Christmas in November? No!

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I love everything about Christmas. I love decorating the tree and displaying the cards. I love the carols and the annual Christmas songs that are blasted out in every store. I love the Christmas market that appears in Birmingham every year (even though many Brummies I know think of it in the same way as New Yorkers view Times Square). I love wrapping the presents, drinks with friends, planning the dinner on the day and stocking up on Boxing Day treats. I love Christmas movies and over the years The Bloke and I have developed our own little traditions of when we watch them. In particular, I love the general festive cheer that the community adopts, making more of an effort to be kind to each other.

I LOVE Christmas.

But Christmas in November? No! Stop it!

I was binge-watching Netflix shows for most of yesterday and decided to put the regular channels on instead for a while to give my brain a break. Within five minutes I had seen bloody Christmas adverts for three, yes – THREE different companies. On the bloody 3rd November. We haven’t even had Bonfire Night or Remembrance Day yet.

It’s getting worse every year. As soon as Halloween is over, KAPOW! The stores look like the tinsel fairy has vomited everywhere, Mariah Carey and Wham starts blasting through the speakers, the adverts begin and Christmas officially starts being rammed down our throats. Half of the adverts aren’t even inventive – it’s often the same advert that the company has been using all year, just with the addition of sleigh bells to the music in the background. Genius. 

Unfortunately, by the time it actually gets to Christmas, many people are so sick of it that they’ve lost all enthusiasm for the day. And as a Brit, there are other things in November that I deem to be far more important…

Bah Humbug. 

If you celebrate Christmas, when do you start feeling festive?

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61 thoughts on “Christmas in November? No!”

  1. 1st December the tree goes up.
    Was amazed at the Christmas films already on Sky!
    Certain preps may need to be made pre-Dec, like present buying, but the whole Christmas Spirit? December!!!

  3. When does Christmas start for me? Couple of days before the big day, up to that point I’m the biggest bah humbug person ever. It’s exactly the reason you give (starting on it on 1 November) that has made me the way I am. There’s a FB page I follow whose first Christmas pictures appeared in July! When it was roasting hot.

  4. Oh I’m so with you on this one! I love Christmas but hate the commercialism. Personally think shops should be stopped from Christmas decorating until after Remembrance Day at the very least. My devs will probably go up the week before the big day.

    Bah humbug! Gill x

  5. Ooo I’m pulled two ways on this. Yes it has got out of hand and Christmas seems more about sales than anything else…. but with a few people I want to give presents to (not tat, something thoughtful) it helps being able to spread the cost.

    As a really low key, Christmas author, if I didn’t market the book in Nov, I’d be as well forgetting about it, but then there’s only me selling it. I will try not to be too annoying though 😍😜😍

    I took a photo in our local co-op, mince pies… in August! That was just ridiculous. But once Remembrance Day is passed, I think it’s ok to at least start planning.

    • I totally get what you mean, but you advertising a beautiful Christmas book earlier than December is far from the LOOK IT’S CHRISTMAS stuff that has suddenly appeared everywhere… I’m looking forward to reading it!

      • Ha! It doesn’t stop me feeling guilty about it though.
        Between you, me and the four walls, after the run up to Christmas – it usually takes until November the following year before I can bear to think about it again. 🤶🏼
        My letters to schools in Belfast have gone out, (readings) my phone will be going ballistic on Monday 😱

  6. I was surprised to see Starbucks near my workplace is decorated with Christmas theme and selling Christmas special drinks. It’s still in early November and Christmas is like 1 & a half month away.

  7. I love Christmas! It’s such a pure, magical holiday, so I’m totally fine with it starting in November. If stores have Christmas decorations up already, why can’t TV play Christmas ads?

  8. I’m not really into Christmas to be honest, but I get how people would be fed up by the time it arrives. They were selling mince pies in our local Co-Op in September!!! When I made a comment to the cashier, she said they’d be putting the Easter eggs on display on boxing day!! I don’t see the point!

  9. Sorry ☺️ I’m on the excited run up to Christmas as we speak. There are birthdays yet to be had ( hello fellow saggie 🏹), I can’t wait for the John Lewis Christmas advert to come out, got very excited thinking the Coke ad was out which turned out to be for carrots 🥕🥕🥕!? I’m going to get a real tree 🌲 with roots this year so I can smell all mossy and pine forestlike, have my Christmas dvd collection all ready to run .. draw the line at Christmas music yet but I do have Ed Sheeran’s Perfect on continuous play, the video to which has now overtaken Wham’s Last Christmas as my favourite ever Christmas video. Can you tell I’m giddy 🤸🏼‍♂️💃🏼🎄💕

    • Hahaha! No not at all there lovely, you seem so calm and zen about it all haha! Looking forward to seeing how mossy you smell… although that sounds totally wrong…

  11. Am I allowed to feel more excited now that I have a child whose birthday is 6 days before Christmas?
    Plus am having to organise family things in November ready for her birthday as it’s so close to Christmas.
    I don’t personally listen to any xmas tunes (if I can help it!) until the 1st December. That’s Aled day!
    When it comes to it though, I LOVE CHRISTMAS!!!

    • Hahaha! I buy my presents all year round during sale stuff etc, but it’s the whole IN YER FACE-ness of it all when December hasn’t hit yet… Looking forward to seeing the squishy one turn 1!

  12. I soooo agree with you Suzie! It has become worse here too, already there are Christmas jingles on the TV. It’s so ridiculous. People seem to forget the real reason that we have Christ-mas and it bothers me. The commercialism is gross.

  16. I was shocked when living in England at how quickly Christmas decorations sprout et everywhere. But now Christmas cookies go on sale in Germany late August, and it’s a country where Christmas protocol has always been important.
    For me Christmas started with Advent. So sometimes that means before November is over all depending on the first advent Sunday. No Christmas decorations, music or cookies before then.
    Ok, for a while now I have been guilty when it comes to ringing Christmas bells early, but if I don’t no one will participate in my blog based Advent Calendar on time… thus I said it was Christmas , a week ago…

  17. I 1000000000% agree. I shared on Facebook because I agree so much. In the US we have Thanksgiving in the later part of the month of November. People completely disregard this holiday and the second Halloween is put up, they legit put up their tree 🤔. I agree that it almost ruins the season for me. It’s not even the Christmas season yet! Christmas is also really special to me and part of why it’s special is the traditions my family has created. We celebrate Thanksgiving and Christmas doesn’t happen until after that. Arg. I could go on, but I also think people can do what they please, but don’t force your insane Halloween into Christmas crap on the rest of us!

  19. I’m old enough to remember when the Christmas season didn’t start until after Thanksgiving and when I was a kid, my family didn’t get the Christmas tree, a real one – they didn’t have fake ones back then (yea, I’m that old), until the day before. The decorated wasn’t there even on Christmas eve and there wasn’t a wrapped gift in sight.

    The tree and gifts were all there Christmas morning when us kids got up.

    But like you said, as soon as Halloween was over this year, I noticed when I was at Costco yesterday on Saturday, three days after Halloween, that the candy aisles had been replaced with five times (probably more I didn’t count them) as many aisles crammed with Christmas stuff.

    What ever happened to the fairy tale that it was Santa coming down the chimney who set up the tree and left all the gifts before he snorted his way up the chimney and on to the next house for the kids on his list who were nice the previous year? Back when I was a kid, we were told if we were bad, Santa would skip our house. I think there was even a Christmas song about that.

  20. Most of the time I try to ignore everything Christmassy until December….however, this year we are doing something slightly different and I’m excited about it. I was out shopping today and I have to admit, I really liked seeing all the tinsel and lights. But yes….I know I’ll be so sick of it long before the big day arrives!

      • It’s actually nothing exciting in the eyes of others. I’m easily excited! 😂😂 Instead of travelling to our hometown to spend a noisy mad busy Christmas, we’re staying in our own house. Our first Christmas in our new home, real tree, no driving anywhere, and Little Miss 7 is so happy that Santa knows where she lives!!
        So a lovely quiet, peaceful few days. A walk on the beach maybe! Then we’ll go to hometown for me & my son’s birthday celebration, and the new year! Fingers crossed it all works out as planned!

  21. I am almost afraid to admit this after reading your post haha but I start celebrating Nov. 1st. Christmas is my favorite time of year and now as an adult I can fully unleash that spirit before Thanksgiving. So for me Christmas is Nov 1-22. Thanksgiving. Christmas again through the 25th… if that makes sense?

    • Haha! Totally – we don’t have Thanksgiving here so there isn’t that break, but I suppose as i have my birthday at the end of November I’m more focused on that really…

  22. Just imagine how annoying it is when you don’t celebrate Christmas!
    If the stores could lay off the Holiday blitz until December 1st, I’d be grateful 🙂

  24. FINALLY! Someone on the same wavelength as me! I’m not a fan of Christmas altogether, but that could be because everyone seems to go crazy about it earlier and earlier every year. I also think that a lot goes into one day, which I really disagree about.

    • I’m with you about the one day thing, particularly after i planned a wedding! I do love Christmas Eve and Day though, particularly now as my husband and I don’t have to travel anywhere!

  25. I’m with you, Suzie. Bah Humbug until December. Over here, Thanksgiving is now largely ignored in the tinsel vomit (loved that expression of yours). I may start planning for Christmas ahead of time but the commercialism is just sickening! And Christmas is my favorite holiday – I got the name for it!

    • ‘ignored in the tinsel vomit’ – that should be the new tagline for anything Thanksgiving from now on! I’ve never had a Thanksgiving meal- I’ve seen lots of them in American TV programmes but as we don’t celebrate it over here and I don’t have American relatives I’ve never had the opportunity. I’ve never eaten a pumpkin pie haha!

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