to have shouted at carol singers

[AuroraB]

so, i'm walking home from mil's house in the dark, with ds who is 6 months old and has had a scarily bad cold for the last week (perhaps a touch of the PFB's but hell, i've not seen such a thing before), not much sleeping going on, awful lot of snot, really quite ill etc - i am feeling fraught.

i can see from one end of the long road a group of carol singers baging on my door, they give it a good few bangs, despite there being no lights on, by the time i arrive they have gone around the corner to a different street, hurrah i think, i've missed the latest load of seasonal beggars.

i go in, carefully unpack, ill, sleeping ds, feed dog and BANG BANG BANG, split second passes BANG BANG BANG again and thrice BANG BANG BANG, dog goes mental (as dogs do, she can only take one or two bang bangs) ds starts screaming (as ds's do when rudely awakened by mental dog), i open door and venomously spit out 'please stop banging on my door i have a mental dog and a sleeping baby' and slam door in carol singers sweet, innocent, seasonal goodwill wishing faces.

now i'm consumed with guilt that i have scared kids and put them off xmas, but a bit of me does think they shouldn't be out banging on strangers doors at 8 in the evening and effectively asking for money. am i a grinch? was I UR? (oh and i didn't have any money anyway and i don't think a tangerine was what they were after)

ROFL....but to be fair why do they need to knock three times ffs

Bit of a grinch, i understand why you were pissed off though

" i've missed the latest load of seasonal beggars"

Yes you are a grinch although in the circumstances I think FC will forgive you

YANBU, Anyone who wakes my 3 month old dies!!!!

you are a grinch and yabu.

but hey, they will get over it!

stop worrying and hope your ds is on the mend

not in the slightest.
noisy buggers.

ps. do i 'know' you?

oops.
YABU and YANBU in this case. I think I may have being slightly more lenient but it will at least tweak their banging technique in future.

no, YANBU, I would be annoyed to, no, they are not to know that you have a baby in the house, perhaps you should put a sign up requesting they don't knock, but 8pm is late in my opinion, surely the parents of these children should take that into consideration.

sob, lump of coal for me please mr FC.

OrmIria, i am new to living in a town and not used to the constant stream of 'happy easter' 'happy halloween', 'happy xmas', 'happy sprig of heather dear' wishing strangers beating a path to my front door, i find it hard to take them at face value and suspect them of wanting money in return for their good wishes, i should be less suspicious of their intentions, you are right.

Hmmm Gloria, perhaps you do, i don't know, is my mental dog famous throughout the town?

YANBU. We got a load at 7pm the other night, just after the 2 DCs had gone down. It was lucky DH got to the door before me, otherwise they would have got the same treatment as you gave yours; as it was I think they got a shhh be quiet and a quid to piss off go away (DH is fortunately much more polite than me, especially where protecting DCs sleep is concerned)

possibly although perhaps not as much as mine.

fuck. do i have to namechange now? do i care that much?

I was cursing the carol singers the other night too.

Ran to answer the door and tripped over the pushchair and ended up yanking the handle of the £30 stairgate.

Two bored teenagers give one verse of we wish you a merry xmas while I try to hold the dog back to stop her escaping (which is what the stairgate is for).

Can't find any money to give them so end up having to burst into DD's room to raid her money box while DH is doing her bedtime story.

Bah humbug.

When living in the UK I would always smile sweetly the carol singers and ask them to come back Christmas Ev. This was sincere offer as I think this when they should be doing this. Was only visited once in ten years.

Gloria - nah, i'm too busy and important to mumsnet stalk,

I'm always bloody here hiding from the vile argumentative DDs.

This must never be spoken of in real life.

YANBU - carol singers should sing at least one full carol before knocking on your door. That way you have a) had a proper carol before they beg money off you and b) you are forewarned that they are coming, so can decide what, if anything, you think their efforts are worth to you.

Knocking three times?! It's not as if they're actually entitled to get money off you or anybody else. Or indeed, entitled to any of your time. Weird.

Sign. On. The. Door.

I love the ploy of saying to teenage grumpy singers collecting for 'charity' who begrudgingly sing 2 lines (badly) of 'We wish you a merry christmas':
'Oh lovely, carol singers. The vicar is just in the other room. Lets all pop our coats on and join you singing in praise of the Lord.'

See how fast they stick around then.

RainRainGoAway - love it!

Can I just add my delivery driver to this rant - DING DONG (fair enough, it's a bell, that'ds what it's for) a split second later BANG BANG BANG, baby awake
"Parcel for next door love!"
Arrgh ring the bell OR knock not both in the style of a man being chased by rabid dogs
If he was being chased by rabid dogs I'd have let him in and been nicer

Hah, at least you had actual human beings doing the singing. We get a Landrover with a huuuumongous megaphone nailed to it, spouting hip-hop versions of Silent Night.
And we live in a very lovely rural area where nobody but nobody listens, never mind, knows, what hip-hop is.(Tres' aging population and all that).
I think murderous thoughts about them every year......

Do as my mother has always done...sing along with them, encourage another verse/carol, then give them some coppers. They tend not to come back.

Y were not U, by the way.

Liking your mother's style Lynette .

Only problem is that it doesn't help with the sleeping baby.

Although I LOVE Christmas I am a grinch about talentless begging kids - which is why I am not going to fix my doorbell till January

So YANBU