# It's too goddamn early for Christmas commercials **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [November 2, 2010, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-too-goddamn-early-for-christmas-commercials/559175 "2010-11-02T04:08:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2010, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-too-goddamn-early-for-christmas-commercials/559175/21 "2010-11-04T17:06:09Z")
> [@flodnak](#): > > But for those who still celebrate Advent as a religion season (Catholics, Orthodox Christians, and several of the traditional Protestant denominations among them), the point is to _prepare_ for Christmas, not celebrate it. > > I grew up Catholic and, while everybody knew that no one was going to wait until December 24th to decorate their home, at least in church Christmas didn’t start until then. During Advent, we sang Advent hymns not Christmas carols; the nativity scene was set up but the manger was empty; and the scripture readings and sermons focused on forseeing and preparing for the birth of Jesus, not on the birth itself. Christmas began with the Vigil Mass on the evening of the 24th and lasted until the Sunday after Epiphany (January 6th, the Wise Men visiting and all that). Don’t blame the commercialism on Advent - Advent is innocent! I wasn’t blaming Advent for Christmas decorations in October- that’s commercialism’s fault (and largely due to the lead time built into all businesses for moving merchandise). I was pointing out that taking notice of the upcoming season beginning end-of-November-ish wasn’t a modern phenomenon. ---
**Author:** ![outlierrn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/outlierrn/32/3005_2.png) [@outlierrn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/outlierrn)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2010, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-too-goddamn-early-for-christmas-commercials/559175/22 "2010-11-04T18:45:15Z")
I favor the holiday limitation statute, which forbids the display of decorations or any advertising until the first of the month in which the holiday occurs, or 2 weeks before the holiday occurs whichever comes first. ---
**Author:** ![Wile\_E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c37758/32.png) [@Wile\_E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wile_E)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2010, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-too-goddamn-early-for-christmas-commercials/559175/23 "2010-11-04T18:48:48Z")
Let’s teach them a lesson! No one buy anything Christmas related until after Thanksgiving. We can do this people! ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2010, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-too-goddamn-early-for-christmas-commercials/559175/24 "2010-11-04T19:39:39Z")
> [@Wile\_E](#): > > Let’s teach them a lesson! No one buy anything Christmas related until after Thanksgiving. We can do this people! ☹ Too late. I have most of my XMas shopping done and just last night bought some large gift bags to wrap up Mom’s computer. ---
**Author:** ![Wile\_E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c37758/32.png) [@Wile\_E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wile_E)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2010, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-too-goddamn-early-for-christmas-commercials/559175/25 "2010-11-04T22:13:15Z")
> [@WolfpackJeep](#): > > Once again, I’m late to the party. :mad: > > I saw a blue and purple LED-illuminated lawn peacock at Lowe’s this weekend. They also had a pig (light-up, I think) with gently flapping wings. To my knowledge, they have absolutely nothing to do with Christmas (OK, maybe the pig is an angel). I really, really want these for my lawn. Um … I kind of want the lawn peacock. ---
**Author:** ![Morgenstern](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Morgenstern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgenstern)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2010, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-too-goddamn-early-for-christmas-commercials/559175/26 "2010-11-04T22:22:03Z")
But I want everything winter/Christmas here now. Here’s my current weather. Weather for (My City) 3:21 PM Temperature: 100°F Current: Sunny Wind: E at 10 mph Humidity: 10% ---
**Author:** ![WolfpackJeep](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpackjeep/32/2921_2.png) [@WolfpackJeep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WolfpackJeep)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2010, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-too-goddamn-early-for-christmas-commercials/559175/27 "2010-11-04T22:53:44Z")
> [@Wile\_E](#): > > Um … I kind of want the lawn peacock. Further inspection has revealed that the peacock’s “feathers” actually have a snowflake motif, and that its LED’s “twinkle”. (It’s actually sort of cute!) ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2010, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-too-goddamn-early-for-christmas-commercials/559175/28 "2010-11-05T00:12:41Z")
Commercials, schmommercials, the dagblasted _Public Building_ I work at every day is already hanging fake boughs of holly from the bannisters. Yo, public disservants, don’t get your clue from the Mall, WE do not need to draw in foot traffic to make up for slow sales! You’re just making it obvious the crew intends to take ALL of Thanksgiving week off so they’re getting this out of the way before! ---
**Author:** ![Rachellelogram](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rachellelogram/32/8689_2.png) [@Rachellelogram](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rachellelogram)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2010, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-too-goddamn-early-for-christmas-commercials/559175/29 "2010-11-05T03:07:27Z")
While I agree that it’s too early for Christmas propaganda, there are so many ways to watch television without commercials that anyone who still voluntarily sits through them deserves what they get. ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2010, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-too-goddamn-early-for-christmas-commercials/559175/30 "2010-11-05T14:04:29Z")
I went to the store on Halloween day to get more candy. There wasn’t any; that is, the Halloween display was gone to make room for, yes, Christmas crap. I had to buy the full price candy (what I could find) in the candy aisle. One good thing last year: the program guide on Time Warner did NOT blare Christmas music 24/7. (Not that weepy violin renditions of ‘The Shadow of Your Smile’ and ‘You Only Live Twice’ are any better) but they threw in the occasional Christmas music only a few times an hour. ---
**Author:** ![Scuba\_Ben](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/278dde/32.png) [@Scuba\_Ben](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scuba_Ben)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2010, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-too-goddamn-early-for-christmas-commercials/559175/31 "2010-11-05T14:48:11Z")
The shopping center by my office put up their Christmas decorations today. It’s fucking BONFIRE NIGHT, it’s three fucking weeks to THANKSGIVING, and they’re decorating for a holiday that’s SEVEN weeks away and not everybody around here celebrates! :mad: ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2010, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-too-goddamn-early-for-christmas-commercials/559175/32 "2010-11-05T16:35:01Z")
It’s really too early for threads bitching about Christmas, FWIW. ---
**Author:** ![WolfpackJeep](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpackjeep/32/2921_2.png) [@WolfpackJeep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WolfpackJeep)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2010, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-too-goddamn-early-for-christmas-commercials/559175/33 "2010-11-05T22:58:56Z")
BONFIRE NIGHT…hmm. You know, some Christmas decorations are rather flammable. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2010, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-too-goddamn-early-for-christmas-commercials/559175/34 "2010-11-05T23:32:37Z")
> [@flodnak](#): > > But for those who still celebrate Advent as a religion season (Catholics, Orthodox Christians, and several of the traditional Protestant denominations among them), the point is to _prepare_ for Christmas, not celebrate it. > > I grew up Catholic and, while everybody knew that no one was going to wait until December 24th to decorate their home, at least in church Christmas didn’t start until then. During Advent, we sang Advent hymns not Christmas carols; the nativity scene was set up but the manger was empty; and the scripture readings and sermons focused on forseeing and preparing for the birth of Jesus, not on the birth itself. Christmas began with the Vigil Mass on the evening of the 24th and lasted until the Sunday after Epiphany (January 6th, the Wise Men visiting and all that). Don’t blame the commercialism on Advent - Advent is innocent! [Sadly, Advent has been co-opted.](http://www.cdkenterprises.com/pol/kk-8910.shtml) ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2010, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-too-goddamn-early-for-christmas-commercials/559175/35 "2010-11-06T00:44:10Z")
The grocery store and the convenience store I stopped in today were both setting up Christmas decorations, and at work the landlord was stopping traffic in the parking lots to set out the Christmas lights on trees that still have leaves on. I wish they’d wait till Advent. ---
**Author:** ![Fuzzy\_Dunlop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/848f3c/32.png) [@Fuzzy\_Dunlop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fuzzy_Dunlop)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2010, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-too-goddamn-early-for-christmas-commercials/559175/36 "2010-11-06T01:19:37Z")
In my city, the official Christmas City\* of America, we start decorating for Christmas on **Columbus day.** Literally. The entire city gets decorated with lights and big ornaments and everything and it takes months to finish. We hang live Christmas trees on every single lamp post in the city and the first ones go up on Columbus day. Every one is decorated with lights but they don’t turn them on until the ceremonial tree lighting with the mayor, which happens on the Saturday after Thanksgiving. And yes, the giant “main” Christmas tree the mayor lights is already up and decorated at city hall. For some reason it’s annoying me more this year than it ever has before. \*We actually claim to be the official Christmas city but I can’t remember who we allegedly registered our official claim with. Santa, I suppose. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2010, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-too-goddamn-early-for-christmas-commercials/559175/37 "2010-11-06T02:07:21Z")
Bethlehem, PA? ---
**Author:** ![Rachellelogram](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rachellelogram/32/8689_2.png) [@Rachellelogram](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rachellelogram)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2010, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-too-goddamn-early-for-christmas-commercials/559175/38 "2010-11-06T02:39:17Z")
Santa Claus, IN? ---
**Author:** ![Fuzzy\_Dunlop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/848f3c/32.png) [@Fuzzy\_Dunlop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fuzzy_Dunlop)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2010, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-too-goddamn-early-for-christmas-commercials/559175/39 "2010-11-06T02:49:23Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > Bethlehem, PA? Yes! > [@rachelellogram](#): > > Santa Claus, IN? Close! ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Ashtar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ea924/32.png) [@Lord\_Ashtar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Ashtar)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2010, 6:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-too-goddamn-early-for-christmas-commercials/559175/40 "2010-11-06T06:44:42Z")
> [@JohnT](#): > > It’s really too early for threads bitching about Christmas, FWIW. Then it’s a good thing I pitted something else, isn’t it? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-too-goddamn-early-for-christmas-commercials/559175.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-too-goddamn-early-for-christmas-commercials/559175.md?page=3)