Bah.

[lagilman]

I just saw my first Christmas-themed ad on tv. Cue the Bahs! Rouse the Humbugs! Prep the Grinch!


I have nothing against people celebrating their holidays. More power to 'em, and they should enjoy every moment of it. I just would enjoy one year not having CHRISTMAS! shoved into my face, my ears, and my wallet, and then being told that it's MY problem that it annoys me.

I'll tell you what, all you Christmas Enthusiasts. Keep it within a two week -- hell, even a three week period -- and don't play christmas carols in the be-damned public bathrooms, and I'll give you the carols in every damn store, the sidewalk santas ringing their bells, the people wishing me merry christmas without provocation, the endless parade of ads about what I should buy people/ask for as gifts, the santas and reindeer and creches and pointsettas and etc etc etc.

But no. They can't even manage to restrain it to the month of the actual holiday. They have to start now, before Thanksgiving.

Bah.

I'll be in the corner, counting the days until the turn of the year.


1. the offending commercial was for Kohls. They're first up on the seasonal boycott list.
2. I truly believe that there should be a Constitutional amendment prohibiting the airing of "Frosty" before 1 December. And banning any airing, ever, of the abomination of a sequel.

Comments

[bentleywg.livejournal.com]

There's a local radio station that starts playing Christmas music 24/7 on November 1. I refuse to press that pre-set until after Thanksgiving. (I did notice, one of the mornings I accidentally pressed that button, that they're making an exception for the Whoopi Goldberg show. It must be in the contract or something.)

[lagilman]

I actually like Christmas carols, especially the jazz versions. But it becomes aural assault after a while, when you can't turn it off or avoid it in public.

[ianrandalstrock.livejournal.com]

Complete agreement! You said it.

I've been thinking, since Wal Mart has decided to greet each customer with a cheery "Merry Christmas," that the appropriate response just might be "F&%k you, too." Nah, maybe I'm a little too humbuggy.

[lagilman]

I won't go into any store that wishes me Merry Christmas. "Happy Holidays" I can live with.

The temptation to go in merely to ask them "hi, which department carries the virgins for my winter revels?" is great, however....

[marinarusalka.livejournal.com]

My local pharmacy and all four(!!!) of my local supermarkets have Christmas displays up already, and the UTC mall is starting to bedeck itself.

Bleh. Even if I celebrated the damn holiday, I'd still think it was too early.

[wolfsilveroak.livejournal.com]

Hear! Hear!

[delkytlar.livejournal.com]

The Christmas ads you hear on TV and radio aren't created by Christmas Enthusiasts. They are created by corporate marketing people who want to capitalize on those of us who celebrate the holiday. It's crass marketing by people who (in my experience) generally aren't believers in the actual reason for the existence of Christmas.

And yes, I think it's pretty tasteless myself. I rarely do any Christmas shopping prior to December 10th (and never on Black Friday). I don't play Christmas carols on the radio, CD or my MP3 player much before December 15th either.

[lagilman]

That's why I said Enthusiasts, not celebrants or even the catch-all of "Christians." It's all about the Public Consumption and if you don't, well, then suck it up and deal.


Not that I'm bitter or -- oh. Yeah. I am.

[delkytlar.livejournal.com]

I definitely get the difference. I don't think these people are any more Enthusiasts about Christmas than they are about President's Day. As I recall, Honest Abe and George Washington start showing up on TV some time in early January (at least as far as auto dealers are concerned). Quite a few of our local shops were displaying Halloween stuff in mid-August this year.

It's massive holiday creep. Maybe we need some sort of daylight savings time for retailers so they can get their calendars in sync with the rest of us.

[otterdance.livejournal.com]

That pretty much sums up my feelings, too. I'm appalled that places like Rite Aide, Home Depot, and my local grocery store are already shilling Christmas goods. The "Santa Claus" Christmas has always been about commercialism in this country, but in recent years it's reached such proportions that it really does sap a lot of joy and magic from the actual season. Which, for us purists, begins on Dec 25 and runs for twelve days. Not the two months preceeding. The Marketers have co opted and shanghaied my holiday in the same way that the radical RIght has co opted and shanghaied Christianity in general, sullying it beyond recognitiion in the process. Bah humbug indeed.

[lagilman]

I would also appreciate not having to deal with creches or Santas on public land (i.e. land non-Christians have as much right to as Christians, via tax-paid support) but that's a rant for another time and place and energy-drain.

[redstarrobot.livejournal.com]

I prefer all my Christmassiness to happen within one week, two max. Before Dec 10th is Just Too Soon, and preferably not before the 15th.

[kaitiana.livejournal.com]

Don't blame us Christmas Enthusiasts. =) Blame the retail pimps who keep pushing the season's start earlier and earlier in the hopes that they'll squeeze a few extra coins from shoppers. I like my Christmas decorating to start AFTER Thanksgiving, and the rest of the seasonal goings-on to occur much closer to the actual date, 1-2 weeks or so. I humbug myself when I see them putting Christmas stuff up before! Halloween!

[neadods.livejournal.com]

What she said. I wallow in a way that would give Dickens pause, but the season Does Not Start until December! Period!!

I'd love to see them "protecting Christmas" by legislating marketing rules, personally.

[girasole.livejournal.com]

I love Christmas. I mean, I love Christmas. Solstice. WinterFair. The turning of the year. I adore it. It is a sacred time. But it can't start now. It is just not right.

Although my holly trees, pictured in the icon, are already full of berries. That is ... odd.

I feel your pain. I love the Santas and the music and everything else, but I love it in December, where it belongs.

[hoosier-red.livejournal.com]

Heh -- I remember when we lived in Sweden, and I heard the Pogues' "Fairytale of New York" being played over the Musak system of a mall. Now that was my kind of Christmas celebration!

[bentleywg.livejournal.com]

When I moved to the Chicago suburbs a few years ago, I noticed that some people put up their Christmas stuff (even the trees) before Thanksgiving, which I thought very odd, until another neighbor explained that, because of families being so spread out and travel distances/expense/etc., some of them "do" the family Christmas stuff when they get together for Thanksgiving. I've already seen some outdoor decorations in my neighborhood.

[sfmarty.livejournal.com]

My neighbor two doors down still has his Xmas decor up from last year and the neighbor across the street still has the lights on his street tree.

Most of the malls kept the fairy lights on their street trees all year around.

I agree tho, keep the "holiday" music off until, um, day before Xmas?

[(Anonymous)]

Let's hang the marketing people. I LOVE Christmas, but wait until at least after Thanksgiving to get into the season. Maybe we could start a campaign to begin the Christmas season the first Sunday in December and to go until Epiphany. But minus all the ads for toys and stuff. But please don't ban the smaltzy heartwarming Christmas shows. Even though I can't watch them here in France. Still, I like the lights (unless they are tacky). But in a country that now decorates for Halloween, I guess you can more or less expect things to get out of hand. Non?

FF

[wishwords.livejournal.com]

They even have Christmas ads on TV in Turkey. You just can't escape a commercial holiday like that.

[pearlformance.livejournal.com]

It's a day of celebration. Giving it a week is overly generous. Christmas trees for sale before Halloween is just silly.

The stores will shoot themselves in the foot and soon we'll all avoid brick and mortar stores for their high traffic season and shop for any pressies, if any, online only.

[lagilman]

It's a day of celebration. Giving it a week is overly generous.

Nah. It is, at its very best, a holiday for little kids of all ages, and haf the fun (maybe even 3/4) seems to be in the anticipation. The flurry of wrapping, the smell of things cooking, the slow build-up to the point where you head off for services (all of you celebrating and exchanging presents DO go to Christmas services, don't you? Of some sort of another?) and then come home to the birthday party in your own home.... That's worth a fortnight, I'd say.

Personally, I miss having a pine scented holiday accessory around the house. Although I don't miss finding pine needles under the carpet six months later....

[(Anonymous)]

You are totally right about that. It's the An-TI-CI-PA-TION. But it's less fun when you are older and can see all the un-Christmasy things that happen… like some kids never getting anything. *sigh* Growing up is such a bitch.

[jperceval.livejournal.com]

My first xmas ad was yesterday, and it was Target. Just FYI for your list.

Oh, and I got the Bath & Body Works holiday catalogue before Halloween!

[(Anonymous)]

Sorry Laura Anne, That last message was from FF.

radio stations, too

[(Anonymous)]

100.3 WNIC in the Detroit area started the all-Christmas-music-all-the-time format this week. They do it earlier and earlier every year. "Adult Soft Pop" competitor 105.1 "Magic 105.1" has so far, as they did last year, decided to ride the backlash and stay with the regular format for a while longer, but they will inevitably switch to the all-Christmas format soon.

Bleargh. Thank you, XM Satellite Radio for saving me from this onslaught.

AutoJim

[kessadebra.livejournal.com]

I can't agree more. Tough to raise a young spud through all of this. My husband and I are pagan and celebrate Yule (Winter Solstice) but because X-mas is in your face, everywhere AND the relatives celebrate, we have had to give in to the obviously true meaning of Xmas -- STUFF. AAAARRRGGGHHH....okay, thanks for letting me vent.

[brother-osric.livejournal.com]

Grisham had such a good idea going for the first half of Skipping Christmas ... and then, alas, wimped out.

[barbara-ferrenz.livejournal.com]

There's a house in our neighborhood where they put up the Christmas decorations on October 31st, I assume, to counteract all of us devil worshippers who love Halloween. They have ten bazillion white lights and a large creche along with Santa Claus and Rudolph and every other piece of crap, including a huge sign saying, "Happy Birthday, Jesus!" Lights dim for miles around each evening at dusk.

I've been trying to get the loved ones to spend Christmas in Bermuda. No one's going for it. My compromise is to stay home this year, instead of packing up and heading into the city to spend the day with the in-laws. I've been a Grandma for six years and it's time I stay put and people come to see me. Oh, and at our house, no decorations until December 15 and we put up the tree on Christmas Eve. It all comes down on New Year's Day.

[jennifer-dunne.livejournal.com]

My local supermarket put up their Christmas (and Hannukah) goods for sale in mid October, displacing all of the Halloween goods into the "final sale" section for two weeks before Halloween.

One week before Halloween, they erected a large sign that explained why they'd felt compelled to start offering holiday goods now, with the implied message of "so you can stop complaining, already!"

At least they didn't start playing Christmas music, though.

[shadowfay.livejournal.com]

I agree 100%

It's not really a religeous holiday

[johnwrt1.livejournal.com]

No it isn't. In the early days of America, Christians were not allowed to celebrate it. It is really an adaptation of a Pagan holiday that "secular Christians" have adapted. It is no mistake that it is just after the shortest day of the year. There are still Christian groups who don't celebrate it. No one has any idea what date Christ was born. Oh but the economy relies on it! It's not just the Christians putting up those decorations either.