Reindeer on the roundabout already!

Exactly, it just gets sillier every year. There was an advert in the TV Book which said " Save now for a debt free Christmas 2011!!!

Val

 

:hehe: I celebrate Christmas by trying to avoid most of it. I don't quite understand the seasonal panic which takes hold of people who seem quite normal during the rest of the year. So what if you've forgotten the cranberry sauce or those little sausages with the bacon wrapped around them? Will anyone die if they don't get their Boots 'three for two' gift? It's all a load of brussels sprouts if you ask me. However, in case you're wondering, the 25th is quite jolly in my house, especially since we have now eliminated all the things which once made it a pain. As far as my sons are concerned, these include: silly paper hats, sprouts, charades, being stuck in endless jams on the M25, bracing walks and having to kiss ancient relatives. In fact, having to kiss anyone at all.

 

Having spent all my working life in retail, I'm not overly fond of Christmas. This year as usual, we will be mostly on our own as we get any "seasonal family visiting" out of the way before the event.

We never have a turkey; it amazes me why people will pay silly prices for a meat at which most will turn up their noses at any other time of the year.
We usually have a lobster each (after all it's Christmas) but the supply tends to be a bit hit and miss from our local fishmonger at that time of the year, so steak is always "on the substitutes' bench."

But I will have my regular Christmas sweet. Black cherries in kirsch with cream, a jar will last me several meals. So it should, I can remember a few years ago they were about £7 in M&S, this year they were £11 and we were lucky to have got the last jar, two weeks ago!


We don't bother with Christmas decorations or a tree, but we do display all the Christmas cards and have the "traditional" fairy light display in the porch (but not blue ones, I hate them!) Youngest son and family will visit Christmas morning, they live 2 miles away, the other two children, live 200mls away, 50 miles apart.
We once when staying with one in Egham over Christams and drove round the M25 to Kingswood to see the other, on Christmas Eve. It took five hours! (there were two or three big accidents apparently) Never again! Apart from exchanging seasonal pleasantries with neighbours it will be not much different to any other week-end. But it will be golf on Bank holiday Monday.

 

How sad! Is 'gardeners Corner' becoming the home for 'Grumpy old men (and women)? Away with gloom and doom and enjoy the festive season for what it is - a great time for families and friends to get together and exchange gifts - why no!

I admit to missing the fun at the local garden centres which have all changed into 'Santa's grotto' for the duration but having said that I think tha if people did not want it they would not do it.................on with the fun!

 

We've had Christmas commercials on the tv here, for about the past 2 weeks, and the same for Christmas things on the shelf.....they are side by side with the Halloween things!!!

 

The irritating thing in many stores is that regular lines have either the number of facings cut back, or are "temporarily discontinued during the Christmas period" to make room for "seasonal lines," some of them really naff. This can infuriate shoppers if they can't find something they regularly purchase, or it's been "moved right over there." M&S are the worst offenders as they move stuff around practically every week.

It amazes me that some retailers don't seem to care that they can alienate some of their regular customers with this practice. They tend to ignore the fact that many customers just want to "get in, find what they want, get served quick and get out again." They aren't really interested in "the seasonal shopping experience" they are often "up to here with it" before they enter the shop.

 

That's nothing. Just down the road from me is a statue of some hero or other with his arm outstretched in a sort of noble 'Onward men! Last one left with the full complement of limbs is a cissy!' gesture. Unfortunately it is also exactly the sort of pose adopted by local drunks whilst attempting to keep their balance after they've had a skinful. Last Christmas our hero sported a can of Fosters jammed into his beckoning mitt as well as a large traffic bollard which had been shoved on his head. One year he wore a bra as well.

 

Oh this is hilarious!!!:lollol:

Val

 

I tried to get a photo, Gemini - I thought it might make a good Christmas card - but some killjoy had removed everything.