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Bad Manners and Brimstone
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#Post#: 16826--------------------------------------------------
Re: I Get It Now. I Really Get It.
By: BeagleMommy Date: October 22, 2018, 3:14 pm
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My mother taught me to start buying Christmas gifts in October.
What she would do if she was out shopping and saw something she
knew someone would like was pick it up and put it away for
Christmas. Not only did she have the great thing, but she
usually got it at a better price than buying it when all the
Christmas hoopla starts.
I already have a few thing purchased for Christmas. I go out on
Black Friday to pick up miscellaneous things and to watch the
crazy. My major shopping is usually done by then.
The early holiday displays don't bother me much.
#Post#: 16829--------------------------------------------------
Re: I Get It Now. I Really Get It.
By: Amara Date: October 22, 2018, 3:25 pm
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I'm known to buy gifts early too. Last year I got my sister a
wok she wanted, a beautiful, unused one at my favorite thrift
store in ... February. You have to buy it when you see it at a
thrift store of course, but I would have gotten it then in a
regular retail store. I simply put it away until the end of the
year.
What really bothers me is the early decor. I think it's because
I love Christmas. I adore autumn/Thanksgiving and Christmas
decorations. I occasionally think about my menus and guest list
several months in advance. But I do not love seeing decor items
so far ahead. To me it spoils the holidays. And I think the
reason it spoils it is because they are so special to me. They
come for only a short period of time. My home goes from being
somewhat minimal to having some (though by no means too much)
holiday decor around. I love it passionately for the time it is
up, then I am happy to pack it all away again until next year.
It's special, and I guess it become less special, if it's around
too long. So the retailers that insist on shoving it in my face
months before I think is right lose my business. It won't matter
to them, but at least I can control the timing and beauty of MY
holiday seasons.
#Post#: 16877--------------------------------------------------
Re: I Get It Now. I Really Get It.
By: peony Date: October 22, 2018, 10:59 pm
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[quote author=Thitpualso link=topic=755.msg16747#msg16747
date=1540160199]
Crafts are a bit different. I see no problem with seeing
material for Christmas crafts displayed in July. After all,
these things take time to make.
However, I do think it’s odd for the commercial street I
mentioned to have their lights up already. I could see it if
the display was lighted when the neighborhood Halloween parade
passed but the Halloween parade doesn’t use that street.
[/quote]
As a crafter myself, we always think at least one season ahead.
:)
#Post#: 16882--------------------------------------------------
Re: I Get It Now. I Really Get It.
By: Winterlight Date: October 23, 2018, 12:29 am
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I'm fine with craft items. I am not fine with walking into
Michaels and seeing loads of Christmas stuff out the week before
Halloween and very little Halloween merchandise.
#Post#: 16884--------------------------------------------------
Re: I Get It Now. I Really Get It.
By: Venus193 Date: October 23, 2018, 6:20 am
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Many years ago I was in Korvette's on Christmas Eve to buy
something they had run out of two weeks earlier. It took over
90 minutes to get in, get to the relevant department (on the
ground floor), pay, and get out. At that point I resolved to
finish my Christmas shopping prior to Thanksgiving. I kept that
promise to myself. At this time of year I when I shop for cat
food at Target I make two trips if necessary to stock up so I
don't have to be in there during Christmas shopping season.
It also bugs me to see Christmas stuff prior to Halloween, but
what has always bothered me more is people putting up Christmas
trees on 12/24 and throwing them away on the 26th. I find that
depressing and wasteful.
#Post#: 16895--------------------------------------------------
Re: I Get It Now. I Really Get It.
By: Aleko Date: October 23, 2018, 8:24 am
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[quote]Well, I have found that if you wait too long to buy
Christmas stuff, it's sold out. "Too long" is subjective here--I
happen to think that shopping for a new Christmas tree skirt in
mid-December is reasonable, for example. But I've been told by
store staff that I needed to be shopping for Christmas stuff in
early November.
So the argument that retailers wouldn't have stuff on the
shelves if people weren't buying it is tempered by the fact that
because holiday stuff appears so far in advance of the holiday,
you run the risk of not getting what you want if you shop "too
late," i.e. a reasonable amount of time before a given holiday.
I saw my first Halloween display in a store the day after Labor
Day this year. Macy's had their Christmas shop up and running
the third week of September. My feeling is that this is too
early, but I don't think there is any way consumers can affect
the stores' policies. I'd prefer to celebrate one holiday before
being forced to think about one three months ahead.
And in a way, it is just like other things stores sell. Winter
coats appear in August. Sandals come out in February--I was once
chastised by a salesman for shopping for sandals in April, when
there was still snow on the ground![/quote]
Too true. I once lost my furry winter gloves over Christmas, and
in early January I walked the length of Oxford Street in London
being sneered at by multiple shop assistants with 'Winter
gloves, madam? Dear me no, we stop stocking those at the end of
November.') In one of the great shopping streets of the world,
in midwinter, I couldn't get any kind of winter gloves at all.
[quote]As annoying as it is for customers, believe me, it's even
more so for retail employees. I say this as someone who worked
retail for a few Christmases, and someone whose daughter
currently works at a store.
As an employee, you get an endless stream of customers coming in
and complaining about Christmas merchandise and decorations
being up too early. As if the lowly store employee is
responsible for that or has any influence at all with the
higher-ups. You get Christmas forced down your throat from at
least the weekend before Thanksgiving, if not earlier. And
whereas the customers can leave if they don't like it, the
employees can't.[/quote]
Are the employees also required to wear daft festive hats etc as
well? That's been a thing over here for a few years now; in
December all the staff in many supermarkets and other shops wear
Santa hats or Rudolph antlers. I feel so sorry for them; only
the threat of sacking and starvation would make me do that. (And
the music, dear god, the music . . . over and over "Here it is,
Merry Christmas, everybody's having fun". Not in this Tesco,
they aren't.)
[quote]what has always bothered me more is people putting up
Christmas trees on 12/24 and throwing them away on the 26th. I
find that depressing and wasteful.[/quote]
In Britain it used to be considered unlucky to bring the
Christmas tree into the house before Christmas Eve. That made it
really special, because it appeared all magical as Christmas
began. Now, yawn, it's just the same old tree that's been
shedding needles on the carpet (assuming you even bother with a
real one) for a month and more.
It could be practical too: my mum would bring in the tree and
place it in the living room on the morning of Christmas Eve, and
then like Hansel and Gretel's wicked stepmother she'd kick her
three kids out into the snow, saying 'Don't come back till
you've found something to decorate the house with'. So we'd
tramp through the woods and hedgerows all morning gathering
evergreens, moss and winter berries, which gave her time to get
on with wrapping presents and stuffing the goose in peace. When
we'd lugged all our finds back we spent the afternoon decking
the halls with boughs of holly and putting all the old baubles
on the tree, and by evening the house was transformed into
Christmas. It was magic.
I still don't bring in the tree till Christmas Eve, although I
know that makes me a dinosaur. Then again, I'm also the last
person I know who still puts real candles on it. It can be hard
finding the right size of beeswax candles - I tend to end up
chopping long church tapers into thirds - but it's worth it. To
me a tree that doesn't smell of honey and singed pine needles
isn't a real Christmas tree at all.
Re throwing the tree away on the 26th: has anyone else noticed
that the Twelve Days of Christmas have simply ceased to exist,
except in the words of a song? The next working day after the
25th, it's decorations down and back to business. Another
British superstition is that to have good luck for the next
twelve months you need to eat a mince pie on each of the Twelve
Days; but to manage that in the 21st century you need to bake
your own, because if you asked for mince pies in a shop on 27th
December they gape at you as if you had two heads or something:
'who's this moron who doesn't realise that Christmas is over?'
#Post#: 16899--------------------------------------------------
Re: I Get It Now. I Really Get It.
By: Chez Miriam Date: October 23, 2018, 9:13 am
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[quote author=camlan link=topic=755.msg16814#msg16814
date=1540233634]
Well, I have found that if you wait too long to buy Christmas
stuff, it's sold out. "Too long" is subjective here--I happen to
think that shopping for a new Christmas tree skirt in
mid-December is reasonable, for example. But I've been told by
store staff that I needed to be shopping for Christmas stuff in
early November.
So the argument that retailers wouldn't have stuff on the
shelves if people weren't buying it is tempered by the fact that
because holiday stuff appears so far in advance of the holiday,
you run the risk of not getting what you want if you shop "too
late," i.e. a reasonable amount of time before a given holiday.
[/quote]
I was in Liberty a couple of years ago, in early October,
browsing their Christmas ornaments [because: Liberty!], and I
asked the assistant when was a good time to shop for
decorations. She said to have the best choice, be sure to come
before half term [this year it finishes before Hallowe'en],
because the place is so stripped bare after that week that they
reorganise all the stock into just one small space.
I have since found many of the same decorations at various
garden centres, so don't feel I need to battle my way down
Regent Street any longer [and I save quite a bit of money].
I do miss being able to shop the sales in January for baubles,
as they've all finished before Christmas. I suppose at least it
means I buy a lot less 'stuff', so the retailers are doing me a
favour. :-\
#Post#: 16900--------------------------------------------------
Re: I Get It Now. I Really Get It.
By: TeamBhakta Date: October 23, 2018, 9:14 am
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[quote]Then again, I'm also the last person I know who still
puts real candles on it. It can be hard finding the right size
of beeswax candles - I tend to end up chopping long church
tapers into thirds - but it's worth it. To me a tree that
doesn't smell of honey and singed pine needles isn't a real
Christmas tree at all.
[/quote]
On this side of the pond, that's been discouraged by holiday
safety articles for as long as I can remember. It is suggested
here that trees be kept at least 3 feet from fire sources and
tree lights not be kept on 24/7.
#Post#: 16901--------------------------------------------------
Re: I Get It Now. I Really Get It.
By: STiG Date: October 23, 2018, 9:21 am
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[quote author=Aleko link=topic=755.msg16895#msg16895
date=1540301068]
I once lost my furry winter gloves over Christmas, and in early
January I walked the length of Oxford Street in London being
sneered at by multiple shop assistants with 'Winter gloves,
madam? Dear me no, we stop stocking those at the end of
November.') In one of the great shopping streets of the world,
in midwinter, I couldn't get any kind of winter gloves at all.
[/quote]
I was visiting my friend in California in February. It was 70+
degrees out. I was wearing shorts and t-shirts and I ran out of
sunscreen. I went to buy some and they didn't stock it. 'It's
a seasonal item', they said. Seriously? I can wear shorts
almost year round here and sunscreen is a seasonal item? I
always made sure to have a full bottle going to visit her after
that.
#Post#: 16903--------------------------------------------------
Re: I Get It Now. I Really Get It.
By: Chez Miriam Date: October 23, 2018, 9:27 am
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[quote author=STiG link=topic=755.msg16901#msg16901
date=1540304472]
[quote author=Aleko link=topic=755.msg16895#msg16895
date=1540301068]
I once lost my furry winter gloves over Christmas, and in early
January I walked the length of Oxford Street in London being
sneered at by multiple shop assistants with 'Winter gloves,
madam? Dear me no, we stop stocking those at the end of
November.') In one of the great shopping streets of the world,
in midwinter, I couldn't get any kind of winter gloves at all.
[/quote]
I was visiting my friend in California in February. It was 70+
degrees out. I was wearing shorts and t-shirts and I ran out of
sunscreen. I went to buy some and they didn't stock it. 'It's
a seasonal item', they said. Seriously? I can wear shorts
almost year round here and sunscreen is a seasonal item? I
always made sure to have a full bottle going to visit her after
that.
[/quote]
That seems a bit bonkers, given all the warnings we now have
about skin cancer. It never seemed odd to me to go into Boots
[chemist] and be able to buy sunscreen even during the yukkiest
winters. And what about people heading off on holiday? I often
take my Factor 50 with me, because I can't be sure of finding
one that high with all the UVA/UVB protection I want.
[Although, I did find some lovely Factor 70 when it turned out
Boots' Soltan sun "block" did nothing of the sort, and I needed
help when in Dubai. :)]
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