Three months is not nearly here, despite what retail stores would have you believe by putting out Christmasy things at the end of August. Three years is a quarter of a year. It's nearly here when there's a week to go.
Christmas is an awful time, all that bloody expectation to spend, spend, spend, consume, consume, consume. I hate buying presents. I always think what I'm buying will be a good present, for whoever it's for, but when you give it to the person you can see they think it's lame despite their forced smiles, you know, sort of like when you got that hand-knitted sweater from your granny when you were nine years old. Of course, granny's sweater was knitted for you with love and affection, and it was really rotten to think "this is so lame", when your grandmother had worked on it for hours, but that's so. About the only person I can get a decent present for is my Dad. I always know a bottle of good quality single malt will go down well, and then we can share a wee dram every now and then.
So generally I don't buy presents. I'd rather be moaned at for not buying a present than someone not appreciating what I got because I totally misjudged what they'd like. I ask people not to buy stuff for me either.
I would rather the whole present thing be given up totally, and replaced with something more like Thanksgiving in the United States, where you just eat turkey and drink beer.
to be honest im not getting into the spirit just yet, was just pointing out that it doesn't seem that far off to the holiday season, summer seems to have gone very quickly.
I'm a hedonist who loves getting presents, rich fattening food and nice wine so I love Christmas. :D
Necros.
im with you there. i like an evening wrapping presents too, so when its done you have a big pile of parcels all neatly wrapped with bows and nice messages on them.
also boxing day is ace, where you get to enjoy all your presents, and you have to decide what dvd to watch or what book to start.
I hate wrapping presents ! Probably because i'm the worlds worst. I try to hold down the present and wrapping paper with my elbow/foot/side etc and then just get any sellotape to make sure its taped up.
I love presents but have never been fussed by how theyre wrapped up and never say 'Ohhh isnt it wrapped nicely' as to me thats something John Inman would say. Presents i really appreciate but bows/wrapping paper i dont give a monkeys, all gets thrown in the bin seconds later.
If i had presents given to me wrapped up in Tesco carrier bags i dont mind ! (As long as its not from Tesco)
Shame the older you get you dont like Xmas so much, during the glory years of a kid it was amazing
wrapping a present shows some effort from yourself. if you cant wrap properly get one of those cardboardy bags with the string handles, put the present inside, scrunch some wrapping paper over the top and tie the handles together.
you cant have all the presents uner the tree looking nce, and one for your wife wrapped in a tesco bag.
You do hit a rough spot where two or three Xmasses in a row you're just not in the mood for - Xmas 2005 I just boycotted, but Xmas2006 I was well into it, and I'm looking forward to December/Xmas 2007.
I *really* recommend finding a decent-sized continental Xmas market near you, especially one that opens until 10/11pm - the atmosphere is fantastic.
And I'll be visiting two or three of the real thing this December :-D
Christmas can fuck right off. I have a stockroom packed with decorations I can't put out on the floor yet, a promise of 30% more freight than we received last year (and we had no room at all last year, so I'll need to smash everything up into tiny pieces to fit it in), not to mention that crappy Christmas music will probably be starting soon as well.
Luckily over here in Canada, though, the stores don't really start gearing up for Christmas until after Halloween. Which is just as well, because I would have gone on a killing spree if I saw any more aisles full of christmas decorations and selection boxes in September if I was still in the UK.
Xmas stopped being Xmas for me at about age 12. I got back into it in the early 90s due to the pub scene at that time of year, but the novelty wore off that after a while.
Over here is sucks...80 degrees on Christmas day and only ONE day off work (no boxing day)...jeez...we get 2 days at thanksgiving, I guess they think thats more important......wtf.
No Christmas goodies either..no fruit cake, no xmas pud, no mince pies......fuggin green bean cassarole and stuffing that isn't anything like real stuffing (paxo)....stuff that!
Xmas stopped being Xmas for me at about age 12. I got back into it in the early 90s due to the pub scene at that time of year, but the novelty wore off that after a while.
Over here is sucks...80 degrees on Christmas day and only ONE day off work (no boxing day)...jeez...we get 2 days at thanksgiving, I guess they think thats more important......wtf.
No Christmas goodies either..no fruit cake, no xmas pud, no mince pies......fuggin green bean cassarole and stuffing that isn't anything like real stuffing (paxo)....stuff that!
humbugggggg!
Remind me near the time and I'll send you a box of Paxo.
I would rather the whole present thing be given up totally, and replaced with something more like Thanksgiving in the United States, where you just eat turkey and drink beer.
*applauds*
Actually, I think the "buying presents" thing should be replaced with having to buy good food/booze for visiting your family or whatever. So much easier and so much more likely to go down well with everyone.
I dunno, I quite liked Christmas in Houston, partly for the ridiculousness of fake snow on windows when it's 80 degrees, but mostly because people do neat things with lights. I really like when they wrap a decidous tree with white lights, so at night the tree just looks as if it's made of lights - you can't really see the tree itself, just its shape picked out by the little lights.
But I preferred Thanksgiving. Pumpkin pie, turkey and beer. Well, at least this Halloween, I have a Queensland Blue pumpkin plant that's more at home in Australia but seems to have done well despite us not having a summer this year, so at least I get pumpkin pie.
Christmas is great for me. Work is closed for a whole week, so I get to either put my feet up at home or bugger off to somewhere sunny.
And all because a bunch of religious fruitcakes decided to hijack a bunch of old pagan rituals because they couldn't figure out when some Jewish bloke was born. Great, eh? :lol:
I dunno, I quite liked Christmas in Houston, partly for the ridiculousness of fake snow on windows when it's 80 degrees, but mostly because people do neat things with lights. I really like when they wrap a decidous tree with white lights, so at night the tree just looks as if it's made of lights - you can't really see the tree itself, just its shape picked out by the little lights.
But I preferred Thanksgiving. Pumpkin pie, turkey and beer. Well, at least this Halloween, I have a Queensland Blue pumpkin plant that's more at home in Australia but seems to have done well despite us not having a summer this year, so at least I get pumpkin pie.
yeah the lights are good...if you turn the A/C on in your car too subzero level for the real effect :lol:
I had my parents check on shipping a Marks and Spencer 5lb Christmas pud to me one year....forget that..would have cost like 10x the cost of the pud on shipping :(
I found a store that imports mince meat filler for $5 a jar...I might break down and buy a couple of jars and make some home made mince pies if I get the urge.
Christmases get less exciting every year, the run up seems to get longer, and it's more of an anticlimax. Plus as you grow up you notice the arguments, remember the broken presents five minutes later, and wonder why you've got slippers or socks or something.
I think christmas ought to be every year until you are 10 and then finish to save ruining the memory :-)
Christmases get less exciting every year, the run up seems to get longer, and it's more of an anticlimax. Plus as you grow up you notice the arguments, remember the broken presents five minutes later, and wonder why you've got slippers or socks or something.
I think christmas ought to be every year until you are 10 and then finish to save ruining the memory :-)
I shed a secret tear the first year I got slippers for Christmas...you might as well just roll up and die when the slippers and socks come along...
Who else got a thrill as a young nob when you got given a Brut 33 gift set by your mum and felt all grown up because of it. haha.
I dunno, I quite liked Christmas in Houston, partly for the ridiculousness of fake snow on windows when it's 80 degrees, but mostly because people do neat things with lights. I really like when they wrap a decidous tree with white lights, so at night the tree just looks as if it's made of lights - you can't really see the tree itself, just its shape picked out by the little lights.
But I preferred Thanksgiving. Pumpkin pie, turkey and beer. Well, at least this Halloween, I have a Queensland Blue pumpkin plant that's more at home in Australia but seems to have done well despite us not having a summer this year, so at least I get pumpkin pie.
Comments
I like Christmas - IN DECEMBER.
Christmas is an awful time, all that bloody expectation to spend, spend, spend, consume, consume, consume. I hate buying presents. I always think what I'm buying will be a good present, for whoever it's for, but when you give it to the person you can see they think it's lame despite their forced smiles, you know, sort of like when you got that hand-knitted sweater from your granny when you were nine years old. Of course, granny's sweater was knitted for you with love and affection, and it was really rotten to think "this is so lame", when your grandmother had worked on it for hours, but that's so. About the only person I can get a decent present for is my Dad. I always know a bottle of good quality single malt will go down well, and then we can share a wee dram every now and then.
So generally I don't buy presents. I'd rather be moaned at for not buying a present than someone not appreciating what I got because I totally misjudged what they'd like. I ask people not to buy stuff for me either.
I would rather the whole present thing be given up totally, and replaced with something more like Thanksgiving in the United States, where you just eat turkey and drink beer.
Necros.
im with you there. i like an evening wrapping presents too, so when its done you have a big pile of parcels all neatly wrapped with bows and nice messages on them.
also boxing day is ace, where you get to enjoy all your presents, and you have to decide what dvd to watch or what book to start.
I love presents but have never been fussed by how theyre wrapped up and never say 'Ohhh isnt it wrapped nicely' as to me thats something John Inman would say. Presents i really appreciate but bows/wrapping paper i dont give a monkeys, all gets thrown in the bin seconds later.
If i had presents given to me wrapped up in Tesco carrier bags i dont mind ! (As long as its not from Tesco)
Shame the older you get you dont like Xmas so much, during the glory years of a kid it was amazing
you cant have all the presents uner the tree looking nce, and one for your wife wrapped in a tesco bag.
When I were a lad Christmas was an exiting time. But after about 15 each successive crimbo got more and more disappointing and lost its sparkle.
I can say that now I am married that Christmas magic has returned. I really enjoy buying presents for my Wife.
Though this year I don't know what to get her.
I hope this Christmas is not too stressful for me though. I have been working too hard of late. My hairs going to fall out at this rate.
Andrew.
I *really* recommend finding a decent-sized continental Xmas market near you, especially one that opens until 10/11pm - the atmosphere is fantastic.
And I'll be visiting two or three of the real thing this December :-D
Never work in retail. NEVER.
Over here is sucks...80 degrees on Christmas day and only ONE day off work (no boxing day)...jeez...we get 2 days at thanksgiving, I guess they think thats more important......wtf.
No Christmas goodies either..no fruit cake, no xmas pud, no mince pies......fuggin green bean cassarole and stuffing that isn't anything like real stuffing (paxo)....stuff that!
humbugggggg!
...but has to get in the spirit for the sake of his son.
Remind me near the time and I'll send you a box of Paxo.
Andrew.
Woohoo! its a Christmas Miracle!
*applauds*
Actually, I think the "buying presents" thing should be replaced with having to buy good food/booze for visiting your family or whatever. So much easier and so much more likely to go down well with everyone.
But I preferred Thanksgiving. Pumpkin pie, turkey and beer. Well, at least this Halloween, I have a Queensland Blue pumpkin plant that's more at home in Australia but seems to have done well despite us not having a summer this year, so at least I get pumpkin pie.
And all because a bunch of religious fruitcakes decided to hijack a bunch of old pagan rituals because they couldn't figure out when some Jewish bloke was born. Great, eh? :lol:
yeah the lights are good...if you turn the A/C on in your car too subzero level for the real effect :lol:
I had my parents check on shipping a Marks and Spencer 5lb Christmas pud to me one year....forget that..would have cost like 10x the cost of the pud on shipping :(
I found a store that imports mince meat filler for $5 a jar...I might break down and buy a couple of jars and make some home made mince pies if I get the urge.
I think christmas ought to be every year until you are 10 and then finish to save ruining the memory :-)
I shed a secret tear the first year I got slippers for Christmas...you might as well just roll up and die when the slippers and socks come along...
Who else got a thrill as a young nob when you got given a Brut 33 gift set by your mum and felt all grown up because of it. haha.
Christmas Lights as they Should Be Done
Oh.
My.
God.
people with lights like that should be rounded up and shot
(I secretly think that's cool though :-D)
On the minus side, maybe the 1989 chapter won't get done this year because of everything.