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    F*** off with Christmas already!

    Trying to buy a birthday card on Saturday in WH Smith in Harrow, and the virtually the whole card area is filled with Christmas cards. It's October, for fucks sake. Don't people have birthdays in November and December?

    #2
    Fuck off with Christmas already!

    I do, as does virtually my entire family. Meanwhile, here in south-west London, Christmas has been in evidence since September. Beyond stupid.

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      #3
      Fuck off with Christmas already!

      I've just been to the post office where they were selling a box of Christmas decorations on the counter next to the poppies. This seemed particularly weird given that it's warm enough today to wear a t-shirt outside.

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        #4
        Fuck off with Christmas already!

        Display Christmas trees in M and S Truro last week - pathetic.

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          #5
          Fuck off with Christmas already!

          longeared wrote: I've just been to the post office where they were selling a box of Christmas decorations on the counter next to the poppies. This seemed particularly weird given that it's warm enough today to wear a t-shirt outside.
          I got ticked off with this on Saturday - poppy muggers on guard outside shops selling Christmas shite, and we hadn't even had fucking halloween yet.

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            #6
            Fuck off with Christmas already!

            Tiffany and Saks Fifth Avenue have each had their holiday lights up since at least last week (though it doesn't look as if Saks has turned them on).

            Pure madness.

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              #7
              Fuck off with Christmas already!

              Historically, this has been one of the areas where the US's bizarre obsession with obsessively decorating for Halloween has been beneficial - if Halloween decorations are up, then there's no way that Christmas ones can go up. It makes me hate October 31st much less than I otherwise would.

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                #8
                Fuck off with Christmas already!

                Careful, or you will anger the Great Turnip.

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                  #9
                  Fuck off with Christmas already!

                  The Halloween Industrial Complex has gone into overdrive in this country in the last 10 to 15 years.

                  It's rather distressing how easy it is to convince the well off that they need even more stuff for their houses.

                  This is one of the buildings on our block, and by no means the most done up

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                    #10
                    Fuck off with Christmas already!

                    ursus arctos wrote: The Halloween Industrial Complex has gone into overdrive in this country in the last 10 to 15 years.

                    It's rather distressing how easy it is to convince the well off that they need even more stuff for their houses.

                    This is one of the buildings on our block, and by no means the most done up

                    It's not just the well off either.

                    Some people have always decorated their house a lot for either Holiday, but now it's easier to go big because of all the cheap shit available at Lowes, made by exploited labor in China.

                    Those big blow-up thingies - for Christmas or Halloween - that one can get at Lowes didn't exist when I was a kid. The technology did, I'm sure, but not the supply chain. Before those became common, if you wanted a bunch of crap in your yard for the holidays, you also had to have a barn to store it in. Those blow up things are easier to store.

                    Also, lights for Christmas are way more efficient, lighter, cheaper, and safer than ever before. I've often thought it might be fun to go for the full Clark Griswold. The lights would cost few hundred bucks, and who has the time/energy? It would be a lot of work setting all that up.

                    There's a street near me that does a "12 days of Christmas" thing where each house has a bunch of wooden figures in their yard representing one of the things in the song. I know some people who just bought one of those houses and they were "strongly encouraged" to keep up with it. I think they're actually the Partridge in a Pear Tree, so not so much stuff to deal with.

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                      #11
                      Fuck off with Christmas already!

                      San Bernardhinault:

                      Historically, this has been one of the areas where the US's bizarre obsession with obsessively decorating for Halloween has been beneficial - if Halloween decorations are up, then there's no way that Christmas ones can go up. It makes me hate October 31st much less than I otherwise would.

                      Costco has had Christmas decorations out for a few weeks now. They started putting up Halloween decorations for sale in August.

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                        #12
                        Fuck off with Christmas already!

                        [To HP's post...]
                        Real estate agents should be legally obligated to divulge that sort of nonsense; same as if it was a grow-op or someone was murdered there.

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                          #13
                          Fuck off with Christmas already!

                          Gangster Octopus wrote: Don't people have birthdays in November and December?
                          That Jesus fella?

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                            #14
                            Fuck off with Christmas already!

                            Ryuichi Sakamoto on Radio 6 on Saturday and my wife commented it was too early for Christmas music

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                              #15
                              Fuck off with Christmas already!

                              Hot Pepsi wrote: There's a street near me that does a "12 days of Christmas" thing where each house has a bunch of wooden figures in their yard representing one of the things in the song. I know some people who just bought one of those houses and they were "strongly encouraged" to keep up with it. I think they're actually the Partridge in a Pear Tree, so not so much stuff to deal with.
                              Even so, there's something very, very disturbing about that 'strongly encouraged': I mean, if I didn't feel any particular pressure about upholding a rather strangely obsessive neighbourhood tradition such as that, I might actually just go along with it purely through my own good will. (Actually, there's a potentially pretty cool plot in this that I might just have to co-opt...)

                              But WOM's right - that kind of thing should be exposed up front.

                              Comment


                                #16
                                Fuck off with Christmas already!

                                I noticed Christmas-related stuff on sale in a number of shops here in Finland from Monday the 24th October, so there must be some sort of circular going around that tat can start appearing in shops two months prior to the event.

                                Not really seen any decorations up yet. I think Lapland will be gearing up for their Santa tourism season shortly, although I don't think there are any direct flights there from the UK until December.

                                The Santa Claus village near Rovaniemi is open every day of the year (except for a few days including the 24th and 25th of December).

                                Comment


                                  #17
                                  Fuck off with Christmas already!

                                  Jah Womble wrote:
                                  Originally posted by Hot Pepsi
                                  There's a street near me that does a "12 days of Christmas" thing where each house has a bunch of wooden figures in their yard representing one of the things in the song. I know some people who just bought one of those houses and they were "strongly encouraged" to keep up with it. I think they're actually the Partridge in a Pear Tree, so not so much stuff to deal with.
                                  Even so, there's something very, very disturbing about that 'strongly encouraged': I mean, if I didn't feel any particular pressure about upholding a rather strangely obsessive neighbourhood tradition such as that, I might actually just go along with it purely through my own good will. (Actually, there's a potentially pretty cool plot in this that I might just have to co-opt...)

                                  But WOM's right - that kind of thing should be exposed up front.
                                  Why the fuck would anyone want to live in a street full of zealots like that? If I was in their position a huge Satanic pentagram would be carved into my front lawn very quickly.

                                  Comment


                                    #18
                                    Fuck off with Christmas already!

                                    In the interests of balance, I'll give the retail sector's perspective.

                                    People buy Christmas stuff in October and November. If they didn't buy it, we wouldn't put it on sale.
                                    Bear in mind that those on low incomes who traditionally like to make a big thing of Christmas (you know... morons) may not be able to afford all of the expense with their December income, and so like to spread the cost across a few paydays.
                                    People are asking for Christmas things well before it gets put out, ditto Halloween.
                                    And the people who are complaining about it being too early are the same people who breathlessly come in on December 24 and are incredulous that we could possibly have sold out of everything.

                                    For sure there's an element of retailers making the most of the "golden quarter" and putting the stuff out too early, convincing the customers that the season is upon us, but they don't take too much convincing. A lot of people WANT it to be Christmas.

                                    Anyway, I'm in fresh food, so it doesn't actually begin for me until around Dec 20. I have a five day sprint finish compare to everyone else's two month slog.

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                                      #19
                                      Fuck off with Christmas already!

                                      I was actually under the impression that Christmas, and poppyism as well for that matter, had come later than 'normal' this year. Perhaps with age I'm getting more out of touch with this sort of thing, but I was in an Oxfam shop a couple of weeks back and happy to buy a few cards so that I can send them out when I feel like it and not have to worry about having to go out and get some, and they didn't have any. Probably belongs in Mundane II this really.

                                      Comment


                                        #20
                                        Fuck off with Christmas already!

                                        jwdd27 wrote: In the interests of balance, I'll give the retail sector's perspective.

                                        People buy Christmas stuff in October and November. If they didn't buy it, we wouldn't put it on sale.
                                        Bear in mind that those on low incomes who traditionally like to make a big thing of Christmas (you know... morons) may not be able to afford all of the expense with their December income, and so like to spread the cost across a few paydays.
                                        People are asking for Christmas things well before it gets put out, ditto Halloween.
                                        And the people who are complaining about it being too early are the same people who breathlessly come in on December 24 and are incredulous that we could possibly have sold out of everything.
                                        Oh, I get the need to cater for those who wish to steal a march on the rest of us, but for me it's more the way that an increasing number of shops seem to ditch almost everything else in order to cram in as much unnecessary Christmas tat as is humanly possible. And then add insult to said injury by serenading us with Slade, Jona Lewie and Chris bloody de Burgh on loop from late October.

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                                          #21
                                          Fuck off with Christmas already!

                                          I bought a new christmas tree a couple of months ago.
                                          They're much cheaper off season (like 60% cheaper) which was good as it's quite a nice Balsam Hill job.
                                          Straight in the loft, obviously. It'll come out on December 20th-ish.

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                                            #22
                                            Fuck off with Christmas already!

                                            Capybara wrote: I was actually under the impression that Christmas, and poppyism as well for that matter, had come later than 'normal' this year.
                                            Likewise on both counts. Up to and including this thread, which I could swear usually makes it's annual appearance in mid-September. That it took until the turn of October/November before anyone felt motivated to start it is a strong sign of improvement.
                                            It's still early, but only a bit early rather than massively so.

                                            Besides, if there wasn't something like this to complain about, then our inner curmudgeons would just have to find something else to moan about.

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                                              #23
                                              Fuck off with Christmas already!

                                              I went in the pub two weekends ago and all the staff were wearing festive jumpers and/or antlers. When I gently pointed out that they looked ridiculous (I would have said 'like twats', but the mother-in-law was with us), they said it was an instruction from head office to try and drum up interest in the xmas menu.

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                                                #24
                                                Fuck off with Christmas already!

                                                WOM wrote: [To HP's post...]
                                                Real estate agents should be legally obligated to divulge that sort of nonsense; same as if it was a grow-op or someone was murdered there.
                                                Agreed. Although I'd rather not know if somebody was murdered in my house. I don't see what could possibly be gained by knowing that. The grow-op could have done a lot of damage - I saw that one episode of Holmes on Homes - so revealing it is like revealing that it had been treated for termites.

                                                I suspect they did reveal it in this case. It would be hard to not explain why the previous owners had left/were planning to leave these big wooden things in the garage. In fact, some of the participants might not even have to store them. Maybe one neighbor stores all of them and then it's just a question of allowing them to stick it in your yard.

                                                Not only do we have Halloween, but having Thanksgiving in late November creates an ideal near-official starting point for the Christmas season. I noticed when I was in the UK last Noevember

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                                                  #25
                                                  Fuck off with Christmas already!

                                                  Is "grow-op" an Americanism, or am I just remarkably naive in that I had to Google it?

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