Happy Christmas everyone!
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Now that it is officially the Christmas season, I thought I’d be the first to wish you a happy one.
No, I’m not off my rocker (in 3 months time – different story), but yesterday someone who clearly was made me scream internally.
Having a look at the various products I had for sale, she asks “Have you not got any Christmas things out yet?”.
Normally it is retailers who jump the gun on the seasons, especially the larger chain stores. Penneys, Debenhams, M&S and others started the Christmas creep before the schools went back. Nobody likes it and to be perfectly frank, any retailer that starts decking the halls with boughs of holly in August should be boycotted and have the holly stuck so far up their holes that they start sprouting it their ears.
When “punters” start asking about Christmas stock though, it really is a sad state of affairs. I’d love to ‘get inside the head’ of someone like that and just see how many screws they have loose. I really and truly cannot understand it.
I hate to start off a sentence “In my day” – but I will. In my day, Christmas started in December. That’s when we got the Advent calendar, when Blue Peter was the cue to make an Advent Crown from a couple of coat hangers and some tinsel. It was when we had Christmas exams and knew that when they were over, the festivities could begin in earnest. It was the Late Late Toy Show with simple toys and a presenter who knew how to do these things right. It was making Yuletide logs. It was the annual thrill of picking out a Christmas tree. It was genuinely a time of plenty,
I’ve asked my parents and they concur. They never felt pressurised into buying extravagant toys. We got whatever they could afford and we were as happy as could be. My brothers and sister feel the pressure at this time of year and, I guess, if I had a child I would feel the pressure too.
Quite obviously, it’s pressure that shouldn’t be there and it’s our own fault for letting things get this way. Consumers have incredible power, but only when enough stand together and say “Enough of this, we don’t want Christmas pushed in our faces in September..”.
It’s unlikely to happen and it’s something I wish would, because the day when someone asks “have you got any Christmas stuff out”, you just know there’s something very, very wrong.
6 Comments
September 30th, 2008 at 12:38 pm
Ah, the tragic death of the Toy Show. It was horrible to see PK struggling to cope with it.
September 30th, 2008 at 3:26 pm
Here’s the type of person I hate… Someone who has far too much free time and is so bloody organized that they have everything for Christmas bought, wrapped, stuffed and ready months in advance. I can see some small shred of logic behind it, but please, for the love of little baby jesus, don’t look at the rest of us come December with our tired eyes, heavy bags and shredded nerves, and tell us with that oh-so-smug look on your face that you had it all sorted ages ago. Feck off! I’m going to be wrecked with the throngs of people come December, and I’m going to love it.
September 30th, 2008 at 3:45 pm
Now that I’ve calmed down and begun to think about this rationally, is this indicative of consumer attitudes in Ireland today? Think back to as early as the 90s… Concert tickets for large gigs never really sold out within minutes, few bought the latest gaming console or game on its release date, you never had queues forming for the latest gadget (again on release day), and not many people were buying Christmas goods months before December. Have we turned into ravenous consumers who will leap over their own mother to grab what they presume they need, and need now!?
September 30th, 2008 at 6:36 pm
That is a bit mad all right.
September 30th, 2008 at 11:38 pm
The really organised people are so bad, you’re right.
I have to hold my hand up on the gadget front. I did get the iPhone 3G on release day, but I didn’t queue or prebook.
No problem with spending a few bob at Christmas but within reason. I’ve heard of people spending 1k or more on their Christmas gifts for same number of people as myself. I’ve never spent more than 2 or 300 in total and everyone says I always manage to buy something different and unexpected. Last year I did all my shopping in an hour and a half about 2 weeks before Dec 25th. I had a list and just went down to the Bridgewater centre on a Monday afternoon. It was virtually empty – no queues, no panic, no fuss
October 1st, 2008 at 5:03 pm
Ah would ya stop.