I'm curious - about when does the rest of the world (meaning outside the U.S.) start putting up Christmas decorations? In the U.S., there's an unwritten rule that you don't put them up until after Thanksgiving, although there are exceptions of course. (My neighbor is one of the exceptions, and they have one of the tackiest displays around. ick.)
That being said, it seems that in the last decade or two stores have pretty much ignored Thanksgiving and gone straight to their Christmas decorations after Halloween (or even before!). I used to see Thanksgiving decorations around, but not anymore. (sigh)
B.J.
Posted by Austin Powers (Member # 250) on :
Actually, we in Germany don't do much decorating for Christmas at all. We put some lights on fir trees in our front garden (white lights that is) and that's it. No fancy plastic rubbish or illuminations in all colors of the rainbow. Christmas is not Carnival like some Americans (like your neighbour) seem to think...
And about the "when": end of November, early December.
Posted by Harry (Member # 265) on :
Well, here in the Netherlands it's common courtesy to at least wait until 'Sinterklaas' (5 december) is over. But most people only start decorating half-way december.
There are of course some sad people who already have their house in Christmas style in early November, and keep it that way at least halfway through January. And there are usually some campaigns etc. to keep Christmas out of the shops until the 5th of december, but no-one really cares, and commercial Christmas starts in early November, late October.
And an amusing sidenote, the American Santa Claus is the same as the Dutch Sinterklaas, and of course, Santa Claus is slowly gaining popularity in the Netherlands, so we actually have two bearded men running around in December!
And talking about American holidays creeping in, it seems that in the last few years, Halloween is creeping in. Although mostly as a commercial oppurtunity.
Posted by PsyLiam (Member # 73) on :
Killjoy.
People seem to start putting their decorations up towards the end of November. I've seen maybe one or two so far. Most people who are going to put them up will have done so by the first week of December.
Displays tend to be a bit more subdued that Americans, although not to the extent of the fun-filled Germans. Some people put lights up in their windows, some just stick trees on the window sill.
This doesn't apply to shops though, who put their decorations up as soon as they possibly can. Usually the start of November, but some will be selling advent calenders and the like in October.
Posted by Topher (Member # 71) on :
Well, up here in fun-filled Canada, Christmas displays were going up in stores on October 30. I kid you not. About the week before Rememberance Day (Nov 11), the decorations were going up in malls. My parents usually don't put decorations up until December, sometimes maybe late November if its a nice day so dad can hang the lights. My aunt has her exterior decorations up right now, but I suspect that has something to do with her grandkids being overly energetic on Saturday and she needed something to keep them occupied.
Posted by Jason Abbadon (Member # 882) on :
Here in Fort lauderdale, we have a "Holiday Boat Parade" that showcases dozens of boats, yachts and barges all decorated in lights. It's pretty cool: everyone lines up on bridges and along the riverfront to sing caroles, get drumk, watch the parage, get drumk....
We also have a string of those "over the top" houses that make some sort of dedicated "christmas trail" through several subdvisions. Not abad drive for the spectacle.
Despite the idiocy depicted in movies, the whole nightmare of plastic figures and 1000 watt lights is really rare (at least it is here).
Austin's impression of an American christmas is probably a lot like some people thinking Germany is one biig Octoberfest. Posted by Cartman (Member # 256) on :
There's this idiot in my street who lights up his entire house like, erh, a christmas tree every year from early November to late January. You could probably spot it from orbit if you knew where to look. Through a thunderstorm.
Me, I just bung the smallest tree I can find in my living room on the 20th and be done with it. B)
Posted by Aban Rune (Member # 226) on :
On my way to Dowagiac the other day, I drove by a nasty, hillbilly house where the entire family was outside dragging their giant transluscent plastic Santa and the Reindeer display out of the garage a piece at a time.
Don't tell me that crap is rare. Michigan is full of trash. Florida is much prettier.
Posted by Fleet-Admiral Michael T. Colorge (Member # 144) on :
Imagine my joy here in Los Angeles... Beverly Hills homes can go over the top with a mechanical Santa Clause waving by to drivers on Sunset Blvd. At least that isn't as tacky as decorating the drag queens in West Hollywood for the holidays.
With my family, we start to decorate after Thanksgiving... not before. And yes there used to be Thanksgiving decorations but that was replaced by Christmas gear lately.
Posted by deadcujo (Member # 13) on :
While not quite as lavish homes in Beverly Hills, we like to put up modest stringed lights on the front of our house and a few decorations in our windowed nook area in the front room. And then there's the tree on which we put ages-old decorations and lights. I think we're going with a plastic tree this year--or no tree at all .
Posted by Lee (Member # 393) on :
Ghastly bloody holiday, Christmas. Gets worse every year. And people go more and more over the top about it. Last year in the UK I saw a house with all the lights and decorations up at the end of October. . . Closer inspection revealed it to be a retirement home, maybe they do it early in case any of the residents die before Christmas or something.
New Zealand seems to be pretty low-key about it. A Christmas decorations shop opened in the local mall in late September, but beyond that I've not seen much. Apart from Christmas ads on TV which started advising people to buy stuff in August - but that's understandable, no-one here has any money so I guess they have to spread out their purchases. Oh, well, 17 days to go until I'm outta here. . .
Posted by Nim' (Member # 205) on :
I, and in that I mean Swedes, hang up my christmas star in the window on Dec. 5th, like Harry. The first sunday in December is first advent for us, and we light one candle each sunday on our advent candlestick boxes.
About the tree, I don't quite remember but I think we don't arrange it until one week before christmas.
Swedish christmas trees are generally less colorful than british or american ones (green, red and white/silver), we of course have glassballs and many figurines but mostly just uncolored electric candles for illumination, with "angel hair" wads over the candle tops to give them small halos. It used to be made from glass fiber, itching like hell, but now they make it from non-itchy stough.
Posted by Aban Rune (Member # 226) on :
Ah yes... there's nothing like the potential for massive house fires to bring out the merriment in a holiday.
Posted by Fleet-Admiral Michael T. Colorge (Member # 144) on :
That's why this year I'm not dressing up the tree in holiday garb but a drag queen named Mistress Fena.
Posted by Malnurtured Snay (Member # 411) on :
>>there's an unwritten rule that you don't put them >>up until after Thanksgiving,
HAH. Around here it seems to be, "August is over? Christmas time!"
I wish people would at least wait until Thanksgiving was over. Nope. Can't do it. AAAaaaeargh!
Posted by TSN (Member # 31) on :
I'd like to fill my yard with those gnomes from "Invader Zim" and tell people they're Christmas elves.
Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :
I decorate my Christmas with broken promises.
Posted by Hobbes (Member # 138) on :
I'm sure you could go to some craft store to find Thanksgiving related decorations. I typically wait until at least after Thanksgiving or to December 1st. But my family has never gone overboard on decorations either. Some lights around the outside of the house, mostly. I've always hated those tacky plastic light up yard decorations.
I think it's funny that people consider Christmas as a Christian holiday any more. For example some companies won't use images of Santa because they think Jews will bitch about the company being pro-Christian and not supporting them or something. Last time I checked, Santa and his reindeer weren't religious figures and there wasn't a Christmas tree in the manger where Jesus was born.
Posted by TSN (Member # 31) on :
Yeah, who could ever suppose that Saint Nicholas was a religious figure...?
Posted by PsyLiam (Member # 73) on :
Well, yeah, but I bet a quick poll on the streets would show that most people don't know that's where the name/image/whatever comes from.
"Aren't we forgetting the true meaning of Christmas...the birth of Santa?"
quote:Originally posted by Sol System: I decorate my Christmas with broken promises.
Stop being teenagery.
Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :
I was aiming for old grump.
Posted by Harry (Member # 265) on :
quote:Originally posted by Hobbes: Last time I checked, Santa and his reindeer weren't religious figures and there wasn't a Christmas tree in the manger where Jesus was born.
You should check again. The current American version of the story is the result of a mix of Saint Nicholas celebrations and many different older pagan myths. There's Roman, German, Scandivian, Dutch and Christian stuff all over the Christmas story.
Posted by PsyLiam (Member # 73) on :
But, to be honest, none of that has any significance for the vast majority of people anymore. Santa doesn't equal religious myths and pagan stories. Santa = big fat bloke who brings you presents.
Posted by TSN (Member # 31) on :
But Hobbes' point was that people are scared that anything Christmas-related will be construed as a religious statement. And he tried to back that up with Santa as an example of a Christmas symbol that isn't religious.
Except that, whether people choose to think about it or not, he is.
Posted by Jason Abbadon (Member # 882) on :
A friend of mine used to work for a fencing company and made three razorwire wreaths for out doors. I was in an apartment and the damn thing was too heavy to stay on the nail I hammered in so I had to drag it to the dumpster with a broom handle.
Looked really cool in aTim Burton kinda way though.
This year I plan on repeating my Thanksgiving plans: Work ten hours- take home $400. (Happy Thanksgiving BTW, Flarites!)
Then I go online and blow half of it on Trek models, music and order a pizza.
Probabaly have to field some phone calls from family and the like as well as some "I've been thinking about you" calls from former relationships, relatives and bill collectors.
Percocet will come in handy for all that.
Posted by PsyLiam (Member # 73) on :
quote:Originally posted by TSN: Except that, whether people choose to think about it or not, he is.
He was originally, true. But now? In the same way that the majority of people can go through Christmas completely ignoring the religious aspect, I think you can do it with Santa, an icon that has not been directly tied to anything religious for at least half a century, and probably longer.
Posted by Nim' (Member # 205) on :
I think the british version is even more puzzling. "Father Christmas" sounds like a deputy to God, he's a Father but not THE Father.
I saw a statue of him once, in an english mall, I think it was Hamley's or Harrod's, he sat on a gigantic throne, dressed in white and blue, I seem to recall he had a crown but I'm not sure.
Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :
And out of his mouth proceeded a sharp two-edged sword?
Posted by PsyLiam (Member # 73) on :
I think that Father Christmas used to wear white and blue back in the dim and distant past. For the past 7 billion years though, he's been the same fat bloke with beard in white and red that the US have. I suspect Harrod's (or Hamley's) of trying too hard to be historically clever. Or someitnhg.
Posted by TSN (Member # 31) on :
"In the same way that the majority of people can go through Christmas completely ignoring the religious aspect, I think you can do it with Santa, an icon that has not been directly tied to anything religious for at least half a century, and probably longer."
But that was my point. He didn't say that people ignore the religious aspect. He said that there wasn't one to begin with.
Posted by PsyLiam (Member # 73) on :
Are you nixpicking?
Posted by Lee (Member # 393) on :
You mean there are times when he doesn't?
Posted by PsyLiam (Member # 73) on :
Apparently so. Although those times are spoken of in hushed tones, by people who want to believe in a better world.
Posted by Lee (Member # 393) on :
Oh, that lot. They're believe anything, even The Da Vinci Code. . .
Posted by TSN (Member # 31) on :
I'm just saying that what you said, while correct, does not actually affect my initial point.
Posted by PsyLiam (Member # 73) on :
You had a point?
Posted by Jason Abbadon (Member # 882) on :
Yeas: his point is that CHristmas has become a strictly merchandising holiday because we all fw=eel obligated to buy presents for family, loved ones and friends.
I blame central heating.
No chimney means no Santa bringing presents -so what happens? WE have to assume our relations have been good, deserve gifts and take up the slack while Santa fucks off to the bahamas or wherever with proceeds from his endorsment deals.
Just as well really, you think Roudlph or the other reindeer are still alive? Not the way some Flarites drive....
Posted by Fleet-Admiral Michael T. Colorge (Member # 144) on :
I think Santa borrowed Federation runabout with a transporter unit installed.
Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :
Fw=eel.
Posted by TSN (Member # 31) on :
Is that an electric fw?
Posted by Doctor Jonas (Member # 481) on :
No, it's a forwarding eel.
Here, it would be on December 8th, they day of Mary's Immaculate Conception of Jesus. Damn Catholics staining Christmas.
And the tree last until January 6, the day the Wise Men come. A very Latin-American tradition, that one. Bah, at least the kids get presents two times in 10 days. Or three, like I did, because my birthday is three days after that. Posted by Jason Abbadon (Member # 882) on :
quote:Originally posted by Sol System: Fw=eel.
It's my formula for Zero-Point Sushi. Sure to become holiday favorite.
In holiday news, I saw the first of the bottled Egg Nog at 7-11 last night and decided to give it a try.....untill I read it's label that listed the calories per serving at 230. The pint-bottle was 4 servings! I felt my arteries clogging just holding the thing.
Posted by Nim' (Member # 205) on :
*smacks Sol System on forehead*
Don't think! Feeyul! It is like a turnip, pointing at the moon! *smacks Sol's inner thigh* Don't concentrate on the moon or you will miss all that heavenly turnip.
Posted by PsyLiam (Member # 73) on :
quote:Originally posted by Doctor Jonas: And the tree last until January 6, the day the Wise Men come. A very Latin-American tradition, that one.
Taking down your decorations on the 6th is the norm over here, too.
Posted by TSN (Member # 31) on :
"...Mary's Immaculate Conception of Jesus."
It's odd how many people think that. Even Catholics. I mean, if they're going to claim to believe something, they could at least read up on it first, eh?
Posted by Balaam Xumucane (Member # 419) on :
That's some quick gestation. I know she's all immaculate and everything, but I think we have to face the inescapable conclusion that the virgin mother had some serious stretch-marks.
Posted by TSN (Member # 31) on :
I guess the other option is that it took over thirteen months.
Posted by Jason Abbadon (Member # 882) on :
Mary was holding out for a rent-controlled manger.
Here's something to consider: If Mary was really a virgin at the time of Christ's conception, was she still one when he was born?
I mean, as far as public opinion was concerned, the cat's already out of the bag so....
Posted by TSN (Member # 31) on :
"Here's something to consider: If Mary was really a virgin at the time of Christ's conception, was she still one when he was born?"
According to Catholic dogma, yes. Although, that's something they got from a scripture called the Protevangelium of James. It's also where they came up with Mary's parents' names, and the idea that Joseph was already an old man when he married Mary. And yet, it also claims that Jesus was born in a cave outside of Bethlehem, but that doesn't seem to worry them.
Posted by Jason Abbadon (Member # 882) on :
Sweet: I see a hollywood re-telling in this scripture. Jesus, having not had the benifit of a father, travels the world as a young man learning the skills that will lead him to his destiny. Years later, a young man returns to his ancestral home, finds the cave and begins a one-man crusade against injustice. Joseph can be played by Michael Caine. We'll call it Jesus Begins, or possibly Jesus: Year One.
by the third or fourth sequel, we can establish a nice Dick Grayson/ Judas Iscariot vibe.
Posted by TSN (Member # 31) on :
"Jesus...travels the world as a young man learning the skills that will lead him to his destiny."
You should read Christopher Moore's book Lamb: The Gospel according to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal.
Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :
Certain gnostic texts tell similar stories, if I recall. Or perhaps that's just the modern interpretation.
(That is, of Jesus traveling to, say, India or somewhere. That is to say, you can meet people who claim that Jesus went and studied Buddhism, which is probably not something explicitly described even in gnostic gospels.)
Of course, after making a point about the difference between the Immaculate Conception and Jesus' conception, I'm surprised Tim has let us go in this direction.
Posted by Jason Abbadon (Member # 882) on :
He's suffering from Stigmata-related blindness.
...or he's been out shopping and is still shell-shocked.
Posted by TSN (Member # 31) on :
"...I'm surprised Tim has let us go in this direction."
How so?
Posted by Jason Abbadon (Member # 882) on :
Because of Flare's strict adherence to church dogma and absolute ban on any sarcasm.
Posted by Lee (Member # 393) on :
Actually, it's because Tim's bulk blocks the way, forcing us to make a sizeable detour.
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Florida is much prettier.
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