30 September 2010

The relentless advance of Christmas

30 September 2010 | By johnboy

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Jessica Number spotted this in Big W and sent it in.

Are we heading to a future where we just alternate between Easter and Christmas?

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Woody Mann-Caruso10:40 am 01 Oct 10

Maybe we could start a Canberra yule tradition, building on the traditions of old:

A giant wooden statue of an eight-legged horse is erected in our most scenic town centre, Woden. At midnight, somebody dressed in a large grey hat and blue cloak nominates a member of the Legislative Assembly as the least worthy of our trust. We then tear out one of their eyes, stuff them into the horse and set them on fire while the townspeople stand round drinking ale and reindeer piss. The eye is passed during meetings of the Assembly to indicate who has the floor, and to remind our elected officials to speak and act wisely lest they become kindle for Sleipnir.

p19:37 am 01 Oct 10

kakosi said :

Not many people even know that Christmas actually starts on 25 December and goes for 12 days into January.

Not in my religion*

* - My religion being non-specific Christian derived from the media for the purpose of having as many holidays as possible. If I could get paid leave for all of Ramadan, I'd be a Muslim.

cleo1:13 am 01 Oct 10

It’s all about money, the only thing I look forward to, is spending time with my family, and eating on Christmas day.

damien haas11:58 pm 30 Sep 10

I saw Hot Cross Buns at Dickson Woolies during Summernats.

kakosi11:32 pm 30 Sep 10

Not many people even know that Christmas actually starts on 25 December and goes for 12 days into January.

And yet David Jones had it’s decorations out of the box on the last day of August this year and they pull everything down on 24 December. It’s taken any fun that I used to have with Christmas as a child away and made it common and completely boring.

As for Easter? Hot cross buns are pretty much available all year round and Easter eggs start appearing months ahead of time. What about the season of Lent people? Oh yes, that’s a season where you are supposed to go without, so retailers can’t really use that one for sales.

Retailers have pretty much sucked the specialness out of every single celebration we have as a society.

Deckard7:28 pm 30 Sep 10

To be fair they are christmas decorations for sale, not the stores own decorations.

For the last few years Woolies have had hot cross buns out on boxing day.

Primal6:38 pm 30 Sep 10

Don’t buy it and they won’t put it out so early. It’s a simple equation.

BerraBoy686:16 pm 30 Sep 10

I’m not sure the appearance of Christmas is creeping any earlier in the year than it did previously. I recall seeing trees being put up in the shops in the last week of September last year and noticed they were just going up in Myers at the Mall when out I was out there last Sunday.

That said, I think the worst experience of a prolonged Christmas was at Questacon in about 1991. They had a robot Santa in the foyer from late October through to the following March (a full 5 months). As a staff member there at the time, the only positive about its longevity is it would scare the bejeesus out of the smaller kids when it started talking and waving it’s arms around like a maniac.

Kuku5:33 pm 30 Sep 10

Woody Mann-Caruso said :

Ha ha ha – soon, you’ll have Halloween and Thanksgiving as mainstream holidays in Australia, and the ‘holiday season’ takeover will be complete. (Well, that and peeps for Easter.)

Bring on the turkey and pecan pie! Pass the cranberry sauce!

Bah Humbug

Pork Hunt4:47 pm 30 Sep 10

Gobbo said :