30 September 2010

The relentless advance of Christmas

| johnboy
Join the conversation
31
christmas in big w

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?

Got an image of Canberra you want to share with the world? Email it to images@the-riotact.com

Join the conversation

31
All Comments
  • All Comments
  • Website Comments
LatestOldest
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.

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.

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

I saw Hot Cross Buns at Dickson Woolies during Summernats.

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.

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.

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

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.

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

Gobbo said :

There is a house in Macquarie that is fully bedecked in flashing Christmas lights. Now THAT is a bit early for me.

You sure they’re not bogans who didn’t take them down from last year?

And we’ve just had EOFYS. 🙂

Okay, okay, I was just kidding… Please stop glaring at me as if you want to tear my guts out…

David Jones in Civic had their Christmas display up on September 1.

georgesgenitals3:55 pm 30 Sep 10

Gobbo said :

There is a house in Macquarie that is fully bedecked in flashing Christmas lights. Now THAT is a bit early for me.

Plus it destroys the environment due to consuming all that electricity.

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

Watch out! It’s a stern looking man in a jacket!!

There is a house in Macquarie that is fully bedecked in flashing Christmas lights. Now THAT is a bit early for me.

GardeningGirl12:36 pm 30 Sep 10

I remember Myer started putting up their Christmas Shop the week of 911. Seemed to me that apart from being ridiculously early anyway, that year someone should have shown some initiative and said let’s wait. But then they didn’t have the initiative to fix the leaking tap in the loo for years (good corporate citizens during a drought, not) and they haven’t always had price labels, necessitating a trip in search of ever decreasing staff for a price check, because “we’re waiting for them to come from Melbourne” (local staff apparently failed paper and crayon in kindie?).
Back on topic… way too early! And of course too commercialised. When I was a kid the lead-up to Christmas really felt like the lead-up to Christmas, complete with the department store choir. That reminds me, has the Xmas muzak started too? The visual is bad enough, but hearing Christmas carols in October is depressing.

colourful sydney racing identity12:11 pm 30 Sep 10

the best thing is that easter eggs will appear on the shelves on boxing day.

Amanda Hugankis11:57 am 30 Sep 10

Tooks said :

A Festivus for the restofus.

I read the headline and thought exactly this! “And now for the Airing of Grievances!”. I’ll get on board when BigW starts selling Festivus Poles.

I’m so old. Once upon a time (back when I worked in retail) we used to unpack the Christmas decorations in December.

You could work without tinsel, chocolate and flowers for large parts of the year. Socks, undies and ties just didn’t cut it as worthy of display then (called an ‘end’ at that time), so the dads missed out on all things decorative. But they had real hardware stores that sold real blokey things to blokes only, too.

Aaahhh the good old days.

Woody Mann-Caruso11:06 am 30 Sep 10

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!

A Festivus for the restofus.

Holden Caulfield10:44 am 30 Sep 10

…I’ve made a donation to the Human Fund in lieu of a present.

Muttsybignuts10:40 am 30 Sep 10

busgirl said :

Happy Festivus to us all…

I cant wait for the Airing of Grievances and the Feats of Strength!

Nothing to see here: For several decades, October has started the “Christmas quarter” for retail trade. Most big retailers and department stores start their Christmas campaigns.

It’s more surprising when you get this stuff in July though (Usually happens when “times are tough” and the retaillers have over-estimated prior orders).

I don’t start my christmas shopping until festivus is over.

Happy Festivus to us all…

Inappropriate9:29 am 30 Sep 10

Myer have had their christmas gear out for some time now…

Eventually we will be living in a perpetual state of Fatheast Mochrival Day.

You too will be able to celebrate at any time with your limited edition chocolate tree wrapped in pink ribbons that comes with a free power drill.

Who wants to get me that Hello Kitty advent calendar? Ta.

And yet, I still leave my Christmas shopping to the last minute…

Quite understandable and quite appropriate. As of today there are only 12 weeks and one day until christmas. I for one appreciate the heads up JB so as I can beat the inevitable rush. As if no one is counting down…

Daily Digest

Want the best Canberra news delivered daily? Every day we package the most popular Riotact stories and send them straight to your inbox. Sign-up now for trusted local news that will never be behind a paywall.

By submitting your email address you are agreeing to Region Group's terms and conditions and privacy policy.