To not get why Christmas now starts on the first of November

Thanks for answering @Kirbert2 - I have 2 of my dc with December birthdays - poor planning on our part!

Personally, I don’t really celebrate Halloween and whilst the admin of Christmas starts in September/October I don’t do decorations until the first weekend in December and Christmas songs or snacks until 1st December. I have plenty of downtime and I’m not chasing the dopamine.

I also don’t celebrate Christmas until Epiphany because I like my tree to be put away before the New Year starts. It’s nothing to do with how early decorations go up because in years when we’ve done it later, I feel the same. It’s about going into the New Year with everything in order (for me) and feeling positive about the year ahead. Stretching Christmas to Epiphany for me doesn’t make me feel celebratory, it makes me feel behind. I don’t need Epiphany to feel celebratory for spring because I can recognise that by the amount of light as I’m going to and coming home from work. By mid-February I will be noticing it is not as dark as I leave for work and I will know spring is on the way. That won’t work for everyone though and some people will celebrate Valentine’s Day as a break between Christmas and Easter.

I understand why people embrace Christmas from the 1st November, even if I don’t it personally. People are allowed to do what works for them because we’re all different. Some people need downtime to get the most out of a holiday and some people don’t. Some people might find it overwhelming to go from a lot of downtime in November to full on tinsel in December. If someone is chasing the dopamine it’s probably because life is pretty bleak for a lot of people and so I don’t really blame anyone that wants to stretch that out.

I quite like it.

We have too many children and always host several family on the day too, so I join the bargain threads in January and pick up little bits all year round, for super prices. By July I'm quite the way through and by Nov 1st it feels like I've been in Christmas prep for ages and it's nice to see the odd bits start in the aisles.

I don't want the atmosphere/ambience necessarily, Christmas songs too early get irritating. But I do quite like the appearance of Christmas bath bombs, candles and treats roundabout now...I can pick up some bits and pieces for the table display in advance. Prep is key for me.

December is one child in this Nativity, another in that play, one at their club's Christmas party, at least two school birthday parties, church services, everyone broken up and needing childcare from about Dec 14th. No time for anything. It's actually rather nice to be able to walk around the garden centre and choose some new decs at my leisure in November instead of trying to cram it in to December somehow.

I can wrap earlier, get ahead, and actually have some semblance of enjoying December where we're spread very thin across all of the social stuff, if I have the ability to start before.

Buruan gasi cobaiin JO777

I think that you are right but it's a bit of a mistake in terms of the psychology to go right from Halloween into Christmas.

People need a bit of downtime between holidays in order to get the most out of that dopamine hit. Those few weeks between Halloween and Easter are a time of increasing darkness, but I think there is a way to embrace that for what it is and then the anticipation of the next holiday deepens.

And if the holidays are totally over over January 1st, that leaves a good few months until Easter in what can be, in some regions, quite the most unpleasant port of the year. If Christmas stretches to Epiphany or even to the end of the Epiphany season, on the other hand, it gives you a celebratory mood though until Spring is really on the horizon.

My Christmas tree went up today. It does every year because it makes me happy. I love Christmas, it fills me with happiness. My husband and kids love it so why not?

I’ve got friends putting up Christmas trees, ffs. Covid changed the rules

Agreed - it is now time for remembrance day. Then Christmas

Um, retail staff who have to put up with 8 hours of xmas music each day for months.

A little cafe I used to go to had xmas music on early. One day, one of the staff lost his shit over it and turned it off. Said he could take no more.

Because shops want to sell us more useless crap we don't need.

This si why the shit of the season. It used to be Advent, where you were abstentious, then your tree etc went up Christmas eve, and then a week or a few weeks of fun and good food and visiting family - but not much consumerism. Since most of the holiday was after Christmas there wasn't masses of time for buying gifts and decorations.

Now that we have almost two full months of buying frenzy there is lots of time for us to get sucked in to more and more gifts, events, and decorations.

By the time we get to Christmas everyone is done with it all so there is no actual Christmas season.

Why does it bother you? Honestly? Maybe it makes people happier. Maybe it lifts spirits as it’s so dark gloomy and rainy. Who is it really hurting? How is this harming you?

Planning for Xmas in my family starts around mid October.

We, by agreement, do lists that the other two will pick from, there are three in my immediate family.

So my nagging for their lists starts mid October. I usually wear them down by early November.

given my time line, it really doesn't feel unreasonable for shops to start advertising in November. Which is where we are now.

so my nagging time and the advertising time doesn't seem out of sync to me. (Shrugs and moves on).

I bloody love Christmas. I spend a lot of time at home due to illness, so having my tree and decorations up brings me so much happiness. That said, the tree will go up on 23rd November, so not quite yet. I also prefer this time of year because, due to said illness, I am heat intolerant so it’s like my body breathes a massive sigh of relief.

I/we never spend more than we need. We have a (good) budget that we stick to but I pick things up that are on our list from around now onwards.

And I’ve just started listening to Christmas tunes while I’m pottering.

A week before Christmas and 11th day down here. shopping done in a panic mid Dec

Meanwhile we have fireworks going off every night, it began on Dwali and will go on without respite until just after new year. Some lads were chucking them about in the street gone midnight last night, horrible for pets and wildlife and very small children, these were so noisy, like guns going off.

Quite a few shops near me have been doing this since mid-September, and have for a few years.

Some earlier, I remember a few years back having my kids complain when we were out getting some last minute back to school supplies and hearing Christmas music in one of the shops.

I agree with the Woolworths back to school displays. We used to have our holidays in the UK and invariably there was a trip to Woolies to spend some of our pocket money - but the back to school displays took a little bit of the shine off!

Same here, they are all on timers and set to ping on at 6pm for 8 hours, I have them on the bookshelves and in little glass bowls dotted around the house including the bathroom and my bedroom.

More in reference to what others have said really.

It's always been like this though. Perhaps social media has highlighted / hastened the people who decorate their own houses in November - but there are no rules against it.
Although it pains me to do the maths behind this, 30 years ago I had a Saturday job in BHS. Their Christmas shop opened around October half term each year and the Christmas songs started playing not long after. You are not forced to buy anything.

This was my reaction as well. I don't get presents with Christmas themes generally, just normal stuff. The paraphernalia like napkins etc are usually reduced days before Christmas, that's when I get them if not saved from year before.

Christmas stuff is in the aisles along with Halloween so it starts even earlier than that in the consumer world. So sad and completely takes away the old magical feel. I choose not to mentally take part until December.

It is mainly Christmas themed stuff but I also have an incredibly tight budget so I can't afford to save year around for Christmas or randomly buy something for Christmas in say, August, if I haven't carefully budgeted for it. I can just about afford to get some things together in time for Christmas and the themed stuff going out early means I have slightly longer to budget for it and helps a lot.

My sons birthday is also December 13th which is another expense leading up to the day as well.

Can I ask a genuine question?
What are you buying that can’t be bought any other time of the year?

Just thinking about the people I buy for and what I get then and none of it is Christmas themed. And in terms of food, I can’t think of anything we buy that can only be bought at Christmas.
You’re definitely not the first person I’ve seen that says that they can afford Christmas by spreading the cost but unless all you’re buying is party food and Christmas pyjamas could you not just get what you are buying whenever you are able to rather than waiting until the shops start blasting Wham and decorate the aisles with tinsel?

🤣

I’ve known them to appear before the Valentines Day stuff - crazy!