Is 'Christmas' over too soon?

[dangie]

On BBC Breakfast this morning they said that this is the weekend when most people take their decorations down. I actually think they are a few days late as most houses around me have already done it.

However, what I found amusing was that they were giving instructions on the best way to take down and pack the decorations away. They were literally gushing over a viewers suggestion that to avoid the tangle of Christmas lights, when you pack them away wrap them around an empty cardboard tube from wrapping paper, then when you unpack them next November they won’t be tangled. “What a good idea” they said.

Well I’ve got news for them. Firstly, wrapping them around a tube is hardly rocket science, and secondly, they will still be tangled….!!

 

[Howardh]

Thorny issue. The build up does always seem to start slowly in September or October. Then it always seems to whiz by in a flash. Whilst I respect the tradition of it still being Xmas until January 6th, I do think that New Years Day is the last day of Christmas in reality and I do think, personally that once we get to about January 4th, any decorations still up here and there do just look a bit sad almost implies a desperation to hang on to something that is over.

Whiz by? I feel the opposite, it seems to go on, and on, and on....

I actually stop going to any shops by about the fifth Dec, save for Lidl, as Lidl has no "musak" so I spare myself the annual torture of having to listen to Xmas music. The 27th is a blessing as New Year festivities take over, but it all still drags until Jan 6th this year when everything feels back to normal and one can safely go to ordinary shops again!

 

[route101]

Back to work for a lot of people tomorrow.

 

[AM9]

Whiz by? I feel the opposite, it seems to go on, and on, and on....

I actually stop going to any shops by about the fifth Dec, save for Lidl, as Lidl has no "musak" so I spare myself the annual torture of having to listen to Xmas music. The 27th is a blessing as New Year festivities take over, but it all still drags until Jan 6th this year when everything feels back to normal and one can safely go to ordinary shops again!

It seems to me that your avoidance of anything that you associate with Christmas drags out the event for you.

 

[Mag_seven]

Back to work for a lot of people tomorrow.

A lot of people have been working throughout.

 

[gswindale]

Back to work for a lot of people tomorrow.

A lot of people who had time off over Christmas went back on Thursday based on my inbox!

 

[edwin_m]

A lot of people who had time off over Christmas went back on Thursday based on my inbox!

I had the opposite - went back on Thursday but couldn't do very much because several things I needed to do depended on people who weren't back yet.

And tomorrow, when nearly everyone is back, I have to take the day off to drive my son to university, postponed due to bad weather over the weekend.

 

[Ghostbus]

I think Christmas has extended back to November 1st for some and therefore starts at any point from there, due to Covid and lack of cross cultural buy in for Halloween or Bonfire Night. Non-religious Christmas seems to be the chosen unifier to ward off any and all winter blues.

No surprise then that people are sick of it by Boxing Day. The shops are only reflecting their weirdness. But I have to ask, what on Earth are they doing with themselves in Twixmas week, if they're lucky enough to not have to work it? And as far as I can tell, there's been no major increase in that to explain this increasing desire to end Christmas early.

The disorientating suspension of ordinary life between December 23rd and January 2nd isn't going to stop being a thing in UK life any time soon, probably not until linear TV ends for good. So if you can't or don't want to work it, why wouldn't you do whatever you can to ensure you've got adequate reserves of Christmas spirit to stay the distance?

For me, that's now making sure the decs don't go up until the last week in December. So my Christmas spirit builds naturally up to that point, and hums along for the two week period quite nicely. I don't begrudge people their November weirdness, but I can't believe they don't see it as weird. Far weirder than trying to deny that December 27th is still Christmas.

On one single Saturday this year I was able to feel the sun on my neck in a T-shirt while eating an ice-cream at noon, hear Christmas musak while shopping in the afternoon, see "scary" glow in the dark skeletons poking out someone's front garden on the walk home, and see/hear fireworks being let off at night. Wasn't even the fifth. Too weird.

 

[route101]

A lot of people who had time off over Christmas went back on Thursday based on my inbox!

Thursday was a Bank holiday here.

 

[Cambus731]

Whiz by? I feel the opposite, it seems to go on, and on, and on....

I actually stop going to any shops by about the fifth Dec, save for Lidl, as Lidl has no "musak" so I spare myself the annual torture of having to listen to Xmas music. The 27th is a blessing as New Year festivities take over, but it all still drags until Jan 6th this year when everything feels back to normal and one can safely go to ordinary shops again!

Well I was referring specifically to Christmas Day and Boxing Day. But in hindsight I probably didn’t make that terribly clear.

 

[Islineclear3_1]

Easter...?? What happened to Valentines Day....!???

 

[Giugiaro]

Christmas decorations have been taken down yesterday at my home.
The local municipality is also starting to disassemble the Christmas decorations placed on the streets.
By the end of the week, we will be fully under the dark, wet, and grim winter period.


That is... until Valentine's Day promotions, sales, decorations, and radio shows start making you feel bad for being 31 and single for about a month

 

[dangie]

By the end of the week, we will be fully under the dark, wet, and grim winter period.

I prefer to see it as Spring is coming….

 

[Cambus731]

A leap year is a leap year if:
The year is a multiple of 4
Unless the year is a multiple of 100
Unless the year is a multiple of 400

So 2001 isn't
2024 is
2100 isn't
2000 is

So under that rule, there would be no Christmas in 2100, so there would be a gap from 2096 to 2104.

Assuming civilisation still exists in 2100.

 

[75A]

St Patricks day - March 17th is the next public holiday here in the north.

 

[dannypye9999]

What gets me is those who take their trees down Boxing Day are the most likely the same ones who put their trees up at the end of October.

 

[AM9]

What gets me is those who take their trees down Boxing Day are the most likely the same ones who put their trees up at the end of October.

How does that affect you then?

 

[dannypye9999]

How does that affect you then?

Christmas is supposed to be celebrated for 12 days so putting trees up so early then taking them down just as Christmas begins just doesn't sit right with the traditional dates and thats the reason people have lost interest in Christmas by Boxing day because they put their tree up so early and just wanted it to feel Christmassy before it actually gets to Christmas.

 

[Harpo]

What happened to Valentines Day....!???

Still available for everyone to have that special romantic meal on the same night but wonder why the place is rammed and the food and service awful.

More turkey….?

 

[dangie]

Still available for everyone to have that special romantic meal on the same night but wonder why the place is rammed and the food and service awful.

More turkey….?

I remember when Valentine’s Day was seen as a time when you could send an anonymous card to someone you fancied. Now its been hijacked into another money making opportunity.

 

[pdq]

Christmas is supposed to be celebrated for 12 days so putting trees up so early then taking them down just as Christmas begins just doesn't sit right with the traditional dates and thats the reason people have lost interest in Christmas by Boxing day because they put their tree up so early and just wanted it to feel Christmassy before it actually gets to Christmas.

This is how I feel. We concentrate so much on the run up to Christmas that we've forgotten to enjoy the actual festival itself. In many ways we've ended up with Christmas Day being the end of the 'season' rather than the beginning, which is so upside down. Because the run-up is so drawn out, I think we're weary of it by the time we get to the day. I appreciate the requirement for supermarkets to move their displays on asap, but why can't the background music remain seasonal until New Year? The BBC get it right - the Christmas idents remain in place throughout.

 

[edwin_m]

why can't the background music remain seasonal until New Year?

Happy to agree with that, as long as they don't start it until they open on Boxing Day.

 

[87electric]

Easter Eggs in Tesco today. Is that a new record, 5 days after 12th day of Xmas?

 

[Sun Chariot]

Easter Eggs in Tesco today. Is that a new record, 5 days after 12th day of Xmas?

Easter Eggs were in my nearest Sainsbury's last week.....

 

[87electric]

Easter Eggs were in my nearest Sainsbury's last week.....

I blame the Victorians for lifting the the ban on puritanical celebrations

 

[gswindale]

Easter Eggs in Tesco today. Is that a new record, 5 days after 12th day of Xmas?

I saw Malteaser bunnies on the Friday before Christmas in WH Smith at Reading station!

 

[DerekC]

I blame the Victorians for lifting the the ban on puritanical celebrations

To be fair, I think that was Charles II. The ancient origins of Christmas interest me. AIUI it’s all about celebrating the first days when you could tell that the days really were going to get longer again and spring would come - there was a fear that the gods would decide to let winter continue. Hence the big feasting tradition. Bringing greenery in is something to do with that. The Christian tradition is imposed over the top of the ancient midwinter festival and having to take the greenery down by 12th night is a Christian diktat to limit the extent of pagan hangover. Starting Christmas in October and finishing on 27th December seems to be all part of isolating ourselves from physical reality in a way. I will go on putting the decorations up as late as I can get away with and taking them down on 5th Jan!! (Mrs C finds me very frustrating!)

 

[317 forever]

Move Christmas Day to February 29th

Or, it was a pity that Christmas Day 2024 could not have been postponed to January 5th 2025. Then many more of us would have had a White Christmas.

One of the worst things immediately after Christmas is this range of holiday ads, recommending we book our summer holidays to banish the post-Christmas blues. It can be hard to focus on exactly where to go, or exactly when, when Christmas is hardly even over yet.

 

[D6130]

Still available for everyone to have that special romantic meal on the same night but wonder why the place is rammed and the food and service awful.

....not to mention the sky-high prices!

 

[dangie]

Easter Eggs in Tesco today. Is that a new record, 5 days after 12th day of Xmas?

My local Home Bargains are selling Christmas decorations already! It’s still 50 weeks until Christmas…..