For those of us who don’t live in the United Kingdom, Christmas advertisements usually focus on all the many things available for us to buy, buy, buy. This generally isn’t an issue in our house because we rarely watch actual television, instead depending on library DVDs and streaming services for much of our entertainment (except English Premier League, which is sadly unavailable through these sources).
However, this year, it’s the Men’s World Cup, so we have seen more commercials than usual, and I’ll admit I like the ones that focus on the Beautiful Game. Others, not so much, and in particular the one that argues that “Less is not more; More is more,” or something to that effect.
With this in mind, I did my yearly search for the “best Christmas adverts.”
I found this, which it’s only fair to warn you, will bring tears to your eyes.
If you’d like to check out a few more UK ads, go here. Obviously not all of them are of the same caliber, but I believe you may find a few new favorites.
And, as has become my yearly tradition, I feel compelled to share the best Christmas song ever. Just in case you live under a rock and have never heard the exquisite harmonizing of David Bowie and Bing Crosby in this extraordinarily improbable duet, here it is again. Unfortunately, WordPress or YouTube, or maybe both, won’t let me embed this one, so you’ll have to click on the link.
Since life seems to have gotten away from me since Mom fell, and I’ve been out of commission myself with a head cold (which I sadly have now shared with The Engineer), I may or may not find time to blog again before Christmas.
If I don’t, please accept my very best wishes for a happy Christmas. And if I do, please accept my very best wishes for a happy Christmas.
Please note: This is not our house. Our house decorations consist of two chocolate Advent calendars (with two more Advent calendars in various fridges — a wine one and a cheese one). Also, my little Norfolk Pine is strung with fairy lights and decorated with crochet stars similar to these. That’s the extent of our holiday decor.
The presents under the tree are wrapped in brown paper from the many packages we’ve had delivered. The tree and the gifts together provide a certain homey charm, I think.
I switched to using brown paper for our packages because we get so much of it. It seemed ridiculous to recycle rather than reuse it. Then I read that much of the wrapping paper available in stores can’t be recycled, and I switched permanently. I’m not saying that’s what you should do, especially because we use it partly because I’m #cheapaf. (Pardon me for talking in hash tags, but this one seems appropriate.)
Anyway, Merry Christmas! I hope your time is spent with those you love.
The Byrd and the Bees 
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My decorations this year consist entirely of little white fairy lights. We make our own electricity from the sun, and it seems a joyful thing to give some of it back to the night. I’m happy to have done away with gift wrapping entirely. We don’t give or receive them, since we make a substantial donation to charity each year in lieu of buying Stuff. I hope you’re both feeling better and more festively cheerful by the time the 25th rolls around. A joyful Christmas and peaceful New Year to you, my friend, in case we don’t speak again before then.
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Thanks, Kate. I will say most of our gifts are socks. Always useful because they are always wearing out.:-)
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That is so much more sensible than Stuff.
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Merry Christmas to you too! I hope your cold gets better. We’ve been passing germs around here too. I wore a mask all last week to hopefully deflect my cold germs from the kids, but now James has a cough that he’s shared with me. So far Tessa’s avoided getting anything.
The kids are excited about Christmas. James (7) is still a “believer”, which surprises me. I think my girls figured it out when they were younger. They don’t emphasize Santa at their house (he brings them one thing) and the rest are from Mom and Dad. But James has somehow latched onto the “Elf on the Shelf” concept, which his mom refuses to buy into. So he made himself a construction paper facsimile of it and brought it over to Grandma’s house where the elf’s having fun moving around every night. LOL!
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It sounds like you will have a delightful Christmas. I think the idea of one Santa gift is probably a good one. Also, the paper elf on the shelf story made me smile. I am feeling better, still hacking as happens with colds, but at least it’s not COVID.
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