Seems you can't escape xmas overkill even on my favourite Audiophile website:(
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Seems you can't escape xmas overkill even on my favourite Audiophile website:(
We always 'put up the decorations' on 1st December, Mike. Don't worry, it'll be Easter soon enough! ;)
Marco.
It is a bit early but I suppose now we are into December it is acceptable.
I was just suggesting to a colleague the other day that people who put their decorations on show prior to 1st December should be dragged from their houses and beaten to death in the street.
'That's remarkable,' says she, 'my husband said exactly the same thing just last night.'
We're the same, me and him.
Sons tree went up on wed. He loves xmas and gets excited as he likes to give. Good on him I say
That's a *really* good point! And yes indeed, good on him. You've clearly brought him up well.
We're the same, which is why we love having friends and family over for nice meals, and spoiling them. We put a lot of effort into that. Also, I love buying (thoughtful and carefully considered) presents for people - stuff that I know they'll like and want, not just any old crap for the sake of it, and watching the surprise (and joy) on their faces when they unwrap them :)
That's especially the case for Del, who gets quite excited about Christmas, and she'll drop little hints for me throughout the year, as to what she would like as presents - and so it's up to me to have been paying attention! ;)
As for trees, ours goes up on Del's birthday (13th December), and decorating it all with our collection of vintage baubles (from the 1950s to 1970s), bought from various charity shops, and some of the beautiful hand-made glass ones we've brought back from the likes of Luxembourg and Austria), is something that we both enjoy and look forward to.
Marco.
I think Xmas should be limited to one week around the 25th Dec, it might be more meaningful then.
Agreed! As a child, the Christmas tree was brought into the house from the garden a week before Christmas Day, transplanted into a new tub and I was allowed to decorate it (with vintage large-bulb lights and glass baubles as mentioned by Marco). The room decorations also went up at the same time. And it all came down on Twelfth Night.
Or "I think Xmas should be limited to one week around the 25th Dec every 10 years, it might be more meaningful then."
But you guys crack on, if you enjoy it, have fun and enjoy it - each to their own. Luckily I can choose how I go through December and it's not too different to November or January, which suits me fine.
:cool:
I don't disagree, Mike. But it is what it is.
And for those who enjoy the important aspects of Christmas (family togetherness, religious celebration and/or relaxation from work/merry-making), but not the odious and ever-growing commercial side, we're grateful for it and like to get the most from the festive period.
Not least because those of us who've also forked out £60-70 for a quality real Christmas tree, and painstakingly spent time decorating it, would like to get some use out of it before it gets taken down again, and most likely burned or put in the bin! ;)
And most artificial trees are simply dire...
Marco.
Yup, that's undoubtedly how it *should* be done.
However, like I said, especially as few people now grow their own Christmas trees (we've tried, but they've failed to establish themselves properly), if you've gone to a garden centre and shelled out a not insignificant sum of money, on a real tree, then it's nice to get some proper use out of it, which wouldn't really be the case with what you propose.
It would be down not long after it had been put up. Of course, that wouldn't matter so much if the tree had come from your own garden, and cost hee-haw....
That's why we put up our decorations and tree on Del's birthday (13th December), as it's something nice to do then, which we both really enjoy, and between then and the Epiphany, allows a decent amount of time for us to enjoy our tree and the rest of the decorations :)
However, the idiots who start putting up theirs in mid November (or earlier), particularly the vulgar and unsightly OTT outdoor variety, with flashing lights/Santas, and so forth, should be shot!! :doh:
Marco.
My xmas memories consist of dad getting pissed and 'offering us out'. Or an awful dinner at a crappy restaurant. On the third day of xmas ye shall find your family and enforced togetherness intolerable and ye shall start aguing, on the 4th day ye shall bugger off home, a few days early!
Lol - I'm sorry to hear that. For others and I, things were (thankfully), and continue to be, rather different! :)
Marco.
Son's one is up... Someone came and helped him. He is chuffed with it as its a new one and looks good. ive looked one out but not done anything else. will get daughter to decorate it i think as it might kill me
Don't even attempt it, mate. Plus, women are generally more creative/artistic, so she'll probably make a better job of it! ;)
Marco.
Flying out to Sweden for this Christmas, cant wait to experience how another Country does things! :)
I'll be in Nottinghamshire which is basically the same thing.
Oh that'll be fab, Gaz! They do Christmas properly in Sweden, like they also do in the likes of Germany, Austria and Switzerland, as they're properly geared up for it :)
Which part are you visiting, and who are you going with? :cool:
Marco.
Will be spending Christmas with the dog and some tunes... eyebrows
Yes it's the "commercial shite", the over indulgence and the false bon hommie that I detest. (Oh and the 'pavement pizzas'!)
But this year it will be all change: Happy and I will be hosting guests over Christmas and the New Year, so will be putting up a few decorations and push the boat out regarding food and drink.
First Sunday of Advent is tomorrow. Decorations really shouldn't be seen until then.
Though I saw a massive pile of cream eggs in my local corner shop when I went out to post some stuff midweek.
It's my dad's 80th on Christmas Eve so I'll be in home in Scotland for Christmas, midnight mass at Motherwell Cathedral where many moons ago I was a choirboy (as indeed was my dad).
So concentrate on that then mate, and look forward to having some FUN, all together, instead of sounding like a grumpy old curmudgeon, lol! :wheniwasaboy::ner:;)
Said, as you know, with the best of intentions.... :)
You know what I can't bear even more than the commercial shite, and everything else you mentioned?
The depressing levels of 'bahhumbugness' and negativity from folk who clearly haven't got much happiness in their lives, and are intent on trying to bring everyone else down to their sad level, and feel as depressed as they are!! :rolleyes:
My message to them? GET A LIFE, or at least let those who have one just enjoy themselves!
Marco.
Yup, however, there's no reason not to put up the Crimbo banner for the forum.
Nice one, mate. You'll enjoy that. We'll be doing the same thing with my dad, in Wrexham Cathedral. He's 84. Many forthcoming happy returns to your dad. Hope you have a lovely Christmas together and many more of them together! :cool:Quote:
It's my dad's 80th on Christmas Eve so I'll be in home in Scotland for Christmas, midnight mass at Motherwell Cathedral where many moons ago I was a choirboy (as indeed was my dad).
Marco.
I always see the guys in the streets around here hanging flashing lights from trees, bushes, porches, and in some cases, entire houses. In our street it seems to be the men that love Christmas. One man today pretended he'd been electrocuted! How we laughed! Ho ho ho!
Lol... That's because the outside stuff requires more practical skills, in terms of hanging it all properly, and in general is more of a man's thing. Maybe also because some guys think it's a 'macho' thing to do?
What I'm talking about is more indoor decorations, such as colour co-coordinating tinsel and baubles on trees, choosing the right sizes of baubles to put on specific parts of the tree, so that it all looks nicely balanced, and wrapping up presents, to put under the tree, which both look neat and nicely decorated with bows and ribbons, etc.
In my experience, women generally do a better job of that than men :)
The cat could wrap presents better than me! :doh: Del makes them look like a work of art, fit for display in a shop window, so I bow to her superior skills in that area.
Marco.
That is where it gets confusing to me. The Advent is to do with the Jesus bit, but the decorations and the date of the celebration are pre-Christian. The tree came in with the Victorians, in Britain, anyway. But elsewhere that too is from the pre-Christian festival.
So the correct time to put the tree and decos up is really when the pre-Christian lot did it. I'm not sure we know when that was.
Got an advent calendar off of work, Galaxy chocolate, can't fault them there. That starts on December 1st. A chocolate for each day. I recall as a youngster there was only a chocolate in the very last window, we used to draw lots to see who got it. Even that was an innovation back then. I can also recall even further back when advent calendars had no chocolate in them at all!
Tell that to young folk today and they wouldn't believe you.
Nice one. Advent calendars rock. I've got one of these: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Luxurious....c100677.m4598
:cool:
Marco.
It was a present, lol :)
Marco.
Very upmarket. Dont get much chocolate these days either. An occasional hot choc but not for a while. About only treat i get still is coffee
It not that though is it really. I am not unhappy in that sense. I spend the rest of the year giving when I can and enjoying myself when I can. I have a dinner party when I want but I wont let this forced fun of Christmas take over.
Serenity comes from within and I wont be told its a countdown to a day of "fun" when I plaster on a fake smile. Its just not my idea of enjoying myself.
In that way Christmas is an insult to who I am. It is essentially a commercial venture to get people buying goods in the cold winter months when we should be tucked up warmly indoors.
We just see it for what it is. I get cards from people who have never picked up the phone for a chat or said come for a pint. They have never got in touch when I was at a low ebb and maybe unemployed...but a Christmas card comes through the door with seasons greetings :) Its become a duty to save face rather than anything of real meaning.
So we are not unhappier than anyone else but tend to see past the tinsel and baubles. There are another 364 days and I fail to see the excitement of gift giving and a turkey meal on a day of forced fun. Yes there are some nice touches but overall its stuff and nonsense.
The Christmas lovers always get away with calling us miserable scrooges but maybe they should look a bit deeper into what we are actually saying :)
my friend was out carol singing yesterday in senior citizen homes !!!! i said isn`t it a bit early
i love this reverse advent calender idea though
December has arrived and in homes across the country, cardboard doors will be opened in the traditional countdown to Christmas.
But just as some look to luxury, others are choosing to reverse things this advent - with a calendar which gives back.
The idea is simple; instead of opening the door to a chocolate or picture, you do the giving.
People put aside a donation each day of advent, so they have a collection of goods ready to drop off in time for Christmas.
Many choose to dedicate their calendar to food bank charities, like One Can Trust in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire.
The charity said it had been overwhelmed with offers following the success of last year, when more than 200 calendars were donated.
"Individuals, companies, other charities, scouting and guiding groups, even people who live along the same street, are coming together to collect for us,"
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-42069381
:-) I was being a little bit sarcastic there, sorry. Not many of us (the family) left now but it was always the girls who loved getting it all ready. The blokes did all the electrics - and getting the tree carried in and the ladies did the decorating. They made the food, we washed up. Every year. Very traditional.
When I first started living on my own I just left the decos up all year, including my fake tree - no kidding. Women thought it was terrible, men thought it was great! That is a paradox of some kind, surely. lol.
Advent calendars - yep. Always had em. Just a door for each day made of paper though.
Also just thought of something I read which is a little off-topic but I like it. "The sight of fresh-fallen snow is inversely proportional to the beholder"
Hi Martin,
You make some good points, especially about 'friends' whom you rarely hear from, especially during tough times, when they're simply posted as missing, yet feel that making the dispassionate and superficial gesture of sending you a mass-produced Christmas card once a year, somehow makes up for their absence in person, so yes, bollox to that!
However, the post you've quoted of mine was not aimed at someone like you, who is clearly a warm, well-adjusted and caring human being; it was aimed at folk who begrudge the happiness and contentment of others at Christmas (and indeed at other times throughout the year), simply because it throws a spotlight on their inherent unhappiness, which they simply don't wish to face up to or admit!
I firmly believe that is why these types of people hate Christmas, simply because seeing others enjoying themselves with friends and family makes them feel bad because it showcases their sadness or loneliness, if they don't have any left of their own, and/or perhaps that they regret falling out with those they do (did) have, and driving them away. And when you're all alone, with only the demons in your head as company, it can be a very unpleasant and unsettling existence.
Now normally I'd be sympathetic to their plight, as real sadness or loneliness isn't a nice thing, but not when they're determined to spoil the fun and enjoyment of everyone else, due simply to resenting them having a better life or relationship with their partner or family than they have. That's both nasty and selfish, and something I have no time for. Jealousy has never been an attractive trait.
The bitter malcontents of this world, therefore, should learn to wallow silently in their sad existence, without resenting or begrudging others their fun or happiness...
Anyway, unlike your good self (for whatever justified reason) I don't have to "plaster on a fake smile" at Christmas because I *genuinely and wholeheartedly* LOVE it!!
If you're blessed with having really good friends, deserved of the name, and a family and wife who would do anything for you, and would stand by you through thick and thin, then why on earth wouldn't you take great pleasure from spending time in their company at Christmas, or indeed during any other time of the year?
I'm already starting to look forward to my best friend from Scotland coming down to visit for a month, my wife being off for 2 weeks over Christmas and New Year, so I can spoil her in the manner she deserves, and my dad (whom I'm very close to) coming round to share some lovely meals with us, and in the process making some very nice memories, which will stay with me forever.
So forgive me if I can't help but enjoy celebrating the festive period, and having fun with my friends and family, for very genuine reasons, and so my smiling is real! ;)
YMMV.
Marco.
Flying out with the new Mrs Gaz, She’s Swedish herself, lives in a small town near Gothenberg.
Her lot apparently do Christmas “propa” and shes invited me over to spend it with her.
Life can surprise you sometimes and hey...it’ll be something different! :)
Looking forward to it, will be a blast.
Lol - you kept that one quiet, ma man! Nice one :)
Trust me, you'll have a blast spending Christmas in a genuinely Christmassy country. Make sure that you pack some proper thermal clothing though, including gloves and snow boots, as otherwise you'll regret it. Oh, and also take plenty of cash with you, as Sweden ain't cheap!
Anyway, enjoy it when it comes, and take some pics to show us of where you've been :cool:
Marco.
Course I will. :)
Just wont buy a camera over there!
I've been informed that the tree will be a week early this year , usually 15th, not sure why this has happened but I shall not protest .
Brought the tree in from the garden and wrapped the lights around, beautiful:
http://i65.tinypic.com/2heftqd.jpg
Plus there are advantages with hanging speakers, the stars appear:
http://i64.tinypic.com/209psp3.jpg
:)
Put mine up this morning. un decorated tho. Gonna leave that
It's a biggish tree so on floor
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...d2a72624b2.jpg