People shouting 'it's November!' just look like twats.

[Invasionofthegutsnatchers]

I don't have a tree up yet, or outdoor lights, but probably will put them up next weekend.

People getting cross with others for doing the above or buying stuff for Christmas or making plans by stating the month we're currently in, though... I'm sure we are aware of the date. Just let them crack on.

@mam0918

Observing Advent and celebrating Christmas are two very different things.

Advent is a time of quiet reflection. Light an Advent candle whilst praying.

Traditionally trees go up on Christmas Eve and come down on Twelfth Night, or, even more traditionally, at Candlemas in February.

The trend for trees being put up in Advent comes from the US where they begin to decorate after Thanksgiving.

This seems like the sort of comment one might leave if one shot their neighbour's inflatable snowman and wanted to throw others off the scent...

Ha, ha! Very true but I am not guilty and the snowman is back - perhaps they just decided that it should be a night time event instead of the 24 hour spectacle it was before.

Observing Advent and celebrating Christmas are two very different things.

Advent is a time of quiet reflection. Light an Advent candle whilst praying.

Agreed. Advent is more like a mini-Lent. Plenty of people wait until Christmas Eve to put the tree up. I read this today and agree. Even if you are not religious, I find it makes Christmas more enjoyable if you don't jump straight in, but enjoy the build up.
www.ibenedictines.org/2021/11/22/preparing-for-advent-3/?unapproved=37738&moderation-hash=e8ffada85cd490565d12576faa1096c6#comment-37738

Thank you!! Competitive cynicism is annoying all year round.

But lots of the 'It's November!' people aren't cynics at all. Like me, they love Christmas, and that's precisely why they don't want it to be diluted and dragged out over literally months.

Early Christmassing makes it bloody tedious instead of exciting. Obviously people can do what they like in their own homes, but Christmassy stuff being everywhere from September/October is just forcing it on those of us who want to save it for actual Christmas time! I want to enjoy it, not be sick of the whole thing by mid December. I wouldn't actually criticise people irl for it though, because it doesn't change anything and because I'm not a twat.

People judging other people look like twats.

For whatever reason.

Everyone should just relax and live their own lives.

@IfNot

I don’t put them up til I have done the big Xmas clean, which I normally get to in early December. I’m not Christian and am a bit vague about the Christian calendar so to me Xmas is about cheering up the darkest time of the year and lights and nice food does that. Hence I find it a bit odd when folk take down the decs on December 27th, because late December is when the Winter Solstice is and has the shortest days. 🤷🏼‍♀️ I don’t mind lights in November though.

Except Winter Solstice is 21st December, so the 27th is six days later?

@UtterlyUnimaginativeUsername

People judging other people look like twats.

For whatever reason.

Everyone should just relax and live their own lives.

Literally the opposite of Christmas then. It’s supposed to be a communal celebration, whether you celebrate the mid winter solstice or the birth of Jesus.

And it’s not judging people to say they are starting too early. I’m sure the November crew are all very different.

You’d hate my kids, OP - they are the ultimate “not until December” police 🤣. I was rather chuffed to get a festive coffee cup at the station yesterday; my DD was quite disgusted!

Some see it as more pressure of what's to come knowing that December will be a tough and difficult month for an array of reasons. Judging others as twats is wrong.

Tend to put mine up in November. Passed a house with clear Christmas lights up on my way home from work this evening and it really made me happy.

Tend not to

Nothing wrong with getting ready for Christmas, buying presents, wrapping presents, giving the house a deep clean, just hate to see decorations up un till December. Really don’t understand why people would want them up in November!! Suppose they are the same people who are taking them down on Boxing Day, because they are sick of the site of them. Mine will go up first weekend In December and down on the six night. But we’ll into the deep clean of the house at the moment .

I wonder how many MORE threads we are going to have on this subject?There must have been 20 already.

DH died this year so Christmas isn't something I'm particularly looking forward to. There are 1000s of people for whom Christmas isn't a happy time.

I walked into work on Friday and the decs had been put up. It literally hit me right between the eyes and took my breath away.

But you carry on with your Christmas must go on for weeks business without a thought for those to whom it's a really painful time.

I wouldn't usually put mine up till 1st dec at the earliest, as it's my birthday on 30th nov so never wanted it to be overtaken with christmas.

But last year, being in lockdown on my 40th birthday, I bought myself a mine fibre optic tree to cheer me up and had the full tree up by my birthday.

So this year, the mini tree is out again already but the main trees will wait till Dec and probably not till 5th dec as we're really busy till then.

@RestEasy

DH died this year so Christmas isn't something I'm particularly looking forward to. There are 1000s of people for whom Christmas isn't a happy time.

I walked into work on Friday and the decs had been put up. It literally hit me right between the eyes and took my breath away.

But you carry on with your Christmas must go on for weeks business without a thought for those to whom it's a really painful time.

I'm sorry, you suffered such a horrible loss but as SimpsonsXmasBoogie's post also proves other people sometimes deal with grief the exact opposite was and you don't get to shit on their coping mechanisms because yours are different.

There's always someone who will feel shit on any day of the year due to personal circumstances it doesn't mean no one else can ever do something that makes them smile for fear of upsetting a stranger.

@RestEasy

DH died this year so Christmas isn't something I'm particularly looking forward to. There are 1000s of people for whom Christmas isn't a happy time.

I walked into work on Friday and the decs had been put up. It literally hit me right between the eyes and took my breath away.

But you carry on with your Christmas must go on for weeks business without a thought for those to whom it's a really painful time.

How do you know she hasnt given other people a thought?

How do you know other people dont use the nice bright, sparkly lights of Christmas decorations to cheer them up when they're grieving.

I think you're being really mean and unfair with your comment here. I'm so sorry for your loss, but it isnt a strangers responsibility to make you feel better. Everyone is dealing with something.

They could put their twinkly lights where they cheer them up rather than force them on everyone else? You can't see the lights outside your house anyway

*RestEasy

DH died this year so Christmas isn't something I'm particularly looking forward to. There are 1000s of people for whom Christmas isn't a happy time.

I walked into work on Friday and the decs had been put up. It literally hit me right between the eyes and took my breath away.

But you carry on with your Christmas must go on for weeks business without a thought for those to whom it's a really painful time.

I'm sorry for your loss, and that it is made more painful by seeing Christmas decorations, especially in the workplace because its somewhere you can't really escape from.

I don't know how big your workplace is or whether the person overseeing the decorations knew of your circumstances. I think it would seem insensitive in a small office where everyone knew but perhaps less so in a department store for example where there's an official day for Xmas to start. (Not that that makes it any easier to deal with)

The first few years after my mum died I found Mother's Day incredibly difficult and I remember going into a card shop and having to walk straight out because it made me so upset...but for everyone that found it painful there will be others who find it joyful, and thats really hard.

I think Christmas can be a hard and lonely time for lots of people but I think the sentiment behind decorations is usually to bring light and brightness to the dark days of winter, not to upset people.

@RestEasy

They could put their twinkly lights where they cheer them up rather than force them on everyone else? You can't see the lights outside your house anyway

Of course, you can see lights from outside... driving the other day I noticed tonnes of houses with trees and lights up, non had them up outside but it's pretty hard not to notice flashing lights inside a house.

Also, millions are cheered up by seeing the decor, that's why councils spend a fortune on festively lighting outside spaces. For people struggling financially, some with depression, some with no family of their own etc... these things mean a lot.

You only need to look into nearly any thread for low-budget Xmases to see walking around looking at other people's lights and town displays are a massive thing for many who are struggling.

@RestEasy

They could put their twinkly lights where they cheer them up rather than force them on everyone else? You can't see the lights outside your house anyway

Mine aren't up yet. But I love coming home to them on.

I found the first year after losing a loved one very difficult. So I get it. But the whole world can not act in a way that you find acceptable and in a way you find easier.

I know it feels like they should. I remember nor getting how anyone could go on with their normal lives when she wasn't here anymore. I didn't understand how the world kept turning. And yet it did.

Everyone can't live their lives, the way someone they don't even know wants them to.

I don't care when people put their decorations up, it has no impact on my life whatsoever.

@RestEasy

DH died this year so Christmas isn't something I'm particularly looking forward to. There are 1000s of people for whom Christmas isn't a happy time.

I walked into work on Friday and the decs had been put up. It literally hit me right between the eyes and took my breath away.

But you carry on with your Christmas must go on for weeks business without a thought for those to whom it's a really painful time.

I am so sorry about your husband

Two of my children have died and the lights and decorations give me something to focus on, a way to cheer my dc up and it makes me happy to see people taking their kids to see my house etc.

My pain is real too, and I should be able to do what makes me feel better in, and to, my own home without being made to feel guilty about that.

I do think about people it's painful for, and I am one of those people.

No. People who put decorations up in November and clearly don’t understand what Advent is look like tw*ts

@RestEasy

DH died this year so Christmas isn't something I'm particularly looking forward to. There are 1000s of people for whom Christmas isn't a happy time.

I walked into work on Friday and the decs had been put up. It literally hit me right between the eyes and took my breath away.

But you carry on with your Christmas must go on for weeks business without a thought for those to whom it's a really painful time.

I'm so sorry about your husband and I can absolutely understand why you would choose not to participate this year

My baby ds died 6 weeks before Christmas last year, it was horrendous. It's a year tomorrow since his funeral.

I put the Christmas lights up as normal and if someone suggested to me that I shouldn't have done because I was grieving, I'd have been nonplussed.

It's a shock when your world has been turned upside down, but the rest of the world keeps turning