I hate it that after the August Bank Holiday all the shops start selling Christmas stuff. Gah!

I went shopping today and there was bloody Christmas trees and crap everywhere.

*turns into grinch*

Hee hee. Sometimes simple is indeed best.

Will it change when it actually is Christmas?

Also, an RSS feed would be nice. You know, so I won't have to check the site every day from now till Christmas.

I haven't seen too much here yet, Jan, but I live in a rather stodgy old town. In America, you have Thanksgiving as a buffer. After that day, you can get all Crimmisy. Shit, you can decorate your house like the North Pole... AFTER THE 22nd OF NOVEMBER. NO SOONER.

I'll bet it'll say yes on Christmas... I mean, how easy is that site to maintain? You only have to make one change a year and it's the same one-word change! Easiest job ever!

I actually find the similarly designed IsLostARepeat.com pretty useful, tho. 'Cuz there are a lot of repeats. And I loves me some Lost.

I was in Tosco (aka Tesco) today and they were selling Christmas cake. I swore. The worst places, though, are the hotels and restaurants. I was staying in a hotel in July last year and they had a poster up advertising Christmas. I was really pissed off.

I'm usually a big Grinch. Although, I'm sort of excited to see all of the Christmas stuff in the stores. I was in Michael's (craft store) today and it was everywhere. I want one of those feather trees. I want two Christmas trees! I have all of these decorating ideas swimming in my head and I can't concentrate or decide, so I leave empty handed and confused.

Today, I did buy two Funkins and a Martha Stewart glittering kit so I can glitter pumpkins.

Feel free to smack me if I'm being too cheerful. I'm trying to be more festive and enthusiastic about holidays. I usually think they are a bunch of crap and hassle but I'm trying to put on a good face for the kids.

I love Christmas. I want it to be longer. It is so beautiful, people act better than usual (if you stay out of malls and big boxes), there's plenty of celebration, music, and good food, and it always goes so quickly. Certainly in centuries past, it was quite a long holiday, and in pre-Christian times the dark months of the year were beautifully punctuated with bright, magical celebrations. Those folks knew what they were doing it. We need something to get us through the Dark Time, to slow us down and make us do crafts, make things pretty, make things tasty, and be nice to one another.

if you stay out of malls and big boxes

See, that's exactly what Christmas (or at least the time leading up to it) makes me want to do: hide in a big box. Maybe that's where I'm going wrong.

I've started clocking when the Halloween and Christmas decorations go up each year at my local Super Stop & Shop. This year, Halloween started in July and Christmas started Oct. 1.

In our family, Halloween has been the kickoff of the Christmas season, for as long as I can remember. It's the time of year we bake and pack our fruitcakes, so they'll get through the mail in plenty of time to be thrown away at Christmas.

It seems to have started earlier than usual this year, and for whatever reason, there's less Halloween stuff and it's not as good. I mean, I can hardly find glowing pink skulls anywhere this year, but the trees and all are completely up at K Mart and have been for over a week. Bah humbug. I want more glowing skulls, less kitschy angels.

I usually think they are a bunch of crap and hassle but I'm trying to put on a good face for the kids.

I'm with you, especially now that my kids are getting older... we really try and do it with as little commercial shit as possible; we make almost everything by hand, give to charity for the adults in the family; etc.

I think I might buy a proper weighted-key piano for the whole family to use.

I don't know how many more times we'll be able to do it with them still believing in Father Crimmis and all that (my youngest loves Rudolph). It'll be kind of sad when they stop; but we hope to transition the holiday into doing more charity stuff when they're teenagers. The one thing that most of us need to concentrate on during the holidays is how lucky we are.

It's the time of year we bake and pack our fruitcakes, so they'll get through the mail in plenty of time to be thrown away at Christmas.

Ha! So true. Exactly like my family.

It's the time of year we bake and pack our fruitcakes...

At least it's not Christmas Pudding. That is the weirdest confection on the planet! There are some things about Britain that I'll never embrace Christmas Pudding, Cricket and Marmite are one, two and three.

No Xmas decor here yet, BUT there were fruitcakes and eggnog for sale at Safeway. Halloween stuff was up around Sept. 1st or so.