More People being turned off Christmas?

Franz Von Peppercorn · 28-12-2018 01:11AM

vetinari wrote: »

I mean was there ever a time when Christmas wasn't heavily commercialized?
I'm in my mid thirties and my parents had major stress when I was young over having to get presents for us.
The volume of presents may have gone up these days but the underlying principle is the same.

It’s been commercialised since the 19C.

Blaizes · 28-12-2018 01:11AM

vetinari wrote: »

I like the sound of that.
January and February are always a bit of a dose.

I do feel though that a lot of the people in this thread are just looking for a reason to be down about Christmas.
With the likes of Netflix, podcasts, other streaming sites etc, it's pretty easy to avoid a lot of the Christmas media if you want to.
It's like someone seeing one shop out of a hundred having Christmas decorations in October and going mental about it.

I mean was there ever a time when Christmas wasn't heavily commercialized?
I'm in my mid thirties and my parents had major stress when I was young over having to get presents for us.
The volume of presents may have gone up these days but the underlying principle is the same.

Well I think it's hyper commercial now compared to the past, more food choices, more packaging, more gift choice, more expectations.But maybe a change is coming.Anyway I have decided that next year everyone is getting vouchers for Christmas, experiences instead of gifts.

Franz Von Peppercorn · 28-12-2018 01:17AM

George Bernard Shaw decrying Christmas excess, probably 100 years ago now.

https://twitter.com/lettersofnote/status/1077200384664453125?s=21

jos28 · 28-12-2018 01:18AM

Christmas should be like the Olympics - only happens every 4 years. I might enjoy it then

Richard Hillman · 28-12-2018 01:40AM

Christmas is very hard to avoid if you work in retail. People shopping on Stephens Day really grinds my gears though.

The clientele is very specific, women on their own who want to get away from their families. Then there are migrants, who probably don't have an extended family in Ireland. I don't mind the latter but the shops still shouldn't be open.

Post Christmas sales are another complete nuisance. They barely exist anymore, as most shops are on sale in the lead up to Christmas. So you have idiots queuing up on Christmas night for things that were on sale a couple of days previously. There will be one or 2 things reduced and with limited supply to get the punters in, but everything else is the same.

Blaizes · 28-12-2018 01:45AM

Apparently Black Friday eroded a lot of post Christmas sales plus lots of people are buying online now.The whole face of retail is changing at a very rapid pace.

theguzman · 28-12-2018 02:40AM

I made a decision to pay the premium and head somewhere warm like the Canary Islands or South America or SE Asia for 2 to 3 weeks of Christmas next year. I can't stand the muck of commercialism and grey skies constant drab weather this time of year.

mvl · 28-12-2018 03:25AM

The TV/commercial radio ARE turned off for good in my house // we got rid of the TV 7 years ago (as young responsible parents that we were, after seeing the effect TV had on our then toddler).
- I mostly go to the shops for my grocery shopping, as I moved to online for pressies (makes more sense, due to my location). This is easy to survive.
So Xmas is pretty much about what I remember from my childhood (except the snow): I usually enjoy few days of soul food cooking for my family/friends.

freshpopcorn · 28-12-2018 06:30AM

CelticRambler wrote: »

Our local supermarkets are still selling Christmas chocolate at full price today because people will be buying them this week to give as presents next week.

You should move to my town in Cork.
Supervalu sell there left over Christmas stock full price all year around along with there Halloween/Easter stuff.

freshpopcorn · 28-12-2018 06:32AM

Blaizes wrote: »

Apparently Black Friday eroded a lot of post Christmas sales plus lots of people are buying online now.The whole face of retail is changing at a very rapid pace.

I've a friend who works in retail and a few years ago at the start of the recession the store had there busiest day ever even during the highest of the Celtic Tiger. That year only a handful of stores opened in the centre and the next year almost everywhere opened.

OldMrBrennan83 · 28-12-2018 06:59AM

Richard Hillman wrote: »

Christmas is very hard to avoid if you work in retail. People shopping on Stephens Day really grinds my gears though.

The clientele is very specific, women on their own who want to get away from their families. Then there are migrants, who probably don't have an extended family in Ireland. I don't mind the latter but the shops still shouldn't be open.

Post Christmas sales are another complete nuisance. They barely exist anymore, as most shops are on sale in the lead up to Christmas. So you have idiots queuing up on Christmas night for things that were on sale a couple of days previously. There will be one or 2 things reduced and with limited supply to get the punters in, but everything else is the same.

If you're not working and you're not shopping then it's absolutely nothing to do with you.

Try_harder · 28-12-2018 07:26AM

Moanist whiniest thread ever on boards. Christmas is not compulsory

DEFTLEFTHAND · 28-12-2018 08:17AM

Another I witnessed on the 23rd was a live turkey killing.

My uncle walked into their holding and picked the largeset. Once he got hold of the bird, he wrang its neck, whispering, shish shish in the process. The bird was flapping in desperation

Poor auld bird, I feel sorry for his friends out there wondering where he has gone.

We ate this bird.

Graces7 · 28-12-2018 08:37AM

fryup wrote: »

but you're treated like a leper if you're not in modern day society

You need to change who you mix with.

Graces7 · 28-12-2018 08:42AM

CB19Kevo wrote: »

Should be a nice time of year,still is but to me there is a concentrated effort to ruin it by dragging it out, Starts with retailers putting up Decorations in October,Christmas music from late November and pressure being exerted to spend,spend,spend.

If some of these trends could be reversed it would become far more pleasant an occasion.

No need to join in? And always some great bargains in the Price Wars! I ate well for less than in October! stored storable items... USE the hype rather than letting it use you? I enjoyed it all this year. All the fruit and veg at 49 cents! Wonderful! Cheap turkeys; I have one still in the freezer...

28-12-2018 10:48AM

JupiterKid wrote: »

I like Christmas but loathe the disgusting commercialism and forced cheeriness spewed forth by the media and advertsing. Add social media into the mix like FB and it can get too much for some.

The way it gets relentlessly earlier each year, the pressure to outdo others in buying lavish and often unaffordable gifts, putting up decorations and the tree in November (WTF?.)

I have a feeling that the over-commercialisation of Christmas in the West could eventually backfire on advertisers and businesses seeking to bleed people dry as more and more people just eschew the false Christmas over-consumption over the coming 20 years. In fact, I can see see this trend already starting.

Anyone else see this happening?

No FB or Insta, no pressure to outdo anybody in the presents department (family just buy for the nieces and nephews), minimal decorations (sure we didn't even put up a tree this year), very little exposure to ads due to boxsets etc, got engaged, spent days off with the family having the craic..........I'd a bleedin' great Christmas.

Irish Guitarist · 28-12-2018 11:15AM

The time my father got sick Christmas day 1999 turned me off Christmas a little. The doctor told us on the eve of the Millenium that my father wasn't going to make it. He died four days later. That kind of turned me off New Year as well.

I usually get by okay thinking of Christmas as a normal day, but around New Year I get depressed. I sometimes watch the countdown on television but it really depresses me. And in my opinion For Auld Lang Syne is the most miserable song that ever existed.

The Late Late Show · 28-12-2018 02:11PM

Christmas, no. Irish Christmas TV, yes. Seeing a middle aged man dressed up as a foul-mouthed middle aged woman is all that is pushed at us as the highlight of TV. Apart from its obvious misogyny and vulgarity, it is also extremely boring, without story and unfunny. Mrs Brown and her boys should take a hike. Best way to enjoy Christmas is avoid RTE!

bladespin · 28-12-2018 02:36PM

The Late Late Show wrote:

Christmas, no. Irish Christmas TV, yes. Seeing a middle aged man dressed up as a foul-mouthed middle aged woman is all that is pushed at us as the highlight of TV. Apart from its obvious misogyny and vulgarity, it is also extremely boring, without story and unfunny. Mrs Brown and her boys should take a hike. Best way to enjoy Christmas is avoid RTE!

Would ya stop! Mrs Brown and the late late toy show are the only times RTE is turned on in our house, RTE certainly not justifying the fee from us anyway.

Duffy the Vampire Slayer · 28-12-2018 03:48PM

theguzman wrote: »

I made a decision to pay the premium and head somewhere warm like the Canary Islands or South America or SE Asia for 2 to 3 weeks of Christmas next year. I can't stand the muck of commercialism and grey skies constant drab weather this time of year.

Can't speak for everywhere but it's probably worse in Colombia than in Ireland.

theguzman · 28-12-2018 06:35PM

Duffy the Vampire Slayer wrote: »

Can't speak for everywhere but it's probably worse in Colombia than in Ireland.

But your on holidays and its much nicer, hot climate, hot gorgeous latina women in Bikinis, a certain feeling of smugness knowing your away from it all.

The only thing that would derail it for me would be to be in a tropical country and something like the beast from the east to blow into Ireland and paralyse the country. I only like Christmas and Winter if we get a few inches of the white stuff.

dudara · 28-12-2018 06:41PM

Christmas is what you make of it. Don’t allow the hype to overwhelm you.

I’m fortunate that my job allows me to take good leave, so I usually take 2 weeks and I don’t go back until the end of Christmas around Jan 6th. I love this time of year, sitting all cozy in front of the fire with the tree twinkling away.

bladespin · 28-12-2018 07:45PM

dudara wrote:

Christmas is what you make of it. Donâ€™t allow the hype to overwhelm you.

Spot on.

Duffy the Vampire Slayer · 28-12-2018 08:47PM

theguzman wrote: »

But your on holidays and its much nicer, hot climate, hot gorgeous latina women in Bikinis, a certain feeling of smugness knowing your away from it all.

The only thing that would derail it for me would be to be in a tropical country and something like the beast from the east to blow into Ireland and paralyse the country. I only like Christmas and Winter if we get a few inches of the white stuff.

I find it very hard to feel like it's Christmas here for that same reason. Whatever about Bogota (Which is relatively cold), I was on the Colombian coast just before Christmas and I really didn't feel like it was that time of year.

Thespoofer · 28-12-2018 08:53PM

Hi OP, I agree with your post.
In fact was speaking about this in work recently and made the prediction that in 20 years time Christmas and the way we celebrated it will be no more than a memory.

bladespin · 02-01-2019 04:55PM

Thespoofer wrote: »

Hi OP, I agree with your post.
In fact was speaking about this in work recently and made the prediction that in 20 years time Christmas and the way we celebrated it will be no more than a memory.

Pretty sure I heard that exact same conversation in a pub 20 years back and yet...

The Late Late Show · 02-01-2019 05:34PM

JupiterKid wrote: »

I like Christmas but loathe the disgusting commercialism and forced cheeriness spewed forth by the media and advertsing. Add social media into the mix like FB and it can get too much for some.

The way it gets relentlessly earlier each year, the pressure to outdo others in buying lavish and often unaffordable gifts, putting up decorations and the tree in November (WTF?.)

I have a feeling that the over-commercialisation of Christmas in the West could eventually backfire on advertisers and businesses seeking to bleed people dry as more and more people just eschew the false Christmas over-consumption over the coming 20 years. In fact, I can see see this trend already starting.

Anyone else see this happening?

I feel the same. Christmas and everything else too for that matter is being marred by over the top commercialism. You start hearing about Christmas even before Halloween is over and you hear about Halloween at the end of August. Halloween and Christmas have merged into a super-festive season to cover commercialism culture for the winter.

The other thing I hate is how quickly this culture ends Christmas and then as early as Christmas Day, it is all talk of the sales and then all this dieting and fitness commercialism takes over then. Disgusting all of it and people being brainwashed to follow like sheep. Christmas for me starts around the 20th December and ends around the 6th January and that is a period to enjoy and take it easy.

One can have a more enjoyable Christmas, indeed any time of the year, if one blots out the blatant commercialism that tries to take over. The commercialism knows no bounds and is within one should they allow it in: after this 'fitness' drivel, it will be Valentine's day you will hear about come the last few days of January and then Easter after that in say later February (I'm surprised St Patrick's Day hasn't been commercialised yet to the same extent as the others). Mothers Day and Fathers Day are thrown in too.Then, it will be summer things and back to school the minute children get their holidays. Then it will be the massive Halloween/Christmas mega-festival again.

Spanish Eyes · 02-01-2019 05:37PM

Follow the money. Poor Jesus.

Ipso · 02-01-2019 07:19PM

There was a very interesting documentary that came out a few years ago called What would Jeus buy, worth checking out.

More People being turned off Christmas?

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