Celebrating Christmas on December 28?

[ballcap]

So, I am curious what your opinions are for this idea a good friend of mine does. Each year, instead of celebrating Christmas on Christmas day like everyone else, they celebrate it the Sunday after Christmas. This year they will do it on December 28. Why do they do this? They say it saves them a ton of money. They do all their "Christmas Shopping" during the after Christmas sales when everything is discounted. What do you think of this idea?

[snafu]

People are free to celebrate as they like. Biblical scholars suggest Christ was born in the summer. There are a lot of Ukrainians in our province who follow the Julian calendar which celebrates Christmas January 7th -14th. We were taught it started as a pagan celebration wrapped around the winter solstice. I really enjoy the decorations and attention paid to children with concerts and treats. We've been doing more home baking, cookie exchanges and trying to do something helpful for neighbours and friends. The emphasis we see seems to focus on making sure the retailers meet their targets and get their bonuses.

[disneysteve]

I know a lot of people who celebrate "family" holidays on the nearest weekend because that's when the whole family can get together. It isn't a cost-saving measure. It's just a practical measure. So for Christmas, for example, it falls on a Thursday this year. A lot of people have to work on Friday so if they're coming from a distance, it's hard to be get there just for the day. Instead they can gather on Saturday and be able to stay over and go home on Sunday. Or at least be able to stay later on Saturday because they don't have to get up early to go to work the next day.

[creditcardfree]

My parents and sister and her family are celebrating Friday through Sunday. There are numerous reasons why, and none of them are for cost saving reasons. If that is what people choose to do, that is their right. Merry Christmas!!

[HappySaver]

I'm not religious but come from a Catholic background and the idea sounds terrible to me. You can celebrate with your family anytime but that doesn't make it Christmas. We often meet up with DH's family the week before Christmas to celebrate with them, but it doesn't feel like Christmas.

Mind you, on Christmas Day we're often on a beach somewhere not doing "traditional" Christmas things, but that day still always has a special feeling for us that can't just be moved to a different day.

To be clear I'm not judging others if it works for them. I just can't imagine doing that just to save money. I would be perfectly fine exchanging gifts at a later date. Christmas does not equal gifts to me.