mxleader on 27/11/2023 at 16:08
Sometimes I forget that this forum is a international one. I was about to make a post in the What Are You Listening To thread but then the tiny gears in my mouse brain started spinning ... All the gears just spin independently though because most of the teeth are missing....
In the US we have this tradition and tendency to switch to the Christmas holiday right after Thanksgiving. Before the official change to the current method of determining the Thanksgiving holiday on the calendar in 1939 and when Coca-Cola redefined Christmas things were less precise. But fast forward to today without going into the long history of how Thanksgiving in the US came about. Interestingly though the date of Thanksgiving around the American Civil War superseded the Evacuation holiday from when the British finally fled from the US at the end of the Revolutionary war.
That all said when do you's peoples kick off your Christmas holiday if you do such a thing?
josephpayne on 27/11/2023 at 16:34
The kickoff for the Christmas holiday varies widely around the world, often tied to cultural or religious traditions. In the United States, many people start celebrating right after Thanksgiving. In the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth countries, the Christmas season traditionally begins with Advent in late November. In some European countries like Germany and Austria, the Christmas season starts with Saint Nicholas' Day on December 6th. However, it's important to note that these are general trends and individual practices can vary greatly.
Sulphur on 27/11/2023 at 17:42
A momentous occasion: our first ChatGPT bot.
mxleader on 27/11/2023 at 17:45
Quote Posted by Sulphur
A momentous occasion: our first ChatGPT bot.
I'll mark it on the calendar for next year's celebration. :laff:
Nicker on 27/11/2023 at 18:28
Yarrrr. Bumhug!
Wait until December before invoking the "C" word, please.
How can it be a special time of year when it starts the day after Halloween and lasts until mid January?
heywood on 27/11/2023 at 20:12
Another US perspective here. When I was a kid in the 70s and 80s, our first thoughts of Christmas arrived in September with the Sears Wish Book. I'm sure some people here remember that. But Black Friday wasn't a thing yet, and in my area we didn't see decorations going up until the beginning of December. I was raised as a Congregationalist, and for me the service on the first day of Advent was the start of Christmas season. The church would be decorated, the number of families in attendance would swell, we'd start singing seasonal hymns, and everybody would hang around long afterward chatting and catching up while kids played.
I spent the 1990s in college, grad school, and military service. I didn't pay much attention to Christmas until I was traveling to meet family, or briefly when attending a holiday party. But I couldn't help but notice the increasing commercialization through that decade and the rise of Black Friday and making the whole thing about deal shopping. Meanwhile, nativity scenes and the like were disappearing as most of suburban America started to brush aside the Christian elements of the holiday.
Then I married into a family obsessed with holiday decorations and wrapping as many boxes as possible, which made me hate Christmas for years until I had kids. Before kids, I left it mostly to my wife to meet her family's shopping expectations. With kids, I appreciate the holiday more, especially Christmas morning at home. The kids get me to start right after Thanksgiving every year by cutting down and decorating a tree. I also handle most of the kids presents and cook a special Christmas Eve meal for just us. We avoid Thanksgiving weekend shopping like the plague. I still dread the incessant holiday music everywhere that starts the day after Thanksgiving, all the wasteful buying and associated trash, having to eat another overcooked roasted Turkey as the celebratory meal, and the aftermath of unwanted gifts to get rid of. But I like having a week off to stay home and play with the kids and cook.
The only two other countries I've spent a Christmas season in are Australia and England, and they're just like what I'm used to in the US minus the Black Friday madness.
demagogue on 27/11/2023 at 20:19
When I was teaching Myanmar law students, the Christian students (from the Kachin, Karenni, & Keren ethnic groups) would kick things off on midnight of December 1, which they call "Sweet December", by singing carols at midnight, in our case to the only other group on the campus they could carol to, the Buddhist students trying to sleep through it, with a few of them even covering their heads with their pillows. I found the whole scene very amusing.
The school generally let the students do their own customs for the different holidays and events, but the reactions of the other students varied from very engaged to curious to outright annoyed. XD
mxleader on 27/11/2023 at 21:54
Quote Posted by Nicker
Yarrrr. Bumhug!
Wait until December before invoking the "C" word, please.
How can it be a special time of year when it starts the day after Halloween and lasts until mid January?
If everyday is special than no day is special.
Quote Posted by heywood
Another US perspective here. When I was a kid in the 70s and 80s, our first thoughts of Christmas arrived in September with the Sears Wish Book. I'm sure some people here remember that. But Black Friday wasn't a thing yet, and in my area we didn't see decorations going up until the beginning of December. I was raised as a Congregationalist, and for me the service on the first day of Advent was the start of Christmas season. The church would be decorated, the number of families in attendance would swell, we'd start singing seasonal hymns, and everybody would hang around long afterward chatting and catching up while kids played.
I spent the 1990s in college, grad school, and military service. I didn't pay much attention to Christmas until I was traveling to meet family, or briefly when attending a holiday party. But I couldn't help but notice the increasing commercialization through that decade and the rise of Black Friday and making the whole thing about deal shopping. Meanwhile, nativity scenes and the like were disappearing as most of suburban America started to brush aside the Christian elements of the holiday.
I recall the Sears catalogs from then but my family was experiencing a bit of an economic hardship due to an injury a parent sustained so we were more of a pick out something from the Montgomery Ward catalog and see if you could find it at the Goodwill.
Quote Posted by demagogue
When I was teaching Myanmar law students, the Christian students (from the Kachin, Karenni, & Keren ethnic groups) would kick things off on midnight of December 1, which they call "Sweet December", by singing carols at midnight, in our case to the only other group on the campus they could carol to, the Buddhist students trying to sleep through it, with a few of them even covering their heads with their pillows. I found the whole scene very amusing.
The school generally let the students do their own customs for the different holidays and events, but the reactions of the other students varied from very engaged to curious to outright annoyed. XD
That's pretty funny.
Pyrian on 27/11/2023 at 22:31
Quote Posted by Nicker
How can it be a special time of year when it starts the day after Halloween and lasts until mid January?
At the stores, Thanksgiving is an afterthought except for
maybe the frozen turkey section. Christmas starts November 1st, and continues until Valentine's Day starts on December 26th.
bjack on 28/11/2023 at 02:37
If you are in the USA, or a country that has a Costco, then you know it starts in mid July. And yes, Easter starts in January. Halloween in late August. Got to spend spend spend! Merry/Happy Christmas, or other holiday of your choice :)
