Archives
Hey, this is the archive section. Pick a year, pick a month, have a nosey.Shortie
Too soon to be seeing Santa?
17-11-2010No sooner that Halloween was over (and in some cases even the week before it was) stores wheeled out the Christmas decorations and promotions as they started to get ready for the festive holiday - two months away!
Tescos if I recall correctly began to get ready for the Christmas holidays at the beginning of October, what is next, decorating the tree in July?
My mum always said that it wasn't time to get ready until you saw THEE Christmas ad on TV. I think you all know the one I am referring to. That's right, the Coca Cola advert 'Holidays are coming'. That one was always saved until closer to the 'big day'.
Even in recent years the famous Santa bearing lorry didnt make an appearance on the millions of TV screens until December 1st. I was ok with this. December is plenty of time to start getting ready and excited for Christmas.
I don't want to sound like a scrounge who hates Christmas, ba hum bug and all that jazz, but really, in the last 5 years things have got out of control.
It's not the general public that are to blame but rather the shops. They know that by starting earlier they are putting pressure on families to spend earlier. The longer the lead in, the more time kids have to pick out what they want from Santa, the more time they have the longer those lists are likely to be. In this day and age parents are foolish enough to fork out thousands of pounds on keeping the little ones happy. Gone are the days when you got to ask for one thing, and a surprise along with the obligitory selection box. We always got a few extra bits and pieces on Christmas morning but we never ever had the cheek to right a A4 page long list to 'Santa' with our demands. That was a sure fire way to end up with nothing more than orange peels on Christmas morning.
Did getting so much less than kids today make our Christmases any less festive? Hell no. We were up every year at 6am (and sometimes earlier) unable to sleep with the excitement. The thought that the big man himself had actually visited our house. We would rush down and the first thing we would check was the fire. We used to have a plant that sat in front of our fire and every year it was knocked over with the soil skirted all over the carpet, you can't beat authenticity.
Santa when he came to our house was a big fan of Harp beer and a slice of Christmas cake, the remains of which would be inspected with a fine tooth comb before we got round to checking out what we got. Shrieks of delighted as we admired our spoils and hid our selection boxes before Daddy would come down the stairs and innocently ask each of us if we had any sweets we wanted to share, before exclaiming how awful it was that Santa obviously forgot to leave us some selection boxes, all the while trying not to laugh at the poor hiding choice of my little brother - his selection box had formed a neat rectangle as it was shoved up his pajama top. That was Christmas.
No stacked piles of presents almost as high as the Christmas tree, just good old fashion fun and appreciation for what the big man did bring for you.
Thoughts of my childhood Christmases are filled with such happy memories. Memories that I hope did not bankrupt my parents as they succumbed to the pressures of advertising and a two month build up to Christmas. Memories of how Christmas should be.
This year even Coca Cola is upping the ante as on Monday infamous lorry made it's first appearance.
This year we will be doing Kris Kringle again. It has taken over from Santa in our house as we all now all well into our 20's but it doesn't mean we have lost the fun. The element of surprise is still there and one meaningful present is worth so much more than hundreds of expensive but less personal ones. We will try and slip the presents under the tree un-noticed so no one is really sure who got who. We will all wake up and open the presents together on Christmas morning and no doubt shriek with delight over our spoils. Mummy will get all of us selection boxes, which you can bet my dad will try and pilfer, although hopefully this year my brother will not try and hide his up his pajama top. And if that is the only thing that changes then fantastic.
To all those parents who will foolishly go over board and indulge their kids with every Christmas present on that demanding A4 Christmas list, more fool you. It is those kids I can guarantee will be the ones playing in the corner with the bubble wrap or the over sized box on Christmas morning.
Tags: meanderings
Leave a comment