December 10, 2024 • 22 mins
Feeling the pressure to make Christmas perfect? You’re not alone. From endless adverts to social media FOMO, we’ve been sold the idea that more equals better—but does it really? In this video, we’re diving into the real magic of Christmas (hint: it’s not found in shopping bags) and why so many of us are craving a simpler, more meaningful celebration. Let’s unpack the Christmas consumer trap, how to resist the itch to overspend, and how to rediscover what really matters! www.theorganisedmum.com
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hello, everybody, Welcome back.
Speaker 2 (00:01):
This is something that I wanted to speak to you
about for quite a while now, and I'm wanted to
save it because we are a couple of weeks away
from Christmas. Don't want to write a panic into any one.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
Or any God.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
Look, if you don't organize Christmas, you're good, right, But
that's what we wants to talk to you about today. The panic,
low key panic that we start to get from now
until twenty th twenty fourth noon on the twenty fourth
of December. And I talk about it every year a
quarter to call it the Christmas Itch. So you've planned,
you've prepped, you've set your budget, you've bought everything, you've
(00:35):
wrapped everything up, any sort of thing. The itch kind
of creeps in and you're like, have I bought an off?
Is that present for ants? Barbara going to actually cut
the mustard? Then if you succumb to the Christmas Itch,
you blow your budget, you end up buying a load
of plastic tat. And I'm just going to say one thing,
right because I think as I'm getting more mature, not
(00:58):
let's use the word older, let's them be coming more
mature and wiser. I've noticed that if you buy a
really good quality present, and maybe you've blown all of
your budget on a good quality present, maybe cashmere jumper
or something like that, right, and you look at it
and you're like, it's just one thing though, and I
don't think it doesn't look enough, so you panic by
(01:19):
a cheaper present to sit alongside it. It cheapens the
original present. This is the thing I've found sometimes less
is more, and that is exactly what we're going to
be talking about in today's episode, because we're going to
dive deeper into the phenomenon. Say that word there is
the Christmas itch, and I know we have all felt this,
(01:40):
and I want to really get underneath the skin of
it and try and work out why a lot of
us are around about this time despite having been really organized.
We've done everything, we've done. You sit back, We're done,
and then it starts to creep in. Why if you're
on social media you will know all about over consumption
(02:00):
Christmas and why more doesn't necessarily always mean better. I
mentioned it on an episode of I Did a while ago.
I went on YouTube and if you've ever not, if
you've never seen Thames TV on YouTube, go and have
look it's got a load of nostalgic stuff.
Speaker 1 (02:14):
That's great.
Speaker 2 (02:15):
There was an interview on their particular interview with three
ladies who were in the winter of their life, shall
we say, and they were talking about and reminiscing about
what Christmases used to be like when they were growing up,
the family Christmases of they experienced. One lady her dad
used to be a postman and he would work on
Christmas Day and they would save everything until he got
(02:37):
back from work at lunchtime. Most of them didn't start
decorating until like into the twentieth twenty first, twenty third
of December, and it was just much more low key.
It seemed a lot less stressful. And every December we
are bombarded with adverts promising that happiness lies in the
next big purchase, the perfectly created table, the mountain of
(02:58):
gifts under the tree. But why have we come to
equate more with better? And why are so many people
yearning for repaired back nostalgic Christmas this year? The phenomenon
you'd start it that I have been seeing, especially on TikTok,
the nostalgic yearning for more, simplicity, for less is more
(03:22):
and Mike and I went to the Christmas markets in Bath.
We old anniversary is in December, so very romantic time
to get married, but you logistically just added another thing
we've got to do.
Speaker 1 (03:35):
Logistically didn't think it's through.
Speaker 2 (03:37):
So we went to Bath for our wedding anniversary and
we went to the Christmas markets. We went on the
Saturday and storm Darra closed everything because of the weather warning,
so we had to kind of put a little bit.
So we went on the Sunday and oh my goodness,
it was so busy. And I was speaking to one
of the market stare holders and I was like, are
you hoping to regain grade that you lost from yesterday
(04:00):
because the markets had to close? And he was like, no,
we'll never do that, never happens. And he was like
when on the busy Sas days, like the big SaaS days,
the Christmas markets, they can get like hoaches turn up
and fifty coaches like busy on the Sunday despite most
stuff being closed, Like I don't like crowds. And Mike
and I were like, oh my goodness, we did didn't
think this through, but there were so many people there
(04:22):
and it was so nostalgic. It was so lovely and
they watch movies like The Holiday or Home Alone. There
is a sense of nostalgia that he's woven through those
films like a stick of rock. So I think a
lot of us, especially with our busy lives, we think
Christmas is a time when we can kick back and relax.
But that's not necessarily the case, is it. If you've
(04:43):
done organized Christmas, you'll know when you're the orchestrator of
Christmas magic, how much effort it takes. And modern like
Christmassmas is like a relatively recent invention. So in like
the mid twentieth century, as economies and country were starting
to recover from the war and like post war period,
(05:04):
brands started to see an opportunity to align themselves with
the festive spirit. So look at Coca Cola, fantastic example,
like the iconic center in the Coca Cola adverts. It
kind of like when you're about commercial Christmas, a lot
of us will think about that image. And then with
TV and TV advertising, just think, just think, right, have
(05:27):
a think now about TV adverts for Christmas that you
have seen this year from supermarkets?
Speaker 1 (05:34):
Right? What are they showing it? On the whole?
Speaker 2 (05:38):
This is generally speaking, but you will normally see a
table that is absolutely packed with food. The indulgence, the opulence,
the colors, you know, it's luxurious. So brands and like shops,
they's too champion and push obviously because they're trying to
sell your stuff.
Speaker 1 (05:57):
Right.
Speaker 2 (05:57):
The idea that gifts and lots of them were the
ultimate way to show love at Christmas, and this kind
of started to bleed out. Other brands got in on it.
Families were urged to splash out on get that sofa
in time for Christmas, you know, get the time for Christmas.
You need a Christmas outfit matching Christmas for jobs, Christmas
(06:18):
eve boxes, boxing day boxes, indulgent foods. Like just take
a moment just to think about how much stuff we
are encouraged to buy at this time of year. And
this is all It's reinforced so many times in the
(06:38):
comment section of my instagram, so on TikTok and on
YouTube and stuff.
Speaker 1 (06:44):
What recently, what.
Speaker 2 (06:45):
Was the biggest stress that they had going into the
Christmas period? And so many people like I've got a
cluster of the whole house or I've got to recreate
this Christmas that is being fed to me and I
feel like I need to replicate it, and I think
never is this more. I think this is perfectly described
(07:06):
in that comedy The Royal Family if you ever watched
it had Carolina Hern in it, and Ricky Tomlinson and
Sue Thompson and Ralph Little. They were it was Manchester,
such such amazing comedy. And there's Carolina alais a character
called Denise and she's like newly married. I remember her
(07:29):
husband's day. She's only married to Dave. And they invite
their both sets of parents over for Christmas lunch. And
this was like peak late nineties, early two thousands when
Nigella Lawson was on the Telly. It's all about Christmas food,
Like who remembers Nelson in a gorgeous like silk dressing
gay in her pantry with the fairy lights, you know,
(07:50):
cooking amazing feasts, no stress, not not even bead of sweat,
and then this amazing, luxurious dinner party that she manages
to rustle out of nowhere, and she's happy and she's smiling,
and she's going to the shops and she's skipping around. Anyway,
Denise fell for this like most of them do or
have at one point, right and just because the cock
(08:11):
strikes midnight on Christmas Eve, you do not suddenly become
Nigella Lawson. And the character Denise fell foul of this
right and she you know, they had turkey, she made
did the gravy out of an oxocube and her iconic
line and I'll never forget it was I just wanted
a Christmas like Nigella's because of what were being fed,
(08:33):
and over times her brands started getting in on it. Right,
Christmas has become a showcase of status, abundance and wealth essentially,
and it's no wonder that some families begin to feel
that a successful Christmas requires an extravagant spend avish meals,
must have gadgets. So in the early nineties, who was
(08:56):
there was always that one toy, wasn't there when we
were growing up, that everyone had to have. Parents were
queuing with this is for Internet shopping and the block
to get like, I don't know it was one of them,
a Furby ones. I don't know, like if you then
Christmas was ruined, creating that sense of fomo and then
feeding into that. When credit became more accessible in the
latter half of the century, people were able to finance
(09:16):
bigger Christmases, often at the expense of risking financial health
and going into debt. In January, and someone pulled me
up on this actually on one of my Instagram reels recently,
I don't actually have a credit card. They scare me
to death. I own a credit card. But it's a
turn of phrase, isn't it. Get the credit card out
or all the credit card and loading it all on
(09:38):
the credit card. And I said, it's time to get
the credit card out because it's time to buy the presence.
And someone quite rightly pulled me up and said, you
know what, I don't think we should be encouraging people
to go into debt for Christmas, and a I refilmed
it and I was like, it's time. It's not buying
for Christmas, so we know, don't We were not naive
to the fact that the advertising industry plays a huge
(10:00):
in perpetuating the myth that more equals better. Christmas adverts
are expertly crafted to evoke emotion, often using nostalgia the
Christmas song you know, Oh Christmas add is your favorite
this year to make us feel like we are buying,
like what we are buying what they are selling us
is the pathway to happiness. Perfect example, the tear jerking
(10:21):
John Lewis adverts that we get here in the UK,
or the meticulously curated perfect family Christmas scenes that are
plastered across social media, and then of course you're adding
some fomo the fear of missing out. Social media amplifies
this pressure, with influencers showcasing perfectly decorated homes, spiles of presents,
tables groaning under the way to feed and these curated
(10:44):
moments make us feel inadequate, pushing us to overspend get
the Christmas itch in an attempt to recreate what we
are seeing either fed to us in the films, adverts
on social media. Even like the packaging Christmas has become
a science, almost an our art form as well, with
(11:07):
stores introducing limited edition products seasonal packaging to create urgency.
Speaker 1 (11:13):
And we went to the Christmas.
Speaker 2 (11:14):
Light switch on where we live, and Mike said, I'm
just gonna pop into a famous chocolate shop and I'm
just gonna pop in there, and I was like, okay, well,
I didn't real think about it. And this was when
we like switch on last week in November, right, and
he came out and he was like I was going
in there to get you an Advent calendar and they've
sold out, and I'm like, and I said, oh, that.
Speaker 1 (11:33):
Might be something to do with me, like because of whatever.
Speaker 2 (11:36):
I think it's week too of organized Christmas, Like go
and get Advent calendars because a lot.
Speaker 1 (11:40):
And he's like, this is ridiculous.
Speaker 2 (11:42):
It's not even December yet, and I'm like, babe, like
these things they sell out fast because they want to
create a sense of fomo, to create that urgency, get
it before it's gone. And it kind of becomes like stressful.
Speaker 1 (11:55):
It reasi.
Speaker 2 (11:55):
You caught us old levels, and we can fall into
a trap that we need to buy things we don't
necessarily need simply because they're temporary or because well it's Christmas.
I forget I'd actually I like sprouts, but I'll never forget.
Years ago, years ago, I went into this market at
Christmas and it.
Speaker 1 (12:14):
Was, oh, my god, carnage.
Speaker 2 (12:17):
That's why I do all much food shopping online Marks
and Spencer's Food to order, God send, and I panic
bought a tree of sprouts that what they call them,
so that sprouts still attached to their stalk. They hadn't
even plucked them off, and put them in a bag
for me. They were more expensive because they were like
traditional and seasonal, and I brought them back and Mike
was like, what we bought them for? You're the only
(12:37):
one that likes sprouts. I don't know what panics panicked
because it's Christmas, and that panic not only is over
consumption but also food waste as well. But the pressure
to deliver the perfect Cristis we know it doesn't exist
often leaves families financially and emotionally drained. Studies show that
(12:57):
January is one of the most stressful monster family because
the credit card bill comes in buyers remorse of all
that plastic tat that you bought when you had the
Christmas itch, and also the emotional costs as well. The
endless pursuit of perfection can overshadow like the true Christmas.
And when I say the true meaning of Christmas are
(13:18):
not necessarily talking about the relig you know, the ifew
celebrate the religious side of Christmas. But when you really
pair it back, there's like we've couple of days off.
If you're lucky, you can kind of time you with
work so that you can have like a decent time off.
It's like the end of the year, relax before the
next year starts. But we'll put ourselves under so much
(13:38):
pressure to have the perfect Christmas. And you'll know, if
you've ever done this, any event, it's going to be perfect,
maybe your wedding or something like that, because you've put
so much effort into it. If even like a tiny
thing is wrong. So Christmas is ruined. Everyone's teeth edge
because they're like, oh my god, it has to be perfect,
and it leaves a bad taste in your mouth. It
can overshadow everything, and that's why a lot of people
(13:59):
actually dread Christmas. So no wonder we are all exhausted
come January. Not to mention, it's like right your boxing day,
all of the adverts for the holidays start coming on
the Telly more money please, weight loss starts coming out,
playing on that feeling of oh no, I do feel trained.
Actually I have over indulged. It's a constant, perpetual cycle,
(14:24):
and we lose sight of, you know, Christmas connection with
family and friends that we haven't maybe seen all year,
like happiness, just happy living in the moment and rest
instead of like savoring time. Many people find themselves buried
in wrapping paper, cooking elaborate meals, stuck in the kitchen,
managing the logistics, had too many gifts, too many obligations,
(14:47):
driving up and down the six five, see Uncle Barry
and Cassandra's get annoyed if you don't go and see
her again this year. Who are we hosting this year
for Christmas? It's your turn to have the parents. No,
it's no parents last year, my parent? Oh my god,
like it is never ending. And I think another thing
that I was talking to Mike when we were in
Bath Actually we were having breakfast at the hotel, and
(15:08):
I said to him again, I don't know if this
is because I'm getting older, I've got no idea, or
if I'm just having some sort of epiphany this year.
And it was I just said to him, you know,
all of this like Christmas content while consuming it from
whether it's the Holiday.
Speaker 1 (15:23):
Movie or Home Alone or whatever.
Speaker 2 (15:26):
All of these people favorite influencer or TV advert, whatever,
all of these people are experiencing Christmas in different ways.
You were seeing all sorts of Christmasy things happening. People
are Christmasing differently, and rather than going that seems nice,
I'd like to do that or all pick and shoes,
or how would I like to Christmas this year? A
(15:48):
lot of us can be like, oh, I need to
do it all. I need to go to the pub.
And I looked like Cameron Diaz in The Holiday in
a beautiful blue sweater that she wears. I love her
wardrobe in that film, up in massive tension, and I
Christmas menu. We need to have a Christmas pudding. No
one likes Christmas pudding. Yeah, but we need to Christmas
pudding company, light it, okay, full log as well. Okay,
(16:11):
oh we need some perfitter rolls with a profitter roll stack.
We've got a lot of puddings. Is the three of
us in the family. Obviously you've got three puddings because.
Speaker 1 (16:18):
You've got all of this.
Speaker 2 (16:19):
And that's just an example all this stuff being fed
at you and you think you need to do it all.
And as the world becomes more fast paced, and this
is something that I've been observing from Afar, more fast paced,
hyper connected, many people are rebelling inverted Commas against this
commercialized idea of Christmas. I don't know about you, but
(16:40):
I've seen so many people making their own Christmas decorations
this year, and I am so here for it. I
love speaking orange garlands. I've always loved drying orange is
smells fantastic and it just looks lovely. So the more
people think are leaning into that and embracing a slower, simpler,
more nostele Christmas or holiday season, we're cutting back on
(17:03):
gifts and that could be a necessity thing because of
the cost of living, and we might.
Speaker 1 (17:09):
Not be able to be leaning into.
Speaker 2 (17:12):
That over indulgence as much as we had done, like
maybe in nearly two thousands. Focusing on handmade more thoughtful presence,
which is fantastic, and a lot of people are opting
for experiences as well over material goods. And I think
that longing is coming from just a collective fatigue, tiredness.
(17:32):
If you are my age or of my generation, like
forty three, you would have experienced those faced manic Christmases.
You know, Christmas is that like Christmas had literally thrown
up been sick on your living room. And it's so
tired actually of having to repeat that every single year.
I'm a bit tired of seeing all of the mountain
(17:53):
of presents on people's Facebook feeds. We're tired of the noise,
We're tired of the clutter like environmental impact as well
or of the excessive consumption. It kind of feels a
little bit, you know, it feels a bit leaves a
bad taste in my mouth.
Speaker 1 (18:08):
Really, the bit feels a little bit.
Speaker 2 (18:13):
Tone deaf, like kind of read the room, and many
are finding just simple happiness, enjoying traditions like bacon and
playing games or taking a crisp winter walk. Mind you,
even that's playing into the room. I see caught myself
that is playing into the room. It's rain It's going
to rain, babe. Okay, so going for rainy when it's
(18:36):
like that song that they promised to know this winter.
Instead it just keeps on raining, like so true. Things
that don't cost too much time, don't cost too much money.
Feeling of Christmas that we're all searching for desperately, but
going about it the wrong way by buying all the
stuff and going out and here there, and I'm doing
all the things when really maybe just sort of sitting
(18:57):
back comfies, putting on a really nice warm pair of socks,
watching a film. You know your Christmas, your rules, And
then a really nice way of doing this is if
you had you can only do this if you had
happy Christmases. Think back to a happy Christmas you had
when you were younger and some of the most like
(19:19):
cherished memories got A really random one, a really random
memory of getting ready for school, probably late eighties. I
was at primary school and I was watching Breakfast TV,
had my school uniform on, and I was sat right
by the Christmas tree and I could see this like gold.
There was this gold Christmas bable, like literally there. I
(19:39):
was just looking at it and it was reflecting all
of the lights and I could sort of seem in
the bable and it was got. It stayed with me,
and like I remember things like that, and that for
me is it's so nostalgic. And I think that nostalgia
for me this year is playing a huge role in
this shift and this craving four simpler. You know, this
(20:01):
taste in your first men's pie sensory experiences. Really, I
probably think is the bay of describing it. It's sort
of calling back time when Christmas wasn't necessarily a performance
and it wasn't as performative as it is now. And
we all know if we talk about it enough on
that here, don't we There is no thing as perfect.
And I think even though we know that, and we
(20:23):
know there's no just thing is a perfect Christmas, we
do still fall into that trap. It's so easily done
at Christmas, you know, you Christmas jumper. Everything needs to
be sparkly. It's party season, you know. I mean, any
of us are going to emptying Christmas parties that justify
us to go and buy like sparkly gop fit every
single year. Not many, certainly, not me anyway, So Christmas
(20:45):
doesn't require you to break the bank or fill every
single corner with decorations. I'm trying to make it more
about slowing down, being present. What's that saying, presence, not presents,
and just finding like happiness and jouring the ordinary. Really,
So I just wanted to make this episode today and
(21:08):
just sort of say, you know, same as me. If
this is resonating with you, resist the lure of the
glossy adverts and the curated Instagram and tiktoks and you're
trying to desperately not scratch the Christmas itch.
Speaker 1 (21:21):
And hopefully this.
Speaker 2 (21:23):
Has helped calm that fomo a little bit and sort
of shift our perspective back to creating a Christmas that
reflects what truly matters really, without wanting to sound cliched,
love connection, the quietness, and like at winter time of year,
nature is pulling back, isn't it, And we are going
(21:44):
the opposite way. We should be sort of pulling by
hearing things down and resting and recuperating. It's darker, but
it's almost like we're forcing our body to do the opposite.
It's lights overwhelming, sensory overload. And if you're still not sure,
if you're saying a thing, I'm not sure, jem, I'm
not sure. Ask yourself what you've got Christmas last year?
(22:04):
Better still watched you buy everyone? I can guarantee you
can't remember every single thing. If you have, and you've
got much better memory than I have, What do you
remember from Christmas last year?
Speaker 1 (22:14):
Is it the presence?
Speaker 2 (22:16):
Or is it something completely random like my borable memo?
And just remember, without working to sound boring and cincal,
it is just a couple of days. Don't put yourself
into debt for Christmas. Don't scratch the Christmas itch. You've
bought enough. If you've done an organized Christmas, you've stuck
to that budget. And just be a huge friend and
know that you have done enough.
Speaker 1 (22:37):
You know what if anyone says to.
Speaker 2 (22:39):
You, oh, well, you know you bought me a twenty
pound gift and I brought you to thirty pound gifts,
you really want that negativity in your life. I hope
this episode has been useful. If you're watching this on YouTube,
give this video a light subscribe to the channel. Fifty
percent of you aren't even subscribed.
Speaker 1 (22:55):
Rude, and we'll
Speaker 2 (22:56):
Speak together again in the next episode's by
Hello, everybody, Welcome back.
Speaker 2 (00:01):
This is something that I wanted to speak to you
about for quite a while now, and I'm wanted to
save it because we are a couple of weeks away
from Christmas. Don't want to write a panic into any one.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
Or any God.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
Look, if you don't organize Christmas, you're good, right, But
that's what we wants to talk to you about today. The panic,
low key panic that we start to get from now
until twenty th twenty fourth noon on the twenty fourth
of December. And I talk about it every year a
quarter to call it the Christmas Itch. So you've planned,
you've prepped, you've set your budget, you've bought everything, you've
(00:35):
wrapped everything up, any sort of thing. The itch kind
of creeps in and you're like, have I bought an off?
Is that present for ants? Barbara going to actually cut
the mustard? Then if you succumb to the Christmas Itch,
you blow your budget, you end up buying a load
of plastic tat. And I'm just going to say one thing,
right because I think as I'm getting more mature, not
(00:58):
let's use the word older, let's them be coming more
mature and wiser. I've noticed that if you buy a
really good quality present, and maybe you've blown all of
your budget on a good quality present, maybe cashmere jumper
or something like that, right, and you look at it
and you're like, it's just one thing though, and I
don't think it doesn't look enough, so you panic by
(01:19):
a cheaper present to sit alongside it. It cheapens the
original present. This is the thing I've found sometimes less
is more, and that is exactly what we're going to
be talking about in today's episode, because we're going to
dive deeper into the phenomenon. Say that word there is
the Christmas itch, and I know we have all felt this,
(01:40):
and I want to really get underneath the skin of
it and try and work out why a lot of
us are around about this time despite having been really organized.
We've done everything, we've done. You sit back, We're done,
and then it starts to creep in. Why if you're
on social media you will know all about over consumption
(02:00):
Christmas and why more doesn't necessarily always mean better. I
mentioned it on an episode of I Did a while ago.
I went on YouTube and if you've ever not, if
you've never seen Thames TV on YouTube, go and have
look it's got a load of nostalgic stuff.
Speaker 1 (02:14):
That's great.
Speaker 2 (02:15):
There was an interview on their particular interview with three
ladies who were in the winter of their life, shall
we say, and they were talking about and reminiscing about
what Christmases used to be like when they were growing up,
the family Christmases of they experienced. One lady her dad
used to be a postman and he would work on
Christmas Day and they would save everything until he got
(02:37):
back from work at lunchtime. Most of them didn't start
decorating until like into the twentieth twenty first, twenty third
of December, and it was just much more low key.
It seemed a lot less stressful. And every December we
are bombarded with adverts promising that happiness lies in the
next big purchase, the perfectly created table, the mountain of
(02:58):
gifts under the tree. But why have we come to
equate more with better? And why are so many people
yearning for repaired back nostalgic Christmas this year? The phenomenon
you'd start it that I have been seeing, especially on TikTok,
the nostalgic yearning for more, simplicity, for less is more
(03:22):
and Mike and I went to the Christmas markets in Bath.
We old anniversary is in December, so very romantic time
to get married, but you logistically just added another thing
we've got to do.
Speaker 1 (03:35):
Logistically didn't think it's through.
Speaker 2 (03:37):
So we went to Bath for our wedding anniversary and
we went to the Christmas markets. We went on the
Saturday and storm Darra closed everything because of the weather warning,
so we had to kind of put a little bit.
So we went on the Sunday and oh my goodness,
it was so busy. And I was speaking to one
of the market stare holders and I was like, are
you hoping to regain grade that you lost from yesterday
(04:00):
because the markets had to close? And he was like, no,
we'll never do that, never happens. And he was like
when on the busy Sas days, like the big SaaS days,
the Christmas markets, they can get like hoaches turn up
and fifty coaches like busy on the Sunday despite most
stuff being closed, Like I don't like crowds. And Mike
and I were like, oh my goodness, we did didn't
think this through, but there were so many people there
(04:22):
and it was so nostalgic. It was so lovely and
they watch movies like The Holiday or Home Alone. There
is a sense of nostalgia that he's woven through those
films like a stick of rock. So I think a
lot of us, especially with our busy lives, we think
Christmas is a time when we can kick back and relax.
But that's not necessarily the case, is it. If you've
(04:43):
done organized Christmas, you'll know when you're the orchestrator of
Christmas magic, how much effort it takes. And modern like
Christmassmas is like a relatively recent invention. So in like
the mid twentieth century, as economies and country were starting
to recover from the war and like post war period,
(05:04):
brands started to see an opportunity to align themselves with
the festive spirit. So look at Coca Cola, fantastic example,
like the iconic center in the Coca Cola adverts. It
kind of like when you're about commercial Christmas, a lot
of us will think about that image. And then with
TV and TV advertising, just think, just think, right, have
(05:27):
a think now about TV adverts for Christmas that you
have seen this year from supermarkets?
Speaker 1 (05:34):
Right? What are they showing it? On the whole?
Speaker 2 (05:38):
This is generally speaking, but you will normally see a
table that is absolutely packed with food. The indulgence, the opulence,
the colors, you know, it's luxurious. So brands and like shops,
they's too champion and push obviously because they're trying to
sell your stuff.
Speaker 1 (05:57):
Right.
Speaker 2 (05:57):
The idea that gifts and lots of them were the
ultimate way to show love at Christmas, and this kind
of started to bleed out. Other brands got in on it.
Families were urged to splash out on get that sofa
in time for Christmas, you know, get the time for Christmas.
You need a Christmas outfit matching Christmas for jobs, Christmas
(06:18):
eve boxes, boxing day boxes, indulgent foods. Like just take
a moment just to think about how much stuff we
are encouraged to buy at this time of year. And
this is all It's reinforced so many times in the
(06:38):
comment section of my instagram, so on TikTok and on
YouTube and stuff.
Speaker 1 (06:44):
What recently, what.
Speaker 2 (06:45):
Was the biggest stress that they had going into the
Christmas period? And so many people like I've got a
cluster of the whole house or I've got to recreate
this Christmas that is being fed to me and I
feel like I need to replicate it, and I think
never is this more. I think this is perfectly described
(07:06):
in that comedy The Royal Family if you ever watched
it had Carolina Hern in it, and Ricky Tomlinson and
Sue Thompson and Ralph Little. They were it was Manchester,
such such amazing comedy. And there's Carolina alais a character
called Denise and she's like newly married. I remember her
(07:29):
husband's day. She's only married to Dave. And they invite
their both sets of parents over for Christmas lunch. And
this was like peak late nineties, early two thousands when
Nigella Lawson was on the Telly. It's all about Christmas food,
Like who remembers Nelson in a gorgeous like silk dressing
gay in her pantry with the fairy lights, you know,
(07:50):
cooking amazing feasts, no stress, not not even bead of sweat,
and then this amazing, luxurious dinner party that she manages
to rustle out of nowhere, and she's happy and she's smiling,
and she's going to the shops and she's skipping around. Anyway,
Denise fell for this like most of them do or
have at one point, right and just because the cock
(08:11):
strikes midnight on Christmas Eve, you do not suddenly become
Nigella Lawson. And the character Denise fell foul of this
right and she you know, they had turkey, she made
did the gravy out of an oxocube and her iconic
line and I'll never forget it was I just wanted
a Christmas like Nigella's because of what were being fed,
(08:33):
and over times her brands started getting in on it. Right,
Christmas has become a showcase of status, abundance and wealth essentially,
and it's no wonder that some families begin to feel
that a successful Christmas requires an extravagant spend avish meals,
must have gadgets. So in the early nineties, who was
(08:56):
there was always that one toy, wasn't there when we
were growing up, that everyone had to have. Parents were
queuing with this is for Internet shopping and the block
to get like, I don't know it was one of them,
a Furby ones. I don't know, like if you then
Christmas was ruined, creating that sense of fomo and then
feeding into that. When credit became more accessible in the
latter half of the century, people were able to finance
(09:16):
bigger Christmases, often at the expense of risking financial health
and going into debt. In January, and someone pulled me
up on this actually on one of my Instagram reels recently,
I don't actually have a credit card. They scare me
to death. I own a credit card. But it's a
turn of phrase, isn't it. Get the credit card out
or all the credit card and loading it all on
(09:38):
the credit card. And I said, it's time to get
the credit card out because it's time to buy the presence.
And someone quite rightly pulled me up and said, you
know what, I don't think we should be encouraging people
to go into debt for Christmas, and a I refilmed
it and I was like, it's time. It's not buying
for Christmas, so we know, don't We were not naive
to the fact that the advertising industry plays a huge
(10:00):
in perpetuating the myth that more equals better. Christmas adverts
are expertly crafted to evoke emotion, often using nostalgia the
Christmas song you know, Oh Christmas add is your favorite
this year to make us feel like we are buying,
like what we are buying what they are selling us
is the pathway to happiness. Perfect example, the tear jerking
(10:21):
John Lewis adverts that we get here in the UK,
or the meticulously curated perfect family Christmas scenes that are
plastered across social media, and then of course you're adding
some fomo the fear of missing out. Social media amplifies
this pressure, with influencers showcasing perfectly decorated homes, spiles of presents,
tables groaning under the way to feed and these curated
(10:44):
moments make us feel inadequate, pushing us to overspend get
the Christmas itch in an attempt to recreate what we
are seeing either fed to us in the films, adverts
on social media. Even like the packaging Christmas has become
a science, almost an our art form as well, with
(11:07):
stores introducing limited edition products seasonal packaging to create urgency.
Speaker 1 (11:13):
And we went to the Christmas.
Speaker 2 (11:14):
Light switch on where we live, and Mike said, I'm
just gonna pop into a famous chocolate shop and I'm
just gonna pop in there, and I was like, okay, well,
I didn't real think about it. And this was when
we like switch on last week in November, right, and
he came out and he was like I was going
in there to get you an Advent calendar and they've
sold out, and I'm like, and I said, oh, that.
Speaker 1 (11:33):
Might be something to do with me, like because of whatever.
Speaker 2 (11:36):
I think it's week too of organized Christmas, Like go
and get Advent calendars because a lot.
Speaker 1 (11:40):
And he's like, this is ridiculous.
Speaker 2 (11:42):
It's not even December yet, and I'm like, babe, like
these things they sell out fast because they want to
create a sense of fomo, to create that urgency, get
it before it's gone. And it kind of becomes like stressful.
Speaker 1 (11:55):
It reasi.
Speaker 2 (11:55):
You caught us old levels, and we can fall into
a trap that we need to buy things we don't
necessarily need simply because they're temporary or because well it's Christmas.
I forget I'd actually I like sprouts, but I'll never forget.
Years ago, years ago, I went into this market at
Christmas and it.
Speaker 1 (12:14):
Was, oh, my god, carnage.
Speaker 2 (12:17):
That's why I do all much food shopping online Marks
and Spencer's Food to order, God send, and I panic
bought a tree of sprouts that what they call them,
so that sprouts still attached to their stalk. They hadn't
even plucked them off, and put them in a bag
for me. They were more expensive because they were like
traditional and seasonal, and I brought them back and Mike
was like, what we bought them for? You're the only
(12:37):
one that likes sprouts. I don't know what panics panicked
because it's Christmas, and that panic not only is over
consumption but also food waste as well. But the pressure
to deliver the perfect Cristis we know it doesn't exist
often leaves families financially and emotionally drained. Studies show that
(12:57):
January is one of the most stressful monster family because
the credit card bill comes in buyers remorse of all
that plastic tat that you bought when you had the
Christmas itch, and also the emotional costs as well. The
endless pursuit of perfection can overshadow like the true Christmas.
And when I say the true meaning of Christmas are
(13:18):
not necessarily talking about the relig you know, the ifew
celebrate the religious side of Christmas. But when you really
pair it back, there's like we've couple of days off.
If you're lucky, you can kind of time you with
work so that you can have like a decent time off.
It's like the end of the year, relax before the
next year starts. But we'll put ourselves under so much
(13:38):
pressure to have the perfect Christmas. And you'll know, if
you've ever done this, any event, it's going to be perfect,
maybe your wedding or something like that, because you've put
so much effort into it. If even like a tiny
thing is wrong. So Christmas is ruined. Everyone's teeth edge
because they're like, oh my god, it has to be perfect,
and it leaves a bad taste in your mouth. It
can overshadow everything, and that's why a lot of people
(13:59):
actually dread Christmas. So no wonder we are all exhausted
come January. Not to mention, it's like right your boxing day,
all of the adverts for the holidays start coming on
the Telly more money please, weight loss starts coming out,
playing on that feeling of oh no, I do feel trained.
Actually I have over indulged. It's a constant, perpetual cycle,
(14:24):
and we lose sight of, you know, Christmas connection with
family and friends that we haven't maybe seen all year,
like happiness, just happy living in the moment and rest
instead of like savoring time. Many people find themselves buried
in wrapping paper, cooking elaborate meals, stuck in the kitchen,
managing the logistics, had too many gifts, too many obligations,
(14:47):
driving up and down the six five, see Uncle Barry
and Cassandra's get annoyed if you don't go and see
her again this year. Who are we hosting this year
for Christmas? It's your turn to have the parents. No,
it's no parents last year, my parent? Oh my god,
like it is never ending. And I think another thing
that I was talking to Mike when we were in
Bath Actually we were having breakfast at the hotel, and
(15:08):
I said to him again, I don't know if this
is because I'm getting older, I've got no idea, or
if I'm just having some sort of epiphany this year.
And it was I just said to him, you know,
all of this like Christmas content while consuming it from
whether it's the Holiday.
Speaker 1 (15:23):
Movie or Home Alone or whatever.
Speaker 2 (15:26):
All of these people favorite influencer or TV advert, whatever,
all of these people are experiencing Christmas in different ways.
You were seeing all sorts of Christmasy things happening. People
are Christmasing differently, and rather than going that seems nice,
I'd like to do that or all pick and shoes,
or how would I like to Christmas this year? A
(15:48):
lot of us can be like, oh, I need to
do it all. I need to go to the pub.
And I looked like Cameron Diaz in The Holiday in
a beautiful blue sweater that she wears. I love her
wardrobe in that film, up in massive tension, and I
Christmas menu. We need to have a Christmas pudding. No
one likes Christmas pudding. Yeah, but we need to Christmas
pudding company, light it, okay, full log as well. Okay,
(16:11):
oh we need some perfitter rolls with a profitter roll stack.
We've got a lot of puddings. Is the three of
us in the family. Obviously you've got three puddings because.
Speaker 1 (16:18):
You've got all of this.
Speaker 2 (16:19):
And that's just an example all this stuff being fed
at you and you think you need to do it all.
And as the world becomes more fast paced, and this
is something that I've been observing from Afar, more fast paced,
hyper connected, many people are rebelling inverted Commas against this
commercialized idea of Christmas. I don't know about you, but
(16:40):
I've seen so many people making their own Christmas decorations
this year, and I am so here for it. I
love speaking orange garlands. I've always loved drying orange is
smells fantastic and it just looks lovely. So the more
people think are leaning into that and embracing a slower, simpler,
more nostele Christmas or holiday season, we're cutting back on
(17:03):
gifts and that could be a necessity thing because of
the cost of living, and we might.
Speaker 1 (17:09):
Not be able to be leaning into.
Speaker 2 (17:12):
That over indulgence as much as we had done, like
maybe in nearly two thousands. Focusing on handmade more thoughtful presence,
which is fantastic, and a lot of people are opting
for experiences as well over material goods. And I think
that longing is coming from just a collective fatigue, tiredness.
(17:32):
If you are my age or of my generation, like
forty three, you would have experienced those faced manic Christmases.
You know, Christmas is that like Christmas had literally thrown
up been sick on your living room. And it's so
tired actually of having to repeat that every single year.
I'm a bit tired of seeing all of the mountain
(17:53):
of presents on people's Facebook feeds. We're tired of the noise,
We're tired of the clutter like environmental impact as well
or of the excessive consumption. It kind of feels a
little bit, you know, it feels a bit leaves a
bad taste in my mouth.
Speaker 1 (18:08):
Really, the bit feels a little bit.
Speaker 2 (18:13):
Tone deaf, like kind of read the room, and many
are finding just simple happiness, enjoying traditions like bacon and
playing games or taking a crisp winter walk. Mind you,
even that's playing into the room. I see caught myself
that is playing into the room. It's rain It's going
to rain, babe. Okay, so going for rainy when it's
(18:36):
like that song that they promised to know this winter.
Instead it just keeps on raining, like so true. Things
that don't cost too much time, don't cost too much money.
Feeling of Christmas that we're all searching for desperately, but
going about it the wrong way by buying all the
stuff and going out and here there, and I'm doing
all the things when really maybe just sort of sitting
(18:57):
back comfies, putting on a really nice warm pair of socks,
watching a film. You know your Christmas, your rules, And
then a really nice way of doing this is if
you had you can only do this if you had
happy Christmases. Think back to a happy Christmas you had
when you were younger and some of the most like
(19:19):
cherished memories got A really random one, a really random
memory of getting ready for school, probably late eighties. I
was at primary school and I was watching Breakfast TV,
had my school uniform on, and I was sat right
by the Christmas tree and I could see this like gold.
There was this gold Christmas bable, like literally there. I
(19:39):
was just looking at it and it was reflecting all
of the lights and I could sort of seem in
the bable and it was got. It stayed with me,
and like I remember things like that, and that for
me is it's so nostalgic. And I think that nostalgia
for me this year is playing a huge role in
this shift and this craving four simpler. You know, this
(20:01):
taste in your first men's pie sensory experiences. Really, I
probably think is the bay of describing it. It's sort
of calling back time when Christmas wasn't necessarily a performance
and it wasn't as performative as it is now. And
we all know if we talk about it enough on
that here, don't we There is no thing as perfect.
And I think even though we know that, and we
(20:23):
know there's no just thing is a perfect Christmas, we
do still fall into that trap. It's so easily done
at Christmas, you know, you Christmas jumper. Everything needs to
be sparkly. It's party season, you know. I mean, any
of us are going to emptying Christmas parties that justify
us to go and buy like sparkly gop fit every
single year. Not many, certainly, not me anyway, So Christmas
(20:45):
doesn't require you to break the bank or fill every
single corner with decorations. I'm trying to make it more
about slowing down, being present. What's that saying, presence, not presents,
and just finding like happiness and jouring the ordinary. Really,
So I just wanted to make this episode today and
(21:08):
just sort of say, you know, same as me. If
this is resonating with you, resist the lure of the
glossy adverts and the curated Instagram and tiktoks and you're
trying to desperately not scratch the Christmas itch.
Speaker 1 (21:21):
And hopefully this.
Speaker 2 (21:23):
Has helped calm that fomo a little bit and sort
of shift our perspective back to creating a Christmas that
reflects what truly matters really, without wanting to sound cliched,
love connection, the quietness, and like at winter time of year,
nature is pulling back, isn't it, And we are going
(21:44):
the opposite way. We should be sort of pulling by
hearing things down and resting and recuperating. It's darker, but
it's almost like we're forcing our body to do the opposite.
It's lights overwhelming, sensory overload. And if you're still not sure,
if you're saying a thing, I'm not sure, jem, I'm
not sure. Ask yourself what you've got Christmas last year?
(22:04):
Better still watched you buy everyone? I can guarantee you
can't remember every single thing. If you have, and you've
got much better memory than I have, What do you
remember from Christmas last year?
Speaker 1 (22:14):
Is it the presence?
Speaker 2 (22:16):
Or is it something completely random like my borable memo?
And just remember, without working to sound boring and cincal,
it is just a couple of days. Don't put yourself
into debt for Christmas. Don't scratch the Christmas itch. You've
bought enough. If you've done an organized Christmas, you've stuck
to that budget. And just be a huge friend and
know that you have done enough.
Speaker 1 (22:37):
You know what if anyone says to.
Speaker 2 (22:39):
You, oh, well, you know you bought me a twenty
pound gift and I brought you to thirty pound gifts,
you really want that negativity in your life. I hope
this episode has been useful. If you're watching this on YouTube,
give this video a light subscribe to the channel. Fifty
percent of you aren't even subscribed.
Speaker 1 (22:55):
Rude, and we'll
Speaker 2 (22:56):
Speak together again in the next episode's by
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