Just noticed

I love it and can still manage to rise above the commercial aspect. I even have a couple of important gifts already purchased as I'm also an opportunist. Bring it on.......

Doesn't bother me too much as I just ignore it. We stop going to the shops once we get fed up with it until it's all gone. We're making Christmas cake and puddings next week before we go away for a few weeks then won't think about it until December.

The only thing that bothers me is the effect it has on smaller children. Last year I watched a Mum drag her screaming children through the shopping centre because they wanted to visit Santa but apparently they had already been twice and 'she wasn't made of money'. And it was still three weeks before CHristmas.

I admit to buying special treats and things during the months just before Christmas. I then put them in a safe place..........and forget where I put them

AGAA4

I wonder if anyone has their Christmas tree up yet?

Not if the nursery isn't stocking trees yet.

I know I'll probably get some stick for this, but I actually think that the earlier it all starts, the more it actually lessens the whole 'magic' of the xmas season.

I have bought a couple of presents and stashed them away, couldn’t resist the amount I’d saved in impromptu sales.

I love Christmas but even I was shocked to see the beginnings of a Christmas chocolate and biscuits aisle in Morrisons last week

MissInterpreted

I know I'll probably get some stick for this, but I actually think that the earlier it all starts, the more it actually lessens the whole 'magic' of the xmas season.

Totally agree. When I was a child Christmas didn't start till we were into December and it was so exciting to know it was just a few weeks away.

I agree MissInterpreted. I think we become somewhat jaded by the time the big day arrives because everything starts appearing in the shops in September. The magic gets lost in between the mass commercialism, unfortunately.

Having said that, I love Christmas itself, and the few weeks before when choirs singing carols begin, and the church services (starting from Advent) start to prepare for commemorating the birth of Christ, and the markets appear, etc, then I feel a bit more Christmassy. I try not to get sucked in by all the fake razzmatazz of some of the adverts, etc.

I agree too, I seem to remember all things Christmas started in December and it was magical back then. Less consumer driven more about the religious significance as well as winter feast

Christmas is still magical in my family. My family was ridiculously traditional. No Christmas tree until Christmas Eve for many years in my childhood. That wasn't magical in my eyes.

I'd have loved that, Rekarie.

MissInterpreted

I know I'll probably get some stick for this, but I actually think that the earlier it all starts, the more it actually lessens the whole 'magic' of the xmas season.

I agree.

But I know many won't. Which is why companies make such huge profits over Christmas and many people are broke for months after.

MissInterpreted

I'd have loved that, Rekarie.

Yes! A few of my pals have said the same!

My school friends all had their trees up mid December.

We had to wait for Christmas Eve. Drove me mad. We'd get an 18ft tree, a real beauty. In the hall and up to the ceiling of landing. Gorgeous. Hundreds of lights.

Then 24 hours later it was all over and done with.

Christmas is as commercial as you make it and we don't. Almost every decoration we have has been in the family for years. We do not go wild with presents. We limit it to immediate family and ask for wish lists in early November. My main expense is food, quality rather than quantity.

Luckily I live in a big village with just a small branch of the Co-op in it. I go to the nearest town to shop in a medium sized supermarket in the town centre once a week and another country town to go to the greengrocer in the market.

Otherwise I rarely see shops and I also rarely watch tv, so do not see adverts there either.

As I said Christmas is what you make it. I love ours. It is about family and home, not money and ostentatious expenditure.

I think that most of us here take from it what we want, and choose to disengage from all the commercial hype for the “perfect Christmas “.

However, having said that, the pressures many are faced with via tv, radio, internet, social media, family and friends, etc, can mean that for many, Christmas becomes what it shouldn’t - a competition to “provide the best” ( or else what will our relatives/friends think?) and an unnecessary worry.

The over hyping and over commercialisation of Christmas, which is geared towards encouraging us to spend more and more in order to reach this mythical “perfection”, (with everyone sitting happily around an over laden table, having a fantastic time with loved ones, opening lots and lots of expensive gifts), causes so much angst for so many people and often causes family rifts (which is completely contrary to the message of the birth of Jesus, ironically), and encourages so many to go into such debt in order to achieve the impossible, is the very sad side of what should be a very special time.

I'm always happy when stores get things in early because I can then send it surface post to the far lands where my nearest and dearest reside, rather than the very costly airmail

I expect the Christmas threads will start soon, about who goes where, or is/isn't invited, or may be on their own, or spent more on the family...

Oreo

IRGOMT hey! A new acronym for GN users😄

😂😂😂😂😂

Yes!

Nope. Not till after the November birthdays. Husband and middle daughter.

It does my head in! Not a huge fan of Xmas; the pressure to spend too much and ‘have a wonderful time’ is ridiculous. However I’m not actually a Grinch! But seriously, mid-November at the absolute earliest please!!!

What not use the word Christmas, for me Crimbo is awful. It is a mass to celebrate the birth of Christ.

Oreo

Christmas foods were in the supermarkets in August including mince pies.I always think, let’s get Halloween out of the way first.

And I'll bet those mince pies had a "consume by" date sometime in the middle of this month!

My mince pies have eat by 26th September.

I've got some. I've eaten 3. But to be hungry I'm not eating them in anticipation of Christmas, I just adore them.

My grandma would bake home made ones all year to keep me happy.

Oreo

Christmas foods were in the supermarkets in August including mince pies.I always think, let’s get Halloween out of the way first.

In a supermarket I went in recently they had the mince pies next to the hot cross buns...

I was watching tv blankety blank game show on Saturday with my five years old g.grandaughter (well we all have to make sacrifices) when the big prize was revealed and to my horror it was a Christmas Package, including money, turkey, presents and Santa, how do you explain that to a smart child who says ‘but granny why is Santa there it’s not Christmas yet’ I think I came up with a fairy story about a elves and busy times which I hope she believed but I was not impressed to see that on Sept 6 th.