas Day itself. We try to organise our families into something that vaguely resembles our internal ideas of what a perfect Christmas looks like. Instead, we should let our families naturally set their traditions and ways of enjoying Christmas, regardless of how that seems to others, and through that, hopefully we can enjoy the day, rather than stressing about it.