Early Christmas

[PW]

We prefer to go back to the roots & celebrate the shortest day. The wife still expects presents in bed on Xmas morning though!

[Manx Cat]

You should all bin the telly! Cos we dont get bombarded with adverts or any thing Christmassy, in fact it always comes as a surprise when suddenly the lights in Onchan go on some time after Guy Fawkes night.


I shall always love our mid winter festival, always will, always shall.... Best time of year, AND you can alway be sure of a quiet cycle that day. Last year I cycled to The Tower of Refuge. A wonderful cycle ride... and one to brew a hungry tummy.


I don t 'do' gifts, cept for the girls of course. We just have a wonderful celebration of family life. Warmth and laughter. And NO Telly of course. Really I love it.


Why do some of you not???? If you hate the commercialism of it, then get rid of the source!


Mary

[glueman]

Although I do miss the church bit - that was always nice, but as I am no longer a Christian I don't feel right going to church just for a sing-song.

Church-goers have always held some eclectic beliefs and none and anyway, the idea of religion as an assent to a set of ideas is a relatively new phenomenon. Karen Armstrong talks a lot of sense: http://www.ted.com/talks/karen_armstron ... _rule.html and anyway, a singsong is a singsong!

[thirdcrank]

By coincidence, I've just found a gift I received last Christmas from my sister-in-law - a pair of festive socks still fastened together on their display hook. I've scanned them to post the pic but after two reductions the image is still too big so I'll just have to spell out their message:-

Bah humbug

[Si]

Why do some of you not???? If you hate the commercialism of it, then get rid of the source!

Get rid of a 6000 year old social ideology based on conspicuous consumption and the negotiation of status and identity based upon the acquisition and display of exotic material culture? Works for me, but might be a bit tricky to manage before Christmas

[glueman]

Get rid of the comforts of the calendar? Noooo! All Hallows Eve/ Beltane/ mischief night/ bonfire night, Christmas, Wassailing - all twinkling marvels and much needed at the dark end of the year. The problem isn't the festival, it's the people dahling, the people! Don't throw out the baby.

[rbrian]

Why do some of you not???? If you hate the commercialism of it, then get rid of the source!

You still have to buy food, see your neighbours monstrous light display, wade through sacks of junk mail, see your co-workers... it isn't possible to hide entirely, though I do my best. TV isn't the source, except on the main channels - but there are plenty of digital channels now. I manage to watch plenty of TV and not see anything about Christmas (except in the summer, for American imports shown a few months later).

[jan19]

I actually enjoy Christmas (sorry....)

I can blot out a lot of the commercialism, and life is made easy by having grown-up daughters who require little in the way of presents although any sort of cheque is gratefully received. So most of my present shopping is little things (not tat!) and I get a lot of pleasure cooking for a lot of people (Christmas meal is easy - if you can do a roast then you can do Christmas)

Like Mary I enjoy having family around, not having to go to work, and enjoying the winter days. I don't see the daylight from one end of the day to another in the winter so I love the Christmas break when you can actually go out for a long walk or cycle in the light - I think I appreciate it more in the winter than the summer. I also like the fact that we've gone past the shortest day and its all upwards from then on...

Jan

[paulah]

Christmas. pah. I've just been in the local co-op and they had packs of lindt mini easter eggs.

[thirdcrank]

Christmas. pah. I've just been in the local co-op and they had packs of lindt mini easter eggs.

Easter 2009 or 2010?

[rbrian]

Christmas. pah. I've just been in the local co-op and they had packs of lindt mini easter eggs.

Wow! The Easter stuff doesn't usually get put out until December! This is getting silly. In a few years time, the Christmas stuff will be out in January... I remember a comic, possibly the Beano, 20 odd years ago, with a story about Christmas shopping. The posters counted down from: "Only 400 shopping days left till Christmas!"

Art imitating life, or the other way around?

[rapidfire72]

I read somewhere It's gonna be a White Christmas, now that would be nice . But not so nice cycling to work .

[Si]

I read somewhere It's gonna be a White Christmas, now that would be nice . But not so nice cycling to work .

Is that a "White christmas" as in a "BBQ Summer"?