Saturday 30 November 2013

December Advent Rituals : What are yours?

*Disclaimer: This post, and most posts on The Squee in the lead-up to christmas are filled with Christmas cheer and enthusiasm toward the festive season. This is not a place for bah-humbuggedness and/or sour-pussedness. If you fit this description you might like to go HERE instead.  Having said that, The Squee is not about to start promoting a consumeristic, wasteful, chain-store expression of Christmas... if that sounds good to you, read on kid. 

This is playing in our house tonight!


Hello there!

What are you up to this November 30th? Are you teetering on a step-ladder, scaling shelves to fetch your 15 year old plastic Christmas tree to put up tomorrow? Maybe it lives in the shed? Or MAYBE you're that keen for some seasonal cheer that you've already erected your botanical yule shrub some time in November? What do you think about pre-December tree put-uppage?? I'm not so sure about you people.. maybe a little too keen??

Or are you one of those people (who I wished so hard to be as a kid.. but wasn't) who prefers the real deal? A proper real tree right in your living room spreading that heady piney fragrance throughout the house? *SNIFFFFF*... Oh I love you people. Do you head down to the scout pine tree sale to find the perfect Douglas Fir for your christmas corner and tirelessly toil to keep it alive until it's time to open presents? I want to be you.

Maybe you have chosen an alternative Christmas tree this year after perusing Pinterest.. maybe a bunch of twigs in a vase of sand or something stuck on the wall? It's all good in my opinion.. ALL GOOD.

My relationship with December and the lead up to Christmas has changed a lot over the years. I went through a bit of a cynical phase for a while there and didn't really want to engage in all the fuss. Are you a bit like that? I get that.. really I do. It can be a bit.. no, a lot disheartening to see christmas decorations in the shops just after Easter and it can lead us to disengage from the festivities completely in an attempt not to be swept up in the rabid consumerism of it all. That's quite fair I think.

On the other hand, we could just make it our own couldn't we? Creating our own rituals to get excited about that are NOT based on buying heaps of generic stuff and being stressed out. The rituals that are meaningful to me are those that bring us together and help to remind us that we are part of something bigger...that we are not alone in this tricky life business. Doing stuff together is tops. Craft, singing, making, cooking, visiting houses covered in kitschy lights and decorations, telling stories... all those nice things. Also, if we choose to buy presents, we can support smaller business and look for non-exploitative options like fair trade, local and hand-made gifts that are good for us, good for the earth and good for the people who made them. There will be a post soon on some of my favourite places to shop for meaningful and ethical gifts so stay tuned.

What do you do to make Christmas your own? I'd love to know. Do you have any unique yule-tide rituals?

Let us know in the comments or add your own christmas ritual post using the linky tool below.

19 comments:

  1. Becs :: Think Big Live Simply30 November 2013 at 21:09

    I am totally one of those people...my decorations were up a week ago - i Know! Controversial! Your blog is looking so pretty, I love it.

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  2. We have a few little traditions, donating to charities that we love, scented candles, Christmas Elves dropping off the Christmas pj's on Christmas Eve. The santa photo. Each year we add more, but try not to add excessive gifts or expensive activities.

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  3. They are lovely traditions Lila. I love the idea of choosing a charity to donate to. It's nice to take the focus off receiving for a minute.

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  4. Thanks Becs! It's a work in progress. :)

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  5. I'm putting up my little Christmas tree today! This is only my second Christmas since moving out of home, so I don't have many rituals as of yet. But we have plans for lots of baking this year!

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  6. Melisa Gray-Ward1 December 2013 at 09:40

    Love this! I've been counting down the days until I could get away with playing Christmas carols. One ritual I am starting this year is to make our own cards to send back home. I usually always try to send Christmas cards but this time I would like to give them a little more personality and love. I'd also like to try and make my own Christmas pudding - does anyone know a good recipe?

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  7. I'm going to attempt to re-hash Dinovember in December using Army Men & Baby Doll figurines.

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  8. Baking is a lovely ritual to set in place early. Every year we make chocolate chip cookies using our "secret" family recipe (which I discovered was from an old Women's Weekly buscuits and cakes cookbook... so much for secret!!)

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  9. Making your own cards... lovely! Make sure you share some pictures when you do! I can't go past old lady pudding recipes.. scout your local op-shop for some old CWA cookbooks. If all else fails, The Women's Weekly usually has a decent traditional pudding recipe.

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  10. Oh great idea! Can't wait to see what you come up with.

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  11. Melisa Gray-Ward1 December 2013 at 09:59

    Old lady pudding recipes - teehee! Great idea to check out the CWA cookbooks, will see what I can rummage up and perhaps even ask my Mum! Would love to share some cards, good idea. Looking forward to reading your ideas for ethical gifts. I haven't started shopping yet!

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  12. I'd like to do a christmas link up post soon.. stay tuned and you might like to get involved?

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  13. I've just added a linky tool to the post. If you post about this feel free to add it to the link up!

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  14. Actually, I've decided to add a linkup to THIS post so please add one if you feel like it. :)

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  15. Melisa Gray-Ward1 December 2013 at 10:11

    Sounds lovely! I'll keep an eye out for more details :) Happy Sunday.

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  16. Thanks for hosting the link Ashley, love that you're spreading the cheer!

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  17. I'm just returning to JustB blog school and saw your post and really like your blog! I used to be a crazy, pre december, puter-upererr, even buying decorations and general Christmas goodness in September when it appeared after Father's day. This year, I have handed Christmas over to the kids, I have relinquished control over the exact proportioning of the baubles on the tree, the right width of piping on the gingerbread men and the lengthy attempts of imitating the handmade wrapping on Pinterest. My tree looks like Carnevale & Tonia Todman's lovechild and it's wonderful, covered in garish tinsel and chopped up printer paper snowflakes. Will stay tuned to your blog!

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  18. This is such a lovely post Ashley - a good reminder of the good things at Christmas. I often get so busy running around 'getting stuff done' that I forget that the best but is doing things with others. You've inspired me to try to plan things to be a bit more togethery this year :-)

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