# It's Chriiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiistmas!



## robert@fm (Jul 29, 2011)

...in Harrods and Selfridges, at any rate.


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## Northerner (Jul 29, 2011)

You are kidding, aren't you?


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## Hazel (Jul 29, 2011)

I have cancelled Christmas this year


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## Steff (Jul 29, 2011)

Its in the paper today, its a joke, im sick of my dad counting down the days with my son grr


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## Monica (Jul 29, 2011)

It even made a news story one morning this week 

I wish I could cancel Christmas too


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## Paul (Jul 30, 2011)

I Hate Christmas I want to be happy and kind spirited all year round not just at one time a year


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## Northerner (Jul 30, 2011)

Paul said:


> I Hate Christmas I want to be happy and kind spirited all year round not just at one time a year



I don't hate Christmas, but I do hate the ridiculous retail overkill that has become associated with it. I gave up buying Christmas presents years ago and give to charity on behalf of relatives now - at least that way the money is spent on people and things that have a real need and appreciation for it.


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## sasha1 (Jul 30, 2011)

149 days till peeps .... 

Seriously though .... its madness ... what on earth is going on ... we justb live on 6mth years ... the whole country is insane ... apart form us lovely peeps on here.

When I was little, many moons ago, the build up to christmas started inn December ... and thats how it should stay, no wonder everyone is sick of it .. besides its all about how much we can eat, spend, drink etc.

May be it should be a 4yearly event .... 

Heidi
xx


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## Steff (Jul 30, 2011)

I dont hate xmas I cant I have a child lol
But theres so much pressure put on parents starting in about April grrr.
Theres no fun is xmas no more its all about competing to get your kid the best this and the best that.


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## hotchop (Jul 30, 2011)

only 5 paydays left!!!!

but not to worry here, coz ive finished alllll my shopping! ( apart from food!)


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## gail1 (Jul 30, 2011)

i have been saving tescos xmas stamps since February and by the time xmas gets here i will have enough to buy a new laptop and thats my xmas pressy to myself


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## Monica (Jul 30, 2011)

hotchop said:


> only 5 paydays left!!!!
> 
> but not to worry here, coz ive finished alllll my shopping! ( apart from food!)



Whaaat???? I haven't even thought about what to buy yet. I only have to buy for the girls and Mike's parents. Mike and I have stopped giving presents to each other. We usually buy something we both want/need. Last year we bought a new PC in October.

Mike's parents get more or less the same presents every year.


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## newbs (Jul 30, 2011)

robert@fm said:


> ...in Harrods and Selfridges, at any rate.



There were Christmas cards in a shop I went in this week, first sign I've seen but I noticed today the adverts for all the big toys have started which will soon be followed by "I want ..., I want ...."!  I do think it all starts way too early, October onwards would be understandable but July!!! I love Christmas with my girls but the build up takes a lot of the shine off.


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## hotchop (Jul 30, 2011)

Our boys are a little older now.. 14 and 10, and dont believe in santa.

We dont buy for anyone else and we spend only about ?100 each on them to be fair plus we tend to celebrate birthdays more than christmas.

I work in retail.. Christmas day is literally a day off over the festive season and the amount of customers who complain that we are closed is unbelievable.

I do love a christmas lunch though!


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## robert@fm (Aug 1, 2011)

How long before store muzak starts playing Christmas carols?  Probably mid-September at the latest. 

And I wish it could be Christmas every da-ay,
With freezing cold and loads of bills to pa-ay;
Yes, I wish it could be Christmas every da-a-ay,
Let the tills ring out for Christmas.


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## Caroline (Aug 1, 2011)

Am I the only one who remembers Christmas starting on December 1st and ending some time in early january when decorations were taken down?


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## AlisonM (Aug 1, 2011)

Caroline said:


> Am I the only one who remembers Christmas starting on December 1st and ending some time in early january when decorations were taken down?



Nope I remember it too. In fact, in our house it's kept to that still with the decorations going up on the 24th and coming down again on Twelth Night (Jan 5th).


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## Caroline (Aug 1, 2011)

Must admit I tend to want the decorations up as little time as possible. They look nice but after a few days they make me feel very shut in.


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## Paul (Aug 1, 2011)

My Local co-op is selling easter eggs I am not sure if they are early or late !


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## robert@fm (Aug 1, 2011)

AlisonM said:


> Nope I remember it too. In fact, in our house it's kept to that still with the decorations going up on the 24th and coming down again on Twelth Night (Jan 5th).



Erm, you're making a common error; Twelfth Night (aka Epiphany) is the 6th, not the 5th. 

Where people go wrong in this is to fail to take into account that until fairly recently (the early 1960s if not even later) Britain was a deeply religious country (as ?ire is to this day).  Hence Christmas was one of the two holiest days of the year (the other of course being Easter), far too sacred for anything so profane as festivities; thus the festive season (the "Twelve Days of Christmas") started on Boxing Day, which of course is how Boxing Day got its name.  It was _not_ (as I believed as a small child) so named because the inevitable timetable of sports fixtures on the telly always included boxing. 

(A similar error was the widespread belief that "The Millennium" started on 1 January 2000; those who reckon this are trying to have it both ways, counting years from zero but centuries from 1.  There was no such number as "zero" in 1AD, and probably wasn't in 532AD when the AD epoch was established; some innumerate idiots reckon that there still isn't such a number today.  Not that it matters of course, since "The Millennium" was just a meaningless calendar rollover; if it was supposed to be 2000 years of AD, it was as already noted a year too early, whereas if it was supposed to be the 2000th anniversary of the birth of Jesus of Nazareth, it was at least four years too late.)


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## AlisonM (Aug 2, 2011)

Aye you're right, mum always made us take the decorations down on the 5th because she thought it was unlucky if you left them to the 6th.


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