The Nightmare Before Christmas

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Christmas is my favourite time of the year.

I love the snow, mince-pies, Christmas trees, presents, movies and of course the same old games you play on the special day every year (charades, monopoly and scrabble are some personal favourites).

However I’ve got one little bug bear…

Do we really have to start the ‘Christmas build up’ in late October early November! I mean come on. It seems as soon as the days start turning into nights and there’s a little frost on your car window the media begin to bamboozle you with adverts for the “NEW SPECIAL GIFT THIS FESTIVE YEAR!”

On top of this I’ve started to see Christmas lights getting put up on the outside of homes in my local area. You’re only feeding the fire people! I believe there should be a law put in place to stop this behaviour. I propose to you that there should be no adverts, lights and special Christmas deals until the 1st of December. Therefore by the time Christmas shows its festive little head we aren’t bored of it all.

I believe those 25 days in which you can go all out for the festive season is plenty of time to grab a present for all your Uncles, Aunties, Grandmas, Granddads and dog walkers great Grandson (it really wouldn’t surprise me) in which they can cherish and enjoy.

I’ve added a poll to see if it’s just me who thinks this, please have a vote and see what people think.

Additionally I hope you have a very Merry Christmas just don’t get too excited just yet.

67 thoughts on “The Nightmare Before Christmas”

  1. HOW can I NOT agree??!!
    I think you may just have a plan there SIr – it should be LAW to disallow ANY form of Christmas before 1 DEC.
    I can’t be asked to spend three quarters of the year preparing for one day?
    Snow for me is still very special as it is still such a novelty – but still figuring out the whole Christmas dinner thing (so much WORK!) AND what to do with everyone?…we are used to having a bbq round a swimming pool for the day – or off to a lake somewhere with and uncles boat 🙂
    For the little ones it’s harsh TOO – because they see all the decor etc and wonder when the hell it is coming – 2 months is a lifetime to small people!

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  4. Hey Joel, thanks for stopping by my blog. I do agree that the Christmas time starts way to early. What is more shameful is the idea of “Black Friday” starting on the weekend of the American thanksgiving forcing people to work away from their families in the name of capitalism. Black Friday fights were so ridiculous this year that I put some of them to Christmas Music because nothing says Christmas like beating a person up for a television and I wanted to see what it looked like. Turns out delightfully ironic!:) Shows how far we’ve separated from the true meaning of Christmas. Love, health and happiness to you my friend!:) http://youtu.be/BsS3rcsq5Dw

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  6. Hello Joel:
    Thank you for stopping by my photoblog. I liked your blog space here. You write very well. I see you are not happy about Christmas preparations starting too early. You did not give YOUR reasons why you do not like these early preps. Is it the noisy advertisements themselves or the messages to buy gifts for christmas that bother you? Do you not like to put up the tree, lights and decorations or it is just the timing of it? Do you not like the families to gather for at least one day of the year and celebrate together, or is it the annoyance and inconvenience of cooking, baking and cleaning afterward that put you off? Different people have different reasons to like or not like Christmas.

    I like the atmosphere during Christmas. I think it brings excitement to life. The preparations and the rituals of putting up trees and decorations and lights establish a special tradition in each family. These family traditions have a deeper effect on us as we grow. To me, every time we put up the Christmas tree, it brings back years of memories of my kids and family. One of my kids has moved away. Thanksgiving and Christmas bring us opportunities to sit together at least once a year. There are a lot of good things associated with these festivals which have kept these traditions alive. So, instead of worrying about the noisy commercials, I look forward to enjoying my Christmas dinner and family get together during this season. As for the lights and dazzles, I love them anyway. Nothing wrong if they keep them up all year round. Cheers!!!

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    • Thank you! It’s probably the noisy advertisements that irritate me the most! I agree that decorating the tree is one of the best parts of Christmas! I hope you have a lovely day!

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  7. Definitely no Christmas stuff before December – I’m the world’s biggest Christmas junkie, but even I don’t do Christmas before December. The reason that it’s so much fun and so special is that it only comes once a year for a brief period of time – if you stretch the season out to two or three months, it becomes less special because there’s just so much of it. Kinda like having a birthday every month, wouldn’t be quite as special then, right??

    I’ll be decorating my apartment the weekend before Christmas and leaving my decorations up until the Old Twelfth, that’s the Christmas season, not November, not October.

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  8. I do agree to a certain point, I think that the media are taking advantage of what used to be a special time of year, but going out for a quick shop before Christmas Gifts before December 1st does no harm. I think that advertisers need to be more understanding of the meaning towards Christmas, whether that be due to family, religious or other reasons. Thanks for the post Joel, you did a goos job.

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    • I agree that the media have all jump on the band-wagon that Christmas is purely a time for presents making people very materialistic! Thank you very much, I hope you have a lovely Christmas break!

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  10. Couldn’t agree more!! I walked into the supermarket at the end of September to find piles of mince pies stacked on the shelves! Now don’t get me wrong I love Christmas food, especially mince pies… but at Christmas not any other time of year. I think the hype of it does start way too early, and should be enjoyed December 1st onwards 🙂
    Love your blog by the way you’re doing a fab job!
    Have a good Christmas 🙂

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  11. Hi Joel,

    Great post and thanks for visiting my blog.

    I have to confess we put our Christmas decorations up on November 30th this year so your new law will catch me out! Hope the penalties aren’t too harsh 😀

    In the UK we don’t have Thanksgiving so it’s always quite a shock when I go shopping in early November and suddenly EVERYTHING is about Christmas… I agree it makes you a bit bored with it by the time the big day arrives.

    Merry Christmas anyway!

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  13. Thats so true! The media have taken what was and still is a Christian festival and made it into a money-making scheme, the Christmas period officially starts on the first Sunday of December which is also the first day of advent which gives you four weeks to do anything, such as buying presents. Does this ever happen with any other religious festivities? Easter, straight after Christmas we go back to the shops and they’re selling Easter eggs! It’s a huge money making scheme that isn’t needed. Great post!

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  15. Thanks for coming to see my blog earlier. I love Christmas, but really for traditional reasons, spending time with family and friends etc. I hate the commercial aspect of Christmas – and working in retail for a number of years just added to this for me. II tend to try and get in the festive spirit around December 1st – that’s when the advent calendar starts! 🙂

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  17. Reblogged this on Cara Writes Stuff and commented:
    I do love Christmas, and I can still hold out my excitement until the 1st, because before that, it’s slightly annoying. I’m a Christmas junkie, after the 1st. Thanks for stopping by my blog, means a lot. Interesting post xxx

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  18. I do love Christmas, and I can still hold out my excitement until the 1st, because before that, it’s slightly annoying. I’m a Christmas junkie, after the 1st. Thanks for stopping by my blog, means a lot. Interesting post xxx

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  21. Thank you for your comment on my blog, and for inviting me to check out one of your blog posts on Christmas, Joel! I totally agree with you that Christmas buildup before the month of December is annoying. I usually do most of my studies and readings at various food courts or cafés. Christmas jingles are always being played in the background. I always have my headphones in just to keep me from thinking ahead too much, before the actual arrival of holiday seasons.

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  22. Thanks for stopping by my blog! And I have to say, I definitely agree with your article. Here in the U.S. they start decorating in the beginning of October and I am just amazed that people start their Christmas shopping so early! Celebrating so early really takes away from the joy of the holiday because by the time it gets to December, the “holiday spirit” just isn’t there anymore since its been so overused.

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  23. I agree! It annoys me to see Christmas adverts and decorations at the time of my birthday (mid-October)! And then Valentine’s Day merchandise once Christmas is over!

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  24. Haha yeahh, people can get excited really early… I don’t know if you see this in the UK but for me, the worst is when people just leave their christmas lights and decorations out yearround!!
    merry christmas xx

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  25. Hey Joel, thanks for stopping by one of us posts. We absolutely agree with you.
    But would it be cheeky to start half way through November? You know, for the ‘early birds’. ( The other guys don’t seem to think so, but I know you’d agree)

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    • No worries! I’m going to have to agree with the others haha, Christmas is for December only in my opinion! The ‘early birds’ still have nearly a month to sort everything out for the big day!

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  28. thanks for stopping by my blog
    Christmas has always started after Halloween ends in the stores which is late october
    I love to see the xmas displays in stores i would say very late november to start xmas or december as you say, comes once a year then is gone but there is a lot of hype around it.

    i do like shopping in november for christmas almost a christmassy feel without the mad xmas shoppers!

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  32. Thanks for commenting on my post 🙂 the hype for Christmas definitely starts too early, but regardless, I think that if people want to get excited for it early that’s their choice – it just shouldn’t be forced upon the rest of us! There have been Christmas decorations and displays up since October :O lol

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  33. Dear Joel,
    I agree that Christmas comes earlier than it should each year. Though, isn’t this the same with every holiday? Just now I’m already seeing things go up for Valentine’s Day. It’s Christmas! Unfortunately we’re conditioned to buy, buy, and BUY some more! I think its a sad sight… but some people like it, and for those of us who don’t will just have to deal with it!

    Great post!

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