To wonder why does Christmas start so early in the UK and are you happy with that

[TheFateofOphelia]

I was in John Lewis yesterday and a huge part of the ground floor was taken up with Christmas trees and decorations. My heart sank because, much as I enjoy the festive season, I want it to start mid Nov not end of August as it does in supermarkets.

Anyday now they'll be blasting out "Do they know it's Christmas." The what shall we do with Uncle Stanley on Christmas Day threads are popping up on MN. Do you like it starting in Autumn or will you join my pointless 'Let's keep Christmas in December' campaign?

Yes I’m very much the same

also we hope to move soon so I’m trying to declutter so nothing new this year and I will be sorting out the decorations before Christmas.

i don’t even want much for Christmas myself.

I absolutely hate it being so early. I just don't want to be reminded that I have a fractured family that won't be coming together for Christmas. If it wasn't for my children, I would ignore it altogether. I wish it wasn't every year. 😪

It doesn't have to be commercial at all. For me it is all about hearing the Sally Army brass bands in the street, going to carols by candlelight services, making a wreath for the front door from garden greenery, cards made by small children with cotton wool snowmen on them, or home made paper snowflakes for the windows, home made paper garlands, stirring the pudding and making a wish.

I like the lights in town and all the shops offering mince pies and spiced tea for free - that's quite cheering in mid-winter, and I love getting family together. lighting log fires, baking and roasting and playing Christmas music and watching Paddington and catching up on frosty walks, and cooking ridiculously old-fashioned recipes we'd never eat at any other time of year, liked trifle or baked ham with cloves. And choosing a tree from the local farm, and remembering when each decoration was given to us and by whom. Sounds very Hallmark but I do love it, despite the hard work.

Christmas starts on December 1st and I won’t hear a word about it before then!! My kids (teens) know not to mention it before then 😂

I have a 12 week plan for preparing for Christmas, because I just don’t have the capacity for all the extra work it brings, during what is already a very busy month, when all the normal things (like commutes and queues) take twice as long.

I do a little bit each week, spread the costs, and it’s very manageable, and very pleasant. Once the dc get back to school in September I dip in and out of the Christmas board. And I love to find a year round Christmas shop on my summer holidays, or to find a souvenir fur the tree.

But I find it quite disheartening when the Christmas stock starts creeping into the shops in mid September. I’m not sure why it makes me feel like that. I don’t mind preparing early on my own terms but I’m not ready to see it yet. And it definitely dilutes the magic for me.

Years ago I’d have bought some of the Christmas food as it appeared in the shops in November, but now I’m not inclined when it’s not even Halloween, and then I’ve been looking at it so long that it loses its appeal so I bake my own instead. My decorations have come from the garden, the last couple of years because the stuff in the shops seems tackier.

Totally with you OP. However this falls under the category of 'so far out of my control I can either ignore it or feel grumpy about it every year for the rest of forever.' Some people love it, some need to spread the cost as others have mentioned. A friend of mine starts listening to Christmas tunes around this time of year, I've seen trees up before Halloween. It that's how they find joy then let them, you can invite it into your home at a time that's appropriate for you and in the meantime try your best to avert your gaze when hitting the high street or supermarkets!

I don’t ask about Christmas gifts until the last week of November/ first week of December because I think by then my nieces and nephews know what they want for Christmas and have told their parents and that is plenty of time for me to locate it, wrap, and send before the post date. I don’t even feel like celebrating Christmas until middle of December.

I do ignore the early Christmas and inwardly roll my eyes but it is annoying when shops move things around to accommodate all the Christmas stuff and I have to waste time finding things that had been in the same place for eight months of the year to accommodate Christmas stuff.

I can ignore it all in the shops etc but what pisses me off more is when people go on and on about "you're such a Scrooge" if you don't want to put your tree up the day after Halloween.

I absolutely bloody love Christmas - but in December!!

Oh and also that you have to book everything in frigging August or it's all sold out - my kids are too old now to take them to see Santa but it just got earlier every year when they were small

As already noted, people need the opportunity to spread the cost of Christmas - if you choose to do so. I have 5 grandchildren and need 2 pension instalments (October & November) for family gifts, leaving December for all the Christmas food.

How about - those who like Christmas goods in the shops early, buy them, & the ones who hate Christmas at the end of summer, leave it until later?
You're welcome!

Totally agree. It's only commercial if you let it be. Nobody says you have to go out and buy six tins of Quality Street and spend thousands on presents, or start shopping in September. You can do as you choose.
Nobody is forced into a Christmas aisle in the supermarket, or held at gun point until they buy mince pies. I went into The Range yesterday and managed to fully avoid the the Christmas area whilst buying cleaning stuff. Do whatever you want to do. No point being depressed or upset about something you have no chance of changing and that doesn't really effect you unless you let it.

Agreed. The most annoying part is when they start taking Christmas decorations down in the shops on Christmas Eve just when I’m starting to get in the spirit of it!

I'm with you 100%! I just left my craft group because the coordinator started organising us to make our Christmas tree decorations in July!! Just no. Can't stand it.

I hate it. It actually makes me quite stressed and stops me enjoying all the other stuff in the run up to Christmas so much... autumn, Halloween, Bonfire Night and just doing relaxed winter stuff. It also degrades Christmas for me so I don't enjoy it so much. I don't understand why we need to start stressing about Christmas in October.

I agree with you OP, but can assure you it's not just the UK who starts so early.

I love Christmas, but am able to ignore too-early signs of it in the shops, mince pies already, never mind all the decorations. I can enjoy it once we’re past Bonfire Night, but it really doesn’t bother me. A lot of people do like to shop early, not to mention spreading the cost.

I always look forward to making my first mince pies on 1st December, or the first Sunday in Advent, whichever comes first - with the first carols playing and a glass of mulled wine. 🎄🍷

But again, you could take what you're going to spend from October's pension and out it aside. Then add November 's money and then go shopping. I mean, in the end people can obviously do what they like but the "spreading the cost" argument just doesn't stack up as a reason things need to be in the shops before even the first leaves have fallen.

You don’t need to stress about it. Just ignore it all until you feel it’s the right time.

I live in Spain. No Xmas adverts or Merch in shops until December and it's all very low key , absolutely nothing like the commercial fest it is in the UK

I hate it. It takes the shine off it for me.

Spreading the cost makes no sense. They could just save the money until December

You're forgetting the Die Hard controversy.

I've said this before, but if I had a magic wand I would ban all mention of it until December 1st.

You can't just ignore it though. Unless we literally start walking around with blinkers on. It's everywhere.

Christmas in southern Europe isn’t nearly such a big thing as it is in colder northern countries, where the pagan Midwinter festival, with the old Yule log, evergreens and feasting, was absorbed into Christmas.

We poor Northern Europeans needed something to cheer us up in the bleak nmidwinter, what with the cold and lack of sun/daylight.