Christmas Is I'cumin . . . ho-hum

[celticleather]

Here in the UK, the great annual build-up to Christmas began quietly around mid-August, with a few Christmassy items creeping almost unnoticed onto the supermarket shelves. It's now in full swing, with whole sections of stores devoted to the great extravagance, and pubs and restaurants begging to be chosen as the venue for the Christmas lunch or office party.

I'm curious to know whether this is a peculiarly British phenomenon, or does the Christmas overkill start as early (or earlier!) in other parts of the world?

For my part - as a Grumpy Old Man - I find that I get Christmassed up to the gills by mid-November, and when December 25th finally arrives, it seems to be two days of anticlimax, followed by several weeks of January sales. We have a fairly eclectic mix of nationalities here on the forum, and I'd be interested to hear other people's views.

[TwinOaks]

I used to work for Walmart, and what your're decribing is fairly common here in the states. Preparations for the big holidays start months in advance. I had the onus of working in HELL the holiday/seasonal area. We had everything in place, just in case any hallow's eve critters wanted to go as Kris Kringle.

Of course, everyone knew that the best time to buy wrapping paper, decorations, or anything related was in the week after Christmas. Most merchandise was discounted 75-90% off. Squeeze every penny out of 'em.

[tonyc1]

Yeah, it started here mid Sept. They like to get in early!

[CitizenKate]

It's global... *sigh*

When I was a kid, they didn't haul out the Christmas junk until just after Thanksgiving. Then one year we noticed they were starting to set it out after Halloween. We were joking, "before you know it, they'll be putting that stuff out in August!" Har-har! Well, guess what, boys and girls? This August I stepped into my local Hobby Lobby, and a full one-quarter of the store was arrayed with Christmas merchandise! I was disgusted.

I thought, "Greedy retailers, trying to make Christmas run the year 'round. Shame on them") But then I asked the cashier if any of it was selling. She said, "Yeah, a lot of people are buying ornaments, already." Therein lies the problem, my friends.

Kate

[whistling "Jingle Bell Rock" ]

[tonyc1]

And as soon as Christmas is over the Easter eggs will be on the shelf!!!

[Rawhide]

They might as well just sell that crap all year round. It amazes me each year, just how creative and sly commercialization becomes. I don't think Christmas has been a holiday for a long time, and may never get back to being one.

Marlon

[Luke Hatley]

in the Mid - South this past Saturday at Lowes they were putting up their

Christmas Tree display........ugh!!! :

[JRedding]

Apparantly I'm not the only one who's noticed the retailers would rather just ignore Halloween and Thanksgiving because they don't bring in the dollars. We just try to take each holiday one at a time and do our own thing. I hate the way it's done but I really feel sorry for the people who make the decision to do this, I'd rather be the one who has to put up with it than be the one who lives with so much greed dwelling in my soul I'd try to steal a holiday from a kid just to put another dollar in the register.

[TomSwede]

Here in the UK, the great annual build-up to Christmas began quietly around mid-August, with a few Christmassy items creeping almost unnoticed onto the supermarket shelves. It's now in full swing, with whole sections of stores devoted to the great extravagance, and pubs and restaurants begging to be chosen as the venue for the Christmas lunch or office party.

I'm curious to know whether this is a peculiarly British phenomenon, or does the Christmas overkill start as early (or earlier!) in other parts of the world?

For my part - as a Grumpy Old Man - I find that I get Christmassed up to the gills by mid-November, and when December 25th finally arrives, it seems to be two days of anticlimax, followed by several weeks of January sales. We have a fairly eclectic mix of nationalities here on the forum, and I'd be interested to hear other people's views.

I think now is the time we start to get it slowly creeping onto the shelfs but still I agree with you. It's a bit of an anti-climax when it comes.

As a heathen viking type of guy I don't pay any particular attention to celebrating any specific dates, its the end of the year and start of the next one. The circle is complete and the wheel is turning but I'm overly happy if I can be part of the family gathering at the 24th but I do work alot on that date so often miss or can only be part for a few hours, not being able to drink anything nice either because I have to go to work and such. That is a big anti-climax too.

So seems like we don't have just as early hysteria as you do but something that is bugging me more and more is the hysteria with x-mas presents. People take huge loans and buy on credit to afford their presents and the pricetags on what you buy for presents is ridicilously high sometimes. I'm talking about buying big screen telly's, videogames, home cinemas, the latest Sony Eriksson mobile phone with all the goodies and such. I'd never accept a gift like that. Two reasons, it's too expensive- I'd feel like the giver is trying to buy my affection and if I want something that expensive I definetly like to pick it out from the shelfs myself.

A box of chocolate makes me overly happy, a single malt whisky...oboy this person loves me!

Tom

[Jordan]

The crass commercialism of the holidays sucks. I think the retailers have figured out how to implant a broken record in everyones heads "spend your money spend your money" playing over and over! It is really sad that the true reason for the holiday seems to have been lost in all the noise, after all the birth of Christ was a pretty important event in the grand scheme of things.

[celticleather]

And as soon as Christmas is over the Easter eggs will be on the shelf!!!

Oh Noooo!! Dare I say it? Our local newsagent has a whole display of Cadbury's Creme Eggs just inside the front door!

And B & Q are starting their Boxing Day Sale on Christmas Eve!

Must be something to do with the shortest day! Perhaps time has gone into reverse??

[Timd]

The wife and I braved a trip to Wal-Mart this morning, and they were putting Valentine candy on the top shelf. falalala.

[badger]

I'm in England too.

I wish we had something like Thanksgiving.

I work with a lot of Americans and travel to the USA often.

It seems to me that Thanksgiving is to you guys what Christmas used to be to us; more of a family oriented celebration and less of a commercial free-for-all.

It would be nice to have a festival which isn't about avarice, more about family and friends...the important things.

Regardless, Merry Christmas to you all.

Cheers,

Karl

Edited December 22, 2008 by badger

[celticleather]

Karl

Sounds good to me - although it's a bit of a puzzle knowing what we in the UK should give thanks for! Perhaps we'd have to come up with another name for it . . . any suggestions?

I really must stop being so cynical!

All the best to everyone!

Terry

[CitizenKate]

...it's a bit of a puzzle knowing what we in the UK should give thanks for!

Although Thanksgiving is a national holiday, for many of us, it's a time just to reflect on anything in our own lives we are grateful for... our families, friends, livelihoods, homes, making it through a difficult life experience and suddenly finding that something really good came out of it, good food, and great times.

Now THAT is a holiday I wouldn't mind having go year 'round. (Except maybe for the eating part! )

Kate

[tonyc1]

How many of us have snow at Christmas time?

Tony.

[TwinOaks]

Karl,

Here in the U.S., especially the South, we do have holidays that are family-centric. In fact some of them are even community-centric. The most prevalent is Football Season. It's a time of gathering, boisterous cheering, and heavy drinking.

Whole regions of the U.S. will turn out in support of a favorite team. Here in Alabama, the penultimate game is the Iron Bowl, played between the University of Alabama an Auburn University.

Tony,

This year, it'll be about half of the U.S. members- the northern half.

Edited December 22, 2008 by TwinOaks

[Washroad]

How many of us have snow at Christmas time?

Tony.

It hasn't snowed where I live since 1948, a couple of years before I was thought of!

I like Christmas, but being the godless heathen that I am, I just like getting together with the families (mine on Christmas Eve, her's on Christmas Day) and enjoying the company and the dinner.

I really love Thanksgiving! It's a desert trip, no family involved, just friends who really want to be there! This year we had 28 adults for dinner outdoors, enjoying the sunset, the conversation, the lies about how good we ride our quads, etc. Everyone brings something for the dinner, even if it's just dinner rolls and no one is turned away from our table for any reason and no one leaves hungry! An absolutely wonderful time!

[Washroad]

Merry Christmas, Everyone!

[tonyc1]

I just heard a song on the radio that has prompted me to let you know that Santa doesn't use reindeer "Down Under" to pull his sleigh, he uses 6 White Boomers, which are old man Kangaroos. They handle the heat much better than the reindeer!

Tony.