Commercialisation of christmas

[Eric]

Originally Posted by West Ender

I was in Pets-at-Home last week and noticed they had Xmas stockings for dogs and cats. Even worse were Xmas cards for your pet to send.

Our cat doesn't know or care about dates on the calendar. When it comes to December 25th she won't give a damn as long as she gets her breakfast and can curl up on a warm bed, upstairs, to sleep all day. We're fond of our cat and she's fond of us but she's a cat, for goodness sake, not a person.

Not being people is what makes them so lovable ... my animals might be a pain in the butt at times, and a pain in the wallet when they visit the vet; but animals have never let me down; unlike many humans I can think of .... no make that most humans

[Lilly]

Originally Posted by MargaretR

I once bought pet supplies from a website which specialises in that sort of thing.


I have just been amazed by an email from them trying to persuade me to buy -
"an advent calendar for your pet"


How ridiculous is that? - If anyone thinks it isn't, please advise me how to ask my cat about his religous preferences

Any of you seen any more examples of such exploitation?

There must be people with more money than sense if these things are selling.

Those advent calenders that feature characters from children's tv shows always annoy me.

What have The Tweenies or Thomas the Tank Engine got to do with Christmas?

It's just another ploy to make money out of people with children.

I always buy an advent calender with a nativity scene on.....no characters from children's tv shows for us.

[garinda]

An advent calendar should be for life, not just for Christmas.

You could do away with the traditional tree, if you can make your pet sit still in the corner of the room long enough, as there tasteful outfits actually light up and flash.

Dog Christmas Costumes

[jaysay]

I can quite understand people trying to exploit Christmas in this way. There are people who treat their pets like children. I once knew a woman who had a Pekineses, or as I called it a rat on a lead, neither her or her Husband had an holiday for over 10 years because they wouldn't leave the dog or put it in kennels and they wouldn't go anywhere if they couldn't take the mutt. I'm a dog lover but lets get real an advent calendar, give me strength

[emamum]

i used to have a peke.....bloomin stupid things!

Im not getting anything for the cat for christmas....she will have a tree to climb in and tinsel and wrapping paper to attack plus the leftovers of christmas dinner, christmas tea and boxing day buffet, what more would she need?

[kestrelx]

In the Sainsbury's near me they put the Christmas cakes/mince pies on sale in late September. Some the the mince pies have a sell by date of November! I don't think that is November 2009 but this year that is very cynical and is obviously aimed at getting the chikdren to want them and make their parents shell out for Christmas goods well before Christmas! That's the commercialisation of Christmas for you.

[emamum]

oooh i love mince pies and that christmas cake with the marzipan in the middle and covered in icing sugar yum yum

[kestrelx]

It's very nice at Christmas but not too early - though there are a few people who have decorations up all year round and eat Christmas dinner every day it is a bit sickening!

[emzy]

My decorations wont go up until the beginning of december, and no sooner. And thats only for the boys really, its the first year where they are gonna have any idea that there is something going on lol have been too young until now so am kinda looking forward to this year although it has been expensive and will no doubt end up spending more before the day is here

[yerself]

Margaret, why is an atheist concerned about the commercialisation of Christmas ? Come to think of it, why is an atheist bothered about Christmas at all?

[MargaretR]

Originally Posted by yerself

Margaret, why is an atheist concerned about the commercialisation of Christmas ? Come to think of it, why is an atheist bothered about Christmas at all?

Even though I have no religion, it galls me to see the people who have religion, being exploited for material gain.

[jaysay]

Originally Posted by kestrelx

It's very nice at Christmas but not too early - though there are a few people who have decorations up all year round and eat Christmas dinner every day it is a bit sickening!

Well for me I could eat mince pies, Christmas cake and hot cross buns all year round, because I like them, the only thing is they don't to much for thewaste line

[jambutty]

The tradition used to be that the kids were packed off to bed on Xmas Eve and then the parents set to, to trim up, decorate the tree and spread the presents around the base.

Before retiring for the night mum or dad would creep into the kids’ bedroom/s and very quietly fill the stockings with sweets and fruit.

Come Xmas morning (usually very early) the shouts of joy from the kids as they saw the transformation downstairs was enough to forgive them for waking up early.

It was a magical time but sadly it is no more.

It’s called progress.

[MikeSz]

Being a normally cheery soul for 83.33333*% of the year I nonetheless fall into a state of despair and emotional turmoil when the capital 'C' word is so much as whispered. This is normally because it is usually peeps its nervous head from beneath the only recently fallen Autumn leaves sometime in mid October, and if my cynical observations are anything to go by, usually encountered as a by product of some tenuously linked casual conversation about meals or shopping.

Now please don’t take me the wrong way. I love Christmas - but the actual festival itself in recognition of you know, what its actually about, and would much rather dispense with the marathon of shoppers clambering for this years much coveted 'whatever' whilst slaughtering the sacrificial lambs at the alter of capitalism, or at least the Trafford Centre, in a blind misguided and sheep like exercise in quasi-orgasmic consumerism.

Christmas meals are frantically being booked, card lists written and I am already hearing stories of how people have completed their Christmas shopping. My local Tesco is already a thronging mass of hapless shoppers eagerly availing themselves of the latest beer and chocolate offers – all seasonably packaged and promoted for Christmas consumption. And if we take a casual look at the calendar, it is shocking to see that we are still only in Mid-November. “Oooh its getting closer now” one colleague ventured to suggest to me yesterday. Actually its six weeks away and why do you need so much beer and chocolate anyway?

Town Centre lights are being turned on all over the country though the Trafford Centre has had its decorations – including seasonal metal antelopes (as Deer have to grow their horns every year I cannot imagine from the representation that they are Reindeer) on nearby roundabouts up for far longer, just in case we wanted to cling on to Autumn for longer than was allowed. And each time I drive past them a small corner of my soul dies with a painful screech before descending into oblivion.

Call me boring, but Christmas should begin with Advent – “oh no, a Religious undertone!” cry out the loony left. Not quite. I am not going to embark on a political tirade for no other reason than it simply shouldn’t matter. Christmas is what it is, and one doesn’t need to be exclusionist, religionist, or anything else for that matter to hold the opinion that if you are going to have a Christmas, at least recognise what it actually is or we’re going to have to call it something else.

For those who care I’m sure I need not continue. For those that don’t, boxes of Cadbury’s Roses are 2 for £7 at Asda.

[lancsdave]

Originally Posted by jambutty

It was a magical time but sadly it is no more.

It’s called progress.

I think it's actually called getting old. Any kids I know still think it's a magical time.