AIBU to think this is ridiculous?

My friend puts up her Christmas decorations on Dec 1st. They really give me the WILLIES! I don't really know why because I love having all the family together the rest of the year but the thought of Christmas with all that food, that I really don't like, all that STUFF in the shops and mournful carols playing incessantly in the background really make me feel glum! Once it's here it's great but then I'm really glad to get the decorations down and be able to look forward to Spring!

I wish my freezer was big enough to make mince pies in advance! I usually make the first 2 dozen batch on 1st December - with the first carols playing and preferably some mulled wine on the go.

Interesting thread. I started baking mince pies last Sunday, 5 dozen, but need to do another 10 to freeze before Christmas. They won't get eaten much before then but I don't want the hassle too near the holiday and need to distribute to all who ask for them, more each year. Friends, boss, dil's etc. As to the above comments, yes, in medieval times especially Xmas was a 12 day affair. All the left over meat including the horrible bit like ears (called the humbles), were baked in pies and given to the poor on the 12th day. That became a well used saying 'eating humble pie'.

That’d be it, oldbatty. As well as all coming together for warmth and light in the dark Winter. It seems the wealthy were expected to provide hospitality for the poor during the 12 days, so it would really have been something to look forward to.

How interesting. I guess the thing in the Wolf Hall era was it was a big contrast to everyday life. Thats why I cant stand it.......all year long we are stuffing our faces so Christmas is just more of the same.

oldbatty, in Scotland, in the 1940s, my dad also went off to work on Christmas morning, but they all came back home in the early afternoon. He had the day off on Hogmanay when he stocked up with bottles and New Year's day for recovery time! I don't remember when Scots began to make a big thing of Christmas, though I suspect commercial influences were at work.

A bit further back than that, oldbatty. I’m just re-reading Wolf Hall.

Yes, things were much more austere in the recent past. Though my dad did at least get the one day off - Christmas Day. He was a miner and the pit ponies were brought up just for the one day too.

Maggie, I'm not to sure which times gone by you mean. I think the protracted celebration is a relatively new thing. My mother tells me her father worked on Christmas Day ( ship yards)

Personally I've had enough already.

A proper Christmas in times gone by for those who could meant 12 full days of feasting and lavish celebrations, until at least 6 January. The norm now for a lot of people seems to be to have a long period of preparation, then to clear all traces away as soon as Christmas Day is done. There are always a lot of “back to normal” FB posts on Boxing Day.

Yes, I did know that Halloween is not an American import, and the trad. lanterns were turnips or swedes. (A lot harder to carve, though!).
It's just that it's so much more commercialised now, with all the tat in the shops. We did 'do' Halloween when I was small, but it was much more low key. Bonfire Night was the big one. I dare say Halloween was always a bigger thing in Scotland.

I dont think you are being unreasonable Shelagh, it’s way too soon. Imo.
Early Dec is about right.

Witzend, trick or treat is actually of Scottish roots along with the tumshee lantern. A tumshee being a turnip or suede. This has changed to a pumpkin in the US.

Halloween, or Samhain is a big thing in our household. We celebrate our ancestors and it is in effect our new year being the start of the pagan year so I have been frantically hunting for decorations. Yule tree goes up a week before and is down and out the door by January 1st. Christmas stuff is out way too early, there's even Christmas films on already!

Christmas appears to be getting earlier and earlier!!!
There's so much pressure to get things right
Roll on 1 January

jura, I used to adore Heidi when it was on TV some 50 years ago. Infact I was heartbroken when it ended.

A friend of mine tried to do voluntary work over Christmas and often finds places have far too many volunteers and all the spaces are taken up months in advance.
There are many people who would rather be busy and away from the madness.

Hello the furiner from Heidi mountains here - our tree goes up 2 days before Christmas - a real tree, with real candles
It is lit after dinner on Christmas eve, then after dinner on Christmas day when we do presents.

And then, it gets stucks outside in the snow and we light it again on New Years Eve - then it goes to the Mairie where it gets turned into woodchips for the school central heating

Our girls in the UK always said no-one else had a 'real' Christmas around us ;)

I too, hate the commercialism of it all, and like you, used to love Christmas as a child, it was such a special time wasn't it - I'm talking about the 50s/60s here. I haven't had a tree for years now, but have used natural material for decoration, though I can't resist twinkly lights! We haven't exchanged gifts for years either, which many of my friends think a bit mean, but we ate at the age where we don't actually need anything, and if we did, then we would buy it. It's enough that we have each other, and have been able to live comfortably this last decade or so, with no money owed to anyone, no mortgage. Not rolling in it, or what some would consider 'well off', but enough to get by without worrying. Which is enough. I also hate that Christmas, Easter too, seem to start months ahead of their due dates. That you can get strawberries and such like, out of season. The biggest joy was waiting for those first Jersey Royals, the first brussel sprouts, the first soft fruits. Now it seems that all the seasons have been rolled into one when it comes to food production.
Making room on the soapbox....

No. And why should I?

Well said NudeJude . Part of me agrees wholeheartedly but the other part, the sentimental side, loves the smell and sounds and memories of Christmastime and the traditions which have built up over a lifetime.
Sharing the cooking. Baking the cake which people claim to dislike but which nevertheless gets eaten, carols on the radio, the promise of snow and a big family get together.
I decorate the real tree on Chritsmas eve.
I often buy last minute when prices are reduced.
Several friends of mine help with Crisis at Christmas and the weekly community meal in our town was held on Christmas Day last year.

Just call me 'Scrooge'! When I was younger I used to adore Christmas, all the preparation, the tree going up about a week before the big day, otherwise it would be dead or dropping badly by the 25th. Making the Christmas cake and pud were something to be enjoyed. The giving and receiving of gifts that you had hoped to get for months, and were so much appreciated.

Now however, for me it has been spoiled by all of the commercialism, and the fact that it seems so many of us are in the very lucky position of having too much stuff! This to the degree that gift buying has now become a nightmare, trying to think of something that the person hasn't already got, and even the children have everything they need and a whole lot more that they don't. I've now got to the point where I send the grandkids a cheque, although they'll be obsolete before much longer, so I suppose it'll be a bank transfer soon, lol. The real reason for the season has been totally forgotten with so many schools no longer doing the traditional 'nativity', for fear of upsetting children from other religions. The world has gone MAD, and I for one am not going with it. Last year I didn't even bother with a tree, which used to be such a source of delight in the winter darkness, but now just seems a complete waste of time and effort. To me instead of being a season of joy, it has become a time of depression at all of the waste in our society, while at the other end of the spectrum, people are sleeping on the streets, and would love a hot meal, and the home comforts which so many of us take for granted.

Sorry, I'll get off my soapbox now, lol, so in answer to the OP's question, you're not being ridiculous at all.

Lancslass1 - yes, mincemeat is great in baked apples!

Not in this house, Hilly!
Our decorations never go up until mid December, and they never come down until the 6th January.
I hate taking them down - January is miserable enough anyway, and personally I love seeing other people's Christmas trees in their windows earlier. (Though I do think before 1st December is way OTT.)

Whatever happened to the twelve days of Christmas? Now that the decorations go up so early people are so fed up with it all that they can't wait to take it all down on Boxing Day!

I must make a note to get some mince pies soon. Last year Tesco didn't have any in December - they had Easter Eggs instead.

I started following Martin Lewis's advice last year, and agreed with all my friends to stop buying tit for tat gifts (often with the emphasis on tat!) We all donate to charity instead, and life is so much more relaxed as a result. It just took someone to have the guts to suggest it, then everyone thought that it was a great idea.
As for food shopping, I know that stocking up with goodies too early will result in me backsliding on my healthy-eating, and putting the weight back on. I can resist everything but temptation! I have already been to too many McMillan coffee mornings, with delicious cakes on offer. The mince pies will have to stay on the shelves until Christmas week.