Shops have been de-Christmassed

[CharityShopChic]

And it's WONDERFUL. They must have had the elves in over the last couple of days because in both the Asda and Waitrose I was in this morning had no decorations, no festive aisles full of tat, no screeching Noddy Holder on the tannoy.

Fabulous. At last back to normal.

The Christmas celebrations continue in our house after December 25th - we’re still seeing friends and rellies, enjoying Christmas food and drink, going for walks and watching films on the telly. Christmas isn’t over for in my mind until January 2nd (or the 3rd if the 2nd is a bank holiday like this year). That’s when I go back to work.

I don’t know anyone in real life who would take decorations down as early as January 1.

"Why would I (and others) mark and celebrate the 12 days when it’s not something we believe in ? Some Mn posters have difficulty accepting that not everyone celebrates Christmas in the same way?"

I agree. It's not something I know anyone celebrates. Most people I know are glad to get stuff back to normal.

It's easy to say that Christmas doesn't start until 25th but when you have work parties and all the school stuff on before that, it's easy to see why it's enough by new year.

I'm pretty sure my work will have taken down the Christmas decorations - we are closed until the new year. But when we get back it's full on so no one will have time to do it otherwise.

Most of my family and friends are back at work today. So no picture perfect walks or film watching for them.

Couldn’t they have booked annual leave if the season was of any importance to them?

I can't speak for everyone, but lots of places ban annual leave at this time of year. Certainly when I worked for ASDA, we weren't allowed to take any leave during the run up to Christmas, and when I moved into clothing retail, you couldn't take holiday during either of the two main sale periods (a month over Christmas, and a month in July).ver

"I’ve worked throughout, including Christmas Day. The festive season continues, whether or not I personally am at work."

Again, for you. But not for others.

Not everyone does things/celebrates/acknowledges the 12 days. And that's ok. And it's also ok that some do. There really isn't a right or wrong way to celebrate the festive season, and for these who are not religious that might fall at slightly different times.

All my decorations are down before I return to work, so I can have a good clean of the house etc as once I'm back to work, I won't have time until February. In the past that has meant the decorations are down on either Boxing Day or 27th. But now, my work closes down over Christmas, so they are up until 1st/2nd January.

One of the biggest talking points at work is how we are all glad things are back to some form of normality. And we are always back before the 12th night.

Because they would rather have AL in the summer or when it suits. Plus it was hard enough for some of them to get any time off at Christmas at all.

January is a great month. Nights are getting lighter. A whole new year ahead. Snowdrops peeking through. Much better than December.

Creating a "naughty list" of retailers who won't/don't conform to one particular poster's idea of a religious Christmas is weird to say the least.

That’s grim. I was thinking perhaps doctors/nurses/paramedics wouldn’t be able to get much time off. Understandable and commendable.
Those retailers you worked for wouldn’t want to be any bodies down should it impact their Yuletide money grab. Very Scrooge!
I’ve worked in retail myself and had enough of them.

Yep, grim is the right word for it.

I'm self-employed in a totally different industry now and always close for two weeks over Christmas

There is clearly a difference of opinion about whether Christmas is over or not.

I'm not religious, at all. To me Christmas is about a midwinter festival of gratitude, time to spend with family and loved ones. To get through the darkest months.
So to me, it continues into the New Year. And its not related to the religious aspects in any way.

Wouldn't you find it odd to go to a new year's party with no Xmas tree up? New years day dinner in a pub, there would be Xmas decorations up wouldn't there?

Anyway, let's all just do things how we like.

Some welcome balance.

We are fortunate. We live in a country where, in modern times at least, no one is about to be persecuted for their spiritual practice or lack of it. There is no right or wrong way to celebrate; we all have the blessing of being able to do as we like.

But religious and spiritual expression isn't the business of the retail sector. Their function is simple: to make a profit, which is a case of responding to supply and demand. From their POV, the demand for Christmas goods has been met therefore supply is no longer necessary. It's time to move onto new stock.

As far as I remember 'January' sales always started on Boxing Day, and for some time now have actually begun before 25 December.

The retail sector, too, can do as they like. It's a very cutthroat business at the best of times but no more so than now, with long-established chains disappearing rapidly from the high street. If these businesses want to remain in operation they have no room for sentimentality.

It's seems as though because those who work in retail have (understandably) grown to loathe Christmas, that everyone else should too, and we should bin it as soon as humanly possible, preferably by the afternoon of Christmas Eve.

January is a great month. Nights are getting lighter. A whole new year ahead. Snowdrops peeking through. Much better than December.

January nights getting lighter?... Barely.... You have to wait until the very end of the month FLT an discernible difference, and even then it's still properly nighttime by 5:30pm.

Creating a "naughty list" of retailers who won't/don't conform to one particular poster's idea of a religious Christmas is weird to say the least.

It's got absolutely nothing to do with religion for most, even those who are religious!

Shops taking decorations down on Christmas Eve has nothing to do with what people are allowed to do at home, surely?

There isn't an anti-Christmas decorations brigade. There are just people who recognise that the function of the retail sector is different entirely from the hospitality sector, or the simple freedom of what people do or don't choose to do in their own homes. It's not rocket science.

I enjoy January: a much-pleasanter month than dreary, damp November. It's great to watch the light draw out a little longer day by day and to know that spring is around the corner.

This lists aren’t about “retailers that won't/don't conform to one particular poster's idea of a religious Christmas is weird to say the least.”
They’re about retailers who are blatant about Christmas only being a money grab for them. To paraphrase a pp, jumping up to do the vacuuming immediately post-coitus, which some of us find distasteful. So we’d like to find and patronise some retailers more in line with our views.

Christmas and other celebrations are the opportunity for retailers to make money - that is their sole purpose. If they adopt a different business model they are likely to find themselves out of business.

Please bear this in mind, if anyone ever has an urge to be rude to retail staff. Which a lot of people seemingly are, quite often

Thank you to all the posters making similar points to this. I work in retail and the rudeness of customers has been off the scale this last Christmas period, the worst I can remember for years. Any goodwill people may have had towards us during lockdown has well and truly gone.

Shops aren’t bottomless pits of Christmas stock. They can only buy in the amount they think will sell. Tins of Quality Street have been stacked high since 1 September, so there’s no point getting angry that there’s none left to buy on December 23rd, as one charming gentleman did this year.

Thread in DFail.

@DappledThings
Please can I come and live in your dictatorship?😀

Absolutely.

There are also extortionate fines (5 figures) for ever allowing music to leak out of headphones. 2nd offence is a 6 month ban from public transport.

And Yorkshire Puddings are only served with roast beef, no other roasts.

Hope you're still in!

Nothing wrong with Noddy Holder in my opinion, but agree with the OPs sentiment about normality.

I'm sure old Nodward doesn't object to the period during which his song is played each year - it makes him about half a million every year, which must last him very nicely through the whole twelve months!

It's probably him out 'investing' by the million in buying the LadBaby singles, as the more modern decent new Christmas songs that get out and into the annual radio/shopfloor ecosystem, the more his golden goose is threatened

We are fortunate. We live in a country where, in modern times at least, no one is about to be persecuted for their spiritual practice or lack of it.

True, when it comes to actual established religions. Maybe not so much with certain other modern belief systems, though....