Sarah from Mumzilla was selected by our BISS October panel and in her guest blog reveals why she didn't buy her baby any Christmas presents...
My son was nine months old for his first Christmas. My statutory maternity pay had ended and we were pretty skint. However, that wasn't a factor in deciding not to get him any gifts from us.
There's no denying we live in a consumer society. It seems like every five minutes there's something else popping up demanding ever more extravagant spending. Mother's Day, Halloween, Father's Day, Cousin's Day, Auntie Ethel's Dead Parrot's Day... (okay I made that one up, but there might as well be!).
There's an ever constant whisper 'If you love them, then you must spend, spend, spend!'
What a load of rubbish.
My boy didn't have a clue about Christmas. He was most interested in the tree, and commando crawling underneath it to try and lick the stand. He enjoyed looking at the lights whilst chewing on his fist. He really, really loved pulling all the labels off the presents. But that was about it. What would be the point on spending loads of money on him, when the only thing he ever actually wanted to play with was the TV remote? I very much doubt he would even realise, let alone be mentally scarred by a lack of plastic tat lovingly presented to him on his first Christmas.
Instead of getting him anything, we spent the money on taking him to see far away family, who thoroughly spoilt him. He had a wonderful time rolling around on the floor, eating wrapping paper and trying to get boxes stuck on his head. He delighted in eating a whole bowl of brussel sprouts for his Christmas dinner that resulted in a truly remarkable nappy at the end of the day – which, I might add, no-one offered to do for me, however much I pleaded and offered bribes.
The brilliance of the day wasn't about presents, it was about being with people who loved him. Instead of plastic crap that would just be gathering dust after six months, we made happy memories that will last us forever.
Which surely is what Christmas should really be about?
Sarah was selected as a BISS guest blogger after entering our October linky. For your chance to write for GoodtoKnow, check out our Because I Said So platform.
