too early, mate

@poppylicious Oh let me join in your disparagement of premature festivity. One thing intrigued me though and that’s the lady with Christmas lights in her bush! Now that’s a trick worth seeing. Why I assumed it is a lady I’m not sure. Where do they get plugged in???

From your words, you sound British. I think you will find many who believe as you do. Christmas does not begin at the end of October. I mentioned to Ana a short time back about our local department store (WalMart) had their Halloween candy priced on clearance and Christmas trees being erected on Halloween this year. That's just crazy. And yes Christmas music is playing in the shopping centers now. It is way too early. The retailers have just gotten impatient for the shopping season to begin, so they are trying to push it earlier. And of course, there are many who love the idea. And many of us older folks who hate it because the holiday has nearly completely lost all its original meaning.

I have to confess that I do enjoy the lights and decorations which many towns now put up for Christmas and I do rather like some (but not all) of the splurge on lighting with which quite a few individuals deck their houses and front gardens. Many are garishly kitsch but, because it is, amongst other things, the season leading up to a feast of Misrule, when servants were enthroned and their masters used to wait on them for a day, perhaps such blatant bad taste is in order and acceptable just for once. In my childhood (which was during and just after the War), we had no such blaze of exuberant electricity. I believe that shops would begin to decorate their windows with Christmas trees and fake snow sometime around the middle of December and us children would begin to anticipate the holidays and Christmas but it didn't become a reality for us until Christmas Eve, when my father and mother brought in sprays of the yew and holly and long strings of ivy (all harvested from our quite large garden) Then it was all hands to the pump! The box of streamers, paper chains and magically unfolding bells and balls came out from under that stairs. The evergreens were pinned and tied to the picture rails by grownups with step-ladders while the smaller people handed them what was needed and busily glued new paper chains to replace the old. We never bought a Christmas tree (to my recollection). Ours was always a large branch of yew (we had two or three very fine and free-growing yew trees in the garden which could spare a bough once a year). This was set up in a corner of the living room and decorated with all the tree ornaments lovingly remembered from last year. I can almost recount them now, 70 years on! Once all the decorations were done, it was time for tea and mince pies and carols round the tree, which, by then, had been lit up with carefully positioned candles in special candle holders with clips to hold them to the branches. Underneath the tree there was a large and expectant space - no exciting and mysterious gaily wrapped parcels were to be seen until we came down in the bright light of Christmas morning. There were six sliver stars hanging on the tree and, when it was time for bed, we each took one to hang on a nail over our beds to watch over us as we slept.

I love Christmas too, but I dislike A LOT to see decorations, to hear music and to see people excited too much "before time". The magic of a celebration stays in the fact that it is confined in one day only. Where is the excitement if you start one month in advance? You are tired when the day come.

Christmas's turned so commercialized that i barely decorate 'n used to love to do so. yer correct, the month 'f celebration ought not start 'til 'fter november's been packed off to slumber. here'n the u.s., they'd halloween, thanksgivin' 'n Christmas schtuff out startin' way back'n september 't some places! ludicrous. bad manners. poor taste.

Last year I put my tree up so early like November also but now not yet.

I use to like it when christmas starts in september here. But when I'm starting to get broke I started not liking the preparations to christmas. We haven't prepared our Xmas tree yet.

But if life allows us to be happy then why not. It id good to be in a festive mood

Different to you, I like seeing Christmas decorations going up & stay up (partly because the street lightings in my area are real bad, walking in the moonless nights is always terrible).

In the school where I teach, there will be Christmas lighting too. This Thursday, if I’m not mistaken. I guess, it depends on the tradition. Here, when “ber” months start, people start decorating.

I put up our Christmas tree early this month so that I have ample time to fix it when Christmas time comes. Who wants to take away something which you just put up, at least I could see it adorning our living room for a longer time.