Christmas Getting Earlier

STEVIEBOY1 · 21 Nov 2019

Is it just me, or do plans etc for Christmas seem to be getting earlier. ?

I've had some mail order brochures come in July that mention Christmas items, then I had a Christmas Card arrive in September, the shops seem to start to bring Christmas odds and ends out in Late Aug/Sept. The Radio was playing some Christmas music in early November and now I have seen two houses near my home which have their Christmas decorations up.

The 24th of December seems early enough to me.

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Geezertronic · 21 Nov 2019

I would consider that for most people, their last monthly pay day before Christmas is the end of November and I would assume they don't buy all of their presents with that one paycheck. So advertising early probably allows people to buy early and spread the load across several months

Techniquest · 21 Nov 2019

Shops tend to get Christmas stuff in early because some people want to buy it in the autumn. Admittedly I've been buying the odd bit of Christmas sweets etc, but more for consumption now than waiting for Christmas!

In my line of work, by the time Christmas actually arrives, we're all ready to see it go. The city centre is all decorated up, and with this rather bracing weather currently it seems fitting to start celebrating Christmas now!

Howardh · 21 Nov 2019

What's Christmas? My family avoided it completely and spent all the saved cash on long summer holidays and I carry on that tradition! Not wasting a penny on one single miserable day in the middle of winter. Now, Ebay for some decent swimming knickers.

Cowley · 21 Nov 2019

Howardh said:
What's Christmas? My family avoided it completely and spent all the saved cash on long summer holidays and I carry on that tradition! Not wasting a penny on one single miserable day in the middle of winter. Now, Ebay for some decent swimming knickers.

Knickers!? o_O

We set a budget every year of about £70 each for the kids (they can have the money or a present) which we go half’s on (we’ve got six between us so that’s plenty enough).
We buy each other a weekend away somewhere nice, and rather than buy friends and family presents we spend that money on getting together for pub meals with them instead, because it should be a time to catch up and enjoy yourselves rather than spending days and days flogging your way around town panic buying future landfill I reckon...

Techniquest · 22 Nov 2019

Good way of doing things there Cowley, fair play.

It's the one time of year, after Easter, I make extra effort to spend with family. The rest of the time it's an expensive logistical nightmare to see everyone on a regular basis.

Of course, one of the main highlights for me is the Christmas dinner!

Grumbler · 22 Nov 2019

The North Norfolk Railway ges in on the act!
https://www.edp24.co.uk/news/norfolk-lights-express-on-the-north-norfolk-railway-1-6386291

Mag_seven · 22 Nov 2019

STEVIEBOY1 said:
Is it just me, or do plans etc for Christmas seem to be getting earlier. ?

It's certainly not just you - I think I saw the first TV commercial in October - if I had my way even mentioning the word Christmas would be illegal before December 1st!

Grumbler · 22 Nov 2019

Mag_seven said:
It's certainly not just you - I think I saw the first TV commercial in October - if I had my way even mentioning the word Christmas would be illegal before December 1st!

Christmas should be celebrated only in leap years.

nlogax · 22 Nov 2019

Mag_seven said:
It's certainly not just you - I think I saw the first TV commercial in October - if I had my way even mentioning the word Christmas would be illegal before December 1st!

I see festive food on the shelves of local supermarkets from probably the first or second week of September. Been that way for as long as I can remember.

The Lad · 22 Nov 2019

And the use by dates are well before Christmas

hexagon789 · 22 Nov 2019

nlogax said:
I see festive food on the shelves of local supermarkets from probably the first or second week of September. Been that way for as long as I can remember.

Yep, saw mince pies in Tesco on about the 10th September, all dated for about 4 weeks before Xmas!

nlogax · 22 Nov 2019

The Lad said:
And the use by dates are well before Christmas

Aye. Though mince pies don't stand a chance of lasting til their best before date in my house

Xenophon PCDGS · 22 Nov 2019

Cowley said:
Knickers!? ..

In my much younger days, in the 1950s, the football programme of our local league team in the centre pages where the two teams players and kit colours were shown, stated the home side played in red shirts and white knickers.

Xenophon PCDGS · 22 Nov 2019

Grumbler said:
Christmas should be celebrated only in leap years.

During the Cromwellian government time period, was it not the case that Christmas was banned?

Robin Edwards · 22 Nov 2019

The best chance of delaying Christmas until, well Christmas time would be to have another festival in November like they do in the US.
On the SVR railway last weekend, carols could be heard being sung by a local choir as the train arrived at one of the stations. Bah Humbug!!

HOOVER29 · 22 Nov 2019

A tub each of celebrations & Heroes as well as two bags of dry roasted peanuts have already disappeared in our house
Oh and 3/4’s of a bottle of gin.
How was I to flaming know that was a Christmas present for someone. It was in the drinks cupboard after all.
God, this time of year you have to turn into a right proper mind reader

bramling · 22 Nov 2019

Howardh said:
What's Christmas? My family avoided it completely and spent all the saved cash on long summer holidays and I carry on that tradition! Not wasting a penny on one single miserable day in the middle of winter. Now, Ebay for some decent swimming knickers.

I hate Christmas.

Phase 1 - Irritating TV ads played at inane frequency
Phase 2 - Stampedes in Asda's for Black Friday
Phase 3 - Silly names for days, like Cyber Monday, Titanic Tuesday, Frantic Friday, Spend Saturday, et cetera.
Phase 4 - The great getaway, so total chaos for a couple of days disrupting work-related travel for those of us not "getting away".
Phase 5 - Normality disrupted, for example postal service slowed down or unavailable on certain days, supermarkets rammed.
Phase 6 - Two weeks of sub-normal timetables and roads being busy at times they wouldn't normally be
Phase 7 - The great fuss about no rail services on Boxing Day ("*I*" don't want to work over Christmas, but I expect everything to be available to me") and over Christmas engineering work ("you'd think they'd find some other time to do the work")
Phase 8 - New Year's Eve - when it becomes tacitly acceptable to behave like a thug and smash up other people's property.
Phase 9 - The morose faces on the first working day back after Christmas.
Phase 10 - If I had a pound for every time I get asked "did you have a good Christmas?", with the assumption that everyone has it off work.
Phase 11 - By around February people groaning as their credit card statements start arriving.

Thankfully there's then 50 weeks of normality until the whole nonsense starts again.

Xenophon PCDGS · 22 Nov 2019

Don't the Orthodox churches celebrate Christmas on 7th January?

scotrail158713 · 22 Nov 2019

nlogax said:
I see festive food on the shelves of local supermarkets from probably the first or second week of September. Been that way for as long as I can remember.

I don’t mind the food aspect of it getting earlier. If anything I wouldn’t mind a mince pie in June.

(The other parts getting earlier annoys me though)

HOOVER29 said:
A tub each of celebrations & Heroes as well as two bags of dry roasted peanuts have already disappeared in our house
Oh and 3/4’s of a bottle of gin.
How was I to flaming know that was a Christmas present for someone. It was in the drinks cupboard after all.
God, this time of year you have to turn into a right proper mind reader

I remember having that issue with my Mum when I was young

Xenophon PCDGS · 22 Nov 2019

HOOVER29 said:
A tub each of celebrations & Heroes as well as two bags of dry roasted peanuts have already disappeared in our house
Oh and 3/4’s of a bottle of gin.
How was I to flaming know that was a Christmas present for someone. It was in the drinks cupboard after all.
God, this time of year you have to turn into a right proper mind reader

This brought to mind the scene from Great Expectations and the missing savoury pork pie that had been brought by Uncle Pumblechook to be shared.

yorksrob · 22 Nov 2019

I love Christmas.

And I never forget it's real meaning - a chance for working people to have a rest from work and eat/drink more than usual.

mmh · 22 Nov 2019

yorksrob said:
I love Christmas.

And I never forget it's real meaning - a chance for working people to have a rest from work and eat/drink more than usual.

Amen! At last, a non-humbug. Merry Christmas!

yorksrob · 22 Nov 2019

mmh said:
Amen! At last, a non-humbug. Merry Christmas!

Indeed - Merry Christmas to you too

nlogax · 22 Nov 2019

I love Christmas when it’s spent with the right person / people. This year it’s happening. Can’t wait!

bramling · 22 Nov 2019

yorksrob said:
I love Christmas.

And I never forget it's real meaning - a chance for working people to have a rest from work and eat/drink more than usual.

I'd be happy if that's what is was. What I find so objectionable is the increased and increasing obsession with it being such a major event for the retail industry.

However, I take it you don't work in a shift-based line of work? Never does one see as much selfishness as when seeing people feathering their nest for Christmas, or in other words going hell over high water to get Christmas off. I find it unbelievable that for many people the first thing they do when going through the next year's roster is to go straight to Christmas week...

Thankfully I don't want Christmas off and never will, instead I'm happy having most of May, June, early July and September off, when weather and long days are conducive to doing stuff, and everyone else is at work!

yorksrob · 22 Nov 2019

bramling said:
I'd be happy if that's what is was. What I find so objectionable is the increased and increasing obsession with it being such a major event for the retail industry.

However, I take it you don't work in a shift-based line of work? Never does one see as much selfishness as when seeing people feathering their nest for Christmas, or in other words going hell over high water to get Christmas off. I find it unbelievable that for many people the first thing they do when going through the next year's roster is to go straight to Christmas week...

Thankfully I don't want Christmas off and never will, instead I'm happy having most of May, June, early July and September off, when weather and long days are conducive to doing stuff, and everyone else is at work!

Well, I disagree with pretty much the over-commercialisation of every aspect of modern life - however the long retail run-up to the festive period does remind me how much I like mince pies (started eating them already).

I have a close friend of several decades who's been employed in retail for the past twenty years, and its's been a source of sadness for those twenty years that he's been restricted in joining in the festivities. That, however doesn't stop me enjoying them.

Sadly, this is the first christmas for several years, where I won't be able to enjoy my trip back to Yorkshire in the blissful comfort of a traditional HST armchair. Infact, that pleasure will be denied to me for ever more, so its all the more reason to enjoy the rest/food/booze aspect of the holiday.

bramling · 22 Nov 2019

yorksrob said:
Well, I disagree with pretty much the over-commercialisation of every aspect of modern life - however the long retail run-up to the festive period does remind me how much I like mince pies (started eating them already).

I have a close friend of several decades who's been employed in retail for the past twenty years, and its's been a source of sadness for those twenty years that he's been restricted in joining in the festivities. That, however doesn't stop me enjoying them.

Sadly, this is the first christmas for several years, where I won't be able to enjoy my trip back to Yorkshire in the blissful comfort of a traditional HST armchair. Infact, that pleasure will be denied to me for ever more, so its all the more reason to enjoy the rest/food/booze aspect of the holiday.

To be fair, I'd be quite happy to have two reasonably subdued weeks where work is fairly uneventful and there's generally a more relaxed laid-back atmosphere. Up until the last few years this is how it used to be, however for some reason the occasion seems to have now turned into a complete frenzy, to the point where I really hate it.

I have really got to the point where the only positive I take out of it is thinking "thank goodness it's 11 months until we have to suffer this again, and at least with the short days I can't really do much else".

Sympathies regarding the HST seats, with my local line having partially gone over to ironing boards in the last few years I share the pain!

yorksrob · 22 Nov 2019

bramling said:
To be fair, I'd be quite happy to have two reasonably subdued weeks where work is fairly uneventful and there's generally a more relaxed laid-back atmosphere. Up until the last few years this is how it used to be, however for some reason the occasion seems to have now turned into a complete frenzy, to the point where I really hate it.

I have really got to the point where the only positive I take out of it is thinking "thank goodness it's 11 months until we have to suffer this again, and at least with the short days I can't really do much else".

Sympathies regarding the HST seats, with my local line having partially gone over to ironing boards in the last few years I share the pain!

Alas, I find those two subdued weeks at work never seem to happen, so the relaxation only occurs when I'm out the door.

Yes, we've had ironing boards elsewhere as well. 2020 is shaping up to be as lousy as 2005.

bramling · 22 Nov 2019

yorksrob said:
Alas, I find those two subdued weeks at work never seem to happen, so the relaxation only occurs when I'm out the door.

Work is okay, at least most of the time. It's pretty much everything else that's the problem, not least getting to and from work - for a start having to plan a route that goes nowhere near any kind of shopping destination, even a lowly supermarket!

Christmas Getting Earlier

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