I Loooooooove Christmas. I go hog wild. I decorate every possible surface of my home, car and office with every manner of Christmas stuff you can imagine. Trees, Reindeer, Snowmen, Angles, etc. etc. Oh yes, I an positively BATTY about Christmas. That is not my rant. My rant, is this:
[rant on]
It is NOVEMBER FARGIN’ 14TH people. It is not the time for Trees, or Wreaths, or Lights. No, no, no. It is that funny, in between time, when you DON’T decorate! If you are in the US, you may put up a picture of a Turkey or a Pilgrim. You do not deck the halls. You do not trim your tree, and you do not hang your wreath. Do not try to tell me that it’s some sort of Ramadan wreath either.
I’m not suggesting that you have to wait until December 15th to decorate. I’m not even suggesting that you have to wait until December - the month in which this freekin’ holiday falls! No, no. November 15th is all I ask. Is this too much? Well apparently so!
I think it’s nice when people decorate for Christmas early. It gets me into the whole holiday mood thing. All the lights and decorations can make what was previously an ugly section of town into a beautiful wonderland. Let them decorate I say!
Hey - I like the decorations too - I just think it would be nice if they waited more than two weeks after halloween - the jack-o-lanters are barely cold yet, fer cryin’ out loud!
I’m right there with ya, Al. It’s way too friggin’ early for “I’m Dreaming of a White Christmas” in the malls (which I heard today). You see, the earlier they start with the commercial crap (including the standard selection of 5 different Christmas songs, played everywhere I go), the sooner I get sick to death of it and go into Grinch mode. Since Americans have their Thanksgiving holiday in late November, I would submit that after American thanksgiving would be the appropriate time to start with the Christmas crap.
alice, have you seen actual real people decorating now, or is your rant directed towards retail establishments? I have to say, stores have been decked out with Xmas crap since at least Halloween–but, who’s buying it?
Some people do put up lights early around here (they don’t turn them on, though!) because of the generally inclement weather around and after Thanksgiving. So, it does kind of make sense for Target to put the lights on sale a bit early. Who is buying this other crap now, though? I saw live wreaths for sale at the grocery store–they’re going to be all brown and nasty by the time Xmas actually gets here, right? They are selling egg nog already in that same store. These are dairy products, people! They do not last. They will expire well before the month of December! (Perhaps some have nog for Thanksgiving. OK, so start selling it this week, then–not October! I’d hate to drink nog on Thanksgiving that was sold before Halloween (insert puke-smiley)!) They aren’t fooling anyone–they are expecting us to start packing on pounds now. Can we at least hold off the pushing of holiday perishables, please?
I hate going to stores this time of year because it just all seems wrong. This year, it’s even worse. It seems to have started even earlier, and it’s got a bizarre amalgamation of the Fourth of July thrown in there to boot. Oh, and it’s your patriotic duty to spend, spend, spend and all that :rolleyes:. I am not ready for “holiday mood” yet.
I haven’t seen any real people decorating for Xmas yet. Perhaps we are all silently rebelling :).
As I believe I’ve mentioned, when I am prime minister there will be a 300% tax on all sales of Christmas decorations to commercial establishments prior to November 25th.
Christmas decorations in November make me nervous, because they remind me how little time is left until the end of the quarter, and consequently how little time I have left to write my three term papers…
Oh, and its not just the retail establishments, either. No, no, my friend, there are people in my trailer park who’ve had their lights up for a couple of days now. No, I am not amused by this. I do not think that it is inspiring, nor does it put me in the mood for Christmas. No, it merely makes me think that you’re a bunch of fucking idiots!!!
There is a wreath hung on the interior door of one of the units of my complex. There are TONNES of outside lights up, and ON, and, above all - there is a FRIGGIN’ Christmas Tree up in the front window of one of the houses on my block!
First advertisement for Christmas items this year (that I saw): An ad for collectable christmas tree ornaments in the PARADE section of my Sunday paper - in the second week of AUGUST.
Every year I hear the retail industry complaining that their christmas season sales aren’t meeting expectations. Well, NO SHIT … maybe if you stopped pushing the shit so fucking EARLY, more people would be shopping during the TRADITIONAL shopping season, when you figure your sales. Idiots.
I saw the first lighted-up house on the first of the month. And the stores around here started their decorating around the beginning of October.
Last Saturday I was at the mall – a VERY BAD IDEA – and they’ve already got the Santa photo-op business going.
Am I really being completely anal in that I refuse to do any actual Christmas shopping I need to do until December? That I usually do it in one day? Or better yet, order stuff online?
Can we agree to sell Christmas stuff in a secret, tucked-away section of the store? 'Cause I’m really appreciating being able to buy the stuff now. I don’t like to wait 'til the last minute.
Did you know that if you want to send a package to Japan by boat you need to send it two months ahead of time? I want to be able to buy wrapping paper now so I can wrap the gifts and get 'em in the box in time to save about $100 over shipping the package by air.
I pretty much avoid all department stores and malls from Thanksgiving through New Year’s Day, so I need to get my shopping done now. For those people who like the “fun” of huge crowds of cranky people, more power to 'em.
The early xmas displays in stores really used to bother me, too. For some reason, they just don’t anymore.
I’ll cut a little slack to the guys selling outdoor decorations early. It makes some sense to set up outdoor lights and such early in the season when it’s still warm enough to feel your fingers, just don’t turn them on.
Other than that, wait till the day after Thanksgiving, okay?
No, no, people. Here’s what really happened. Sometime during the reign of Bush I, the Society of Christmas Unified Merchandisers (SCUM) decided that Thanksgiving wasn’t doing as well as it needed to, and thought that with the Pilgrims, cornucopias and sheaves out of the way, they’d have more time to sell us “Jingle Santas” that dance and celebrity Xmas albums. So they killed off the Thanksgiving Fairy, mucg as they did the Arbor Day Tree-planting Kangaroo and the Columbus Day Redskin, and merged Halloween and Xmas into a new, double-secret holiday called “Halloweenmas”.
During Halloweenmas, any and all promo items are fair game, including, as I saw in a store on Oct 30., a jack-o-lantern with a Santa hat on.
I’ve seen lit Christmas lights on someone’s balcony as early as 1 November. And Angie really wants to put up our tree, she’s been wanting to hear Christmas music and put up our tree since mid-October. I’m continually telling her to at least wait until the day after Thanksgiving to put up the tree!
The other day I was driving through a local burg and noticed that the town had already put up its Christmas decorations. The place where I noticed this was in front of a restaurant that had cornshucks and pumpkins festooning its front door. Combined with the big red tinsel candy cane on the light pole directly out front, it looked pretty ludicrous.
My hands are over my ears, and I saying “la la la, I can’t hear you” to all Christmas paraphenalis until the day after Thanksgiving. I want to enjoy each holiday in its proper season.
It seems to me that this year especially requires attention to family, friends and the intangibles of emotional connection. Thanksgiving should not be treated as a roadbump to Xmas, but as a holiday to cherish the ones we love and to be grateful for the many blessings we take for granted.
Yeah, if they keep it to a tucked-away corner, they could sell it year-round for all I care! I think that that’s what it’s going to come to eventually, too–a permanent, year-round Christmas aisle that explodes in July and contracts (slightly) in June once all the clearance sales are finally over.
Just don’t expect me to be in the “holiday mood” or to want to listen to Xmas carols on my birthday (November 6), or, heaven forbid, to actually buy any of it. If it has not even snowed yet in Minnesota, it’s just too early!
featherlou, I agree with you. The earlier they start the merchandising blitz, the deeper I go into “Grinch mode”.
Oh, and a town around here has put its July 4th decorations back up! How’s that for incongruous!