The 'Keep Christmas in December' rant thread

[mattc]

It's only November and already people are moaning about Christmas!

My *perception* is that there was a definite creep over a few decades, BUT
it seemed to get a little better in the last, oh maybe 4-5 years.

I had wondered if advertising budgets were down, so we didn't feel so bombarded with the stuff from that direction. They're probably picking up again now!

[caerau]

Well the big new thing seems to be who can do the awesomest christmas advert these days


Ooh is it Sainsbury's?  Is it John Lewis?  Will the song they use get to number 1 - sneaky appearance on the X-factor for extra marketing-slam? 


The person who gives a shit is thattaway as far as I'm concerned although personally I drew the line when Sainsbury's (iirc) decided to employ the 1914 Christmas football match in the trenches to associate themselves with.  Though that was clearly a marmite thing as many seemed to love it.

[Kim]

I reckon the rise of Halloween as a marketing 'theme' has provided a buffer zone.  I suspect that Black Friday is beginning to have a similar effect, at least among online retailers, even though it has no right to exist on this side of the pond.

[Cudzoziemiec]

The 1914 Christmas football match: That reminds me, there was no 1914 Christmas football on the Eastern Front. But there was at Easter, and again in 1915, '16 and '17! Whether this was Catholic-Protestant or Orthodox Easter, I'm not sure; if really luck, it would have been both!

[caerau]

I suspect by christmas 1917 there were other things to concern them on the Eastern front - religion took a bit of a knock there I think


[edit] oops you said Easter.  My bad, move along

[Mrs Pingu]

We walked through the Aberdeen 'Christmas village' last night (only because it was between us and our restaurant of choice ).
My expectations were surpassed.

It was even more shit than I was expecting. And I was expecting it to be really shit.

[Bledlow]

I reckon the rise of Halloween as a marketing 'theme' has provided a buffer zone.  I suspect that Black Friday is beginning to have a similar effect, at least among online retailers, even though it has no right to exist on this side of the pond.

Whaddya mean, no right to exist? Why shouldn't we import a bit of modern USAian commercial crap associated with a USAian feast which has no resonance over here? What next? Do you think we should ignore Golden Week?

I bought nothing today except some food.

[Mr Larrington]

Apparently the undignified scrums of oiks beating each other over the head with Fucking Big Televisions completely failed to materialise this year, no doubt to the dismay of the news media who were left to report on tedious crap like whether the UK should bomb Syria, space junk off the Scillies and how best to cook the Chancellor of the Exchequer "Are you sure about that last one?" - Ed.

[Clare]

...and how best to cook the Chancellor of the Exchequer "Are you sure about that last one?" - Ed.

In the most protracted and painful way possible.

[Ruthie]

Just finished moving the last of the stuff into my new house.  I put the  Christmas tree in the new storage cupboard yesterday.  I'll be getting it out again next week.

Because it's still November, and it's the right thing to do, so there.

[Pedaldog.]

...and how best to cook the Chancellor of the Exchequer "Are you sure about that last one?" - Ed.

In the most protracted and painful way possible.

Well the peel should be scraped off first. After that a baste in salted lime juice and then it might be ready to get serious with the revolting, useless lump of animal product.

[Cudzoziemiec]

Today is the first Sunday of Advent, so it's okay for the Christmas stuff now. As long as you've all given something up till the 25th, of course.

[Ruthie]

We lit the first Advent candle in Church this morning.  All the Christmas trees were up on the window sills (each one decorated differently, by a different community group), and the main tree at the front is gorgeous - blue lights, orange baubles and tinsel, really trendy    I think the toddler group was my favourite, angels made of doilies with random smears of glitter and scribbles all over them.  Wonderful.

So now that it's Advent, bring on the mince pies and the Bailey's ice cream and the Christmas cards and the wishes of Merriment to all and Sundry.  It's the Church's New Year, and we're working up to the Festival of the Coming of Light in the darkness.  The altar and pulpit are dressed in purple, and there are poinsettias around the choir stalls.  It's really beautiful this year.

The Crib is up as well, sans baby Jesus and Three Wise Men and Shepherds, Angels, Joseph and Mary.  So, basically, a stable with some sheep and cows    There's one angel but her blu-tak fell off so she's been propped up behind the crib for now.   

[Cudzoziemiec]

Ah, in the town centre in Lublin (town in Poland I used to live in) one year they put up a stable with crib and REAL LIVE donkey, goat, rabbit (did they really have rabbits two thousand years ago in Judea, or whatever they called it? not important!) etc. But only models of Mary Jesus Joseph Shepherds Wise Men. Then one night some vandals set fire to it and all the animals burned to death. 

[Cudzoziemiec]

Sorry, that wasn't really a good thought to start Advent with.

[Ruthie]

Oh, I dunno.  That was the world Jesus was born into.  Flawed and broken.

But the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

[Bledlow]

...and how best to cook the Chancellor of the Exchequer "Are you sure about that last one?" - Ed.

In the most protracted and painful way possible.

Well the peel should be scraped off first. After that a baste in salted lime juice and then it might be ready to get serious with the revolting, useless lump of animal product.

You forgot the chillies.

[meddyg]

' It's probably time to get the sprouts on now! ' as Terry Wogan used to quip around Advent

- well you don't want 'em too hard do you....

[mattc]

(in the spirit of this thread:)

Surely Advent starts when I open my first calendar door i.e. Dec 1st

[SteveC]

Surely Advent starts when I open my first calendar door i.e. Dec 1st

Nope. Fourth Sunday before Christmas. It's a Christian thing, they're probably allowed to make the rules seeing the whole festival is (nominally at least) one of theirs.

[Kim]

Isn't it to do with Blue Peter presenters starting fires with tinsel and coathangers?

[drossall]

Oh, I dunno.  That was the world Jesus was born into.  Flawed and broken.

We marked the start today with what we like to call "Experiencing" Advent. Less sitting in the pew, more moving around the building to different activities. Themed on Matthew, whose nativity story, when you read it, is less angels and mangers, more danger from the powers-that-be, and fleeing as refugees.

[Andrij]

Surely Advent starts when I open my first calendar door i.e. Dec 1st

Nope. Fourth Sunday before Christmas. It's a Christian thing, they're probably allowed to make the rules seeing the whole festival is (nominally at least) one of theirs.

Some start even earlier.



Eastern Orthodox would be in line with the 'Byzantine' column above; I don't know about the Oriental Orthodox.

[Eccentrica Gallumbits]

Isn't it to do with Blue Peter presenters starting fires with tinsel and coathangers?

No! They recommend flame-proof tinsel to avoid fires!

[Cudzoziemiec]

Surely Advent starts when I open my first calendar door i.e. Dec 1st

Nope. Fourth Sunday before Christmas. It's a Christian thing, they're probably allowed to make the rules seeing the whole festival is (nominally at least) one of theirs.

Some start even earlier.



Eastern Orthodox would be in line with the 'Byzantine' column above; I don't know about the Oriental Orthodox.

I had one (at least) Jacobite Syriac colleague back in Blr, but I'm afraid I don't know either!