Christmas at Christmas time

[Skelligsfeathers]

I was reading a James Herriot book and he was talking about his first Christmas in Yorkshire and how different it was to Christmas in his native Glasgow.

The line that really struck me was something like " children started singing carols a FULL 2 WEEKS BEFORE Christmas!"
He was incredulous that they started esrly, that twinkling lights started appearing on the hillsides etc and it all sounded wonderful.

I really really want Christmas to be like that now.
There are trees up in houses all over the place and my neighbours have an inflatable santa in their garden and it's not even advent yet.
It takes away all the sense of anticipation and magic and makes it all really stressful!
Plus all the new bits....December's 1st boxes, Christmas eve boxes, santa breakfasts etcetc
It is all too much!

I love seeing the decorations up in my neighbourhood. Always makes me smile.

Well, you have expressed a view.
as I’ve said, it has less than nothing to do with you when anyone puts their decks up.

have a great day and a lovely Christmas!

Me too. I think some people on here need visiting by three spirits!

No, I have not expressed a view. I’ve asked a question about the parameters of somebody else’s view. That’s what the words in my posts say.

If you are so sensitive about when you put up your Christmas tree that you’re going to invent opinions for other posters so that you can snap, “It’s nothing to do with you!” then I’d suggest avoiding threads like this.

I never leave the decorations up to January - Christmas is over then and I want to start the NY with a clean house. The tree goes up the week before Christmas and down on NYE. December is Christmas - parties, presents and too much food and drink!

You’re very cross. Chill out. Enjoy and embrace the lights!

Joyeux Noël to you!

😂Merry Christmas BeverleyMacca1!

Btw, here’s you opinion, you seem to have forgotten it!

And to you! 🎄

The thing to remember is James Herriot grew up in Scotland in the first half of the 20th century. Christmas (and Easter) were not big celebrations in Scotland (Christmas was banned for centuries after the Reformation, unlike in England which continued celebrating many Catholic festivals), so e.g. christmas only became a holiday in 1871 and Boxing Day wasn't a holiday until 1974. The big celebration was Hogmanay and New Year (I grew up in rural Scotland in the second half of the 20th century and the New Year celebrations lasted days). So the English Christmas would have been very alien to James Herriot.

Interestingly when I moved to England in the 90s as a postgraduate student I had a similar response to Easter, I was expecting to work in the labs as normal (maybe have a bit of chocolate on Easter Sunday) then discovered all my friends were going home for Easter (taking advantage of the bank holidays, another weird English tradition).

It's traditionally considered bad luck to leave up beyond Twelfth night, predating medieval advice from EH. You can counter that by leaving your decorations up all year.

Though that only really applies to greenery, holly, ivy and so on, leaving the decorations up. English Heritage might have neglected to mention.

Ah @palygold I'm trying to think less about the concept of luck. It means I don't dwell where I have not had it.

I'd bring home half the park and strew it around the house if I could.

My US relatives put their tree and decorations up as soon as they have finished their Thanksgiving meal and they come down the day after Christmas Day (no Boxing Day so only one day off work).

I'm a teacher too so I agree with @ispyduck that we have been learning Christmas songs since we came back from half term. We think starting them this early will give us lots of time to practice but the dress rehearsal is always chaos. I try to avoid too much beyond that until Advent Sunday, especially at home for my family, but one of my favourite childhood memories was going to church for Christingle the first Sunday of advent with my mum and gran and coming home to my Dad having put the tree up with lights on ready to decorate and the fire lit for the first time so we must have been quite early putting the tree up in the 80s and 90s. And we never did twelfth night so the tree came down on new years day before going back to school. So I do the whole 1st December thing with DS too but the box is filled with the same things every year, books, bed linen etc that just reappear so it isn't a commercialised waste of money.

No, you’re the one lashing out, remember? How very insecure you must be.

No, it’s a question plus a direct reference to the OP. This bit:

There are trees up in houses all over the place and my neighbours have an inflatable santa in their garden and it's not even advent yet. It takes away all the sense of anticipation and magic and makes it all really stressful!

The season of Christmas begins on 25th Dec and continues until Candlemas. I have posted 5 cards to foreign places and given a couple of cards, but if I receive them this early I put them together and wait until about the 10th to open them.
The November leaves have been the usual lovely shades, haven't they? Can't see 'em, mate, for all the effing flashing blue migraine-making lights in the way.

For me there is a difference between Advent and Christmas.
saying that, I am German and we have the Vorweihnachtszeit, the Pre-Christmastime. It’s a period of looking forward to the actual Christmas time and it’s very much about preparation, not celebration.

I feel awful that the 1st Advent is tomorrow and some decorations are out, the wreath is done, some figures are in the mantelpiece, some more come with the Advent calendar.it’s just too early. But on the other hand, the days go dark faster and the lights give me joy.

The tree is all about Christmas, so it will go up on the 22nd and will come down around the 6th January, when finally the Three Wise Men make it to my nativity scene.

I love the lights, the carols, the preparation and find it actually said that on Boxing Day it all seems to be over.

Yes, you're quite right not to bother about that.

It does sound lovely anyway, and I have left greenery up past Twelfth Night before.