Christmas lights


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18 minutes ago, Alpha said:

to see on a bright winter day, partially deflated santas etc, blowing aimlessly in the breeze,

 

Sad to some amusing to others though I have some sympathy with your view Alpha, as CF has just said "it takes all sorts"

 

Here there are  no external lights and the tree goes up a week before and is down a week after, something I rarely take part in and although I make little effort in decoration I do selfishly enjoy the efforts of my better half.

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It seems that there are a number of cases of miserablegititis going around Notts at the moment. If people want to brighten up their homes with Christmas lights then good on them. Have a look at t

Not really and it's not just you Col,  it's everywhere, ooo it's too commercialised, ooo it's lost all meaning, ooo it's just an excuse for bad behaviour etc. etc. True enough but it's also a time for

Although we're not miserable or morose,  Tina and don't bother with Christmas, but that is our choice. We've not given each other presents for years. If we want anything, we just get it, if we can aff

When the kids lived at home we didn’t put up the tree until Christmas Eve. I think that made Christmas more special. All the tat was removed by 12th. Night. Last year, when Christmas was banned, we didn’t put up any decorations as nobody came. I’m just now waiting to put the first cards through the shredder. smile2

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I used to live in Eastwood, right down near Langley Miil, and used to meet a mate for a few pints at the Hayloft in Giltbrook every Thursday night. I’d invariably miss the bus (oh, all right, just one more) and decide to walk home.

There was nothing sadder than walking home up the deserted main road on a windy, wet January midnight with the switched off council Christmas decorations swinging in the wind. The end of Christmas hope and a return to cold reality. Drove me to drink! (It’s being so cheerful keeps me going!)

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The thread has moved on a bit since I last participated, but firstly @Beekay I would not presume to guess how it must feel to lose children and my thoughts are with you.

 

Re: Christmas Lights.  Of course people are at liberty to do what they want within the law etc... but I do find Christmas lights up in mid November a bit off putting. Though to invoke the old truism.. that is my problem. Oddly, the family closest to us who put theirs up first, are in many ways 'pillars of the community' and very well off financially.  They also have a son with learning disabilities and other issues and I believe they put the lights up for him.

 

So, moving on to Christmas itself and my oft stated wish to 'get it over with'. 

I've been pondering that all day and asking myself why I feel that way.  After all.. I always enjoyed Christmas as a kid, except for a spell when conditions at home were not exactly conducive...but I won't dwell on that.

I continued to enjoy Christmas up until we had our kids.  That is when it started to go wrong for me and it took more thinking for me to work out why.

 

On reflection, those years were when we were always hardest up and quite literally in constant danger of losing our house.  Getting nice stuff for the kids was difficult and I was always anxious that we weren't providing properly for them, although obviously they always were, and remain, deeply loved.  That anxiety stuck with me, and since I'm pretty much terminally anxious anyway, seems to have translated into a general anxiety around Christmas.  It seems to me that is enough to explain why I want to delay the onset of Christmas and then 'endure' it for the shortest possible time.  I do recognise that many have had enough by the time we get to New Years Day.. I've usually had enough by Boxing Day.

 

But actually sitting back and thinking all this through has made me realise that I don't have to 'fight' Christmas.  I just have to accept that it's happening, and participate as much or as little as I wish.

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4 hours ago, DJ360 said:

I do find Christmas lights up in mid November a bit off putting.

 

I understand Col, I look a bit sideways at them yet cannot articulate why. Fairy lights at any other time of year would make  me mildly curious not tut tut at the silliness. Perhaps there are those who retain the childlike wonder of Christmas and simply can't wait to get started.

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 Col, You certainly are a thinker, aren’t you!   I believe we are all products of our past experiences - the good, the bad and the ugly.   I, too, often analyse why I have certain opinions and attitudes to certain things.  
I do feel sad sometimes that the simple Christmases of my childhood with my mum and dad are only in my memory.  I remember being really excited when I got a Christmas Annual or a new jigsaw!  I know things have moved on but I really don’t like the commercialism of the present day Christmas season.   Even when our own children were small, Christmas was quite simple, but exciting for them (and us) watching them open their few presents.  
Perhaps I would think differently if the real ‘reason for the season’ was separated from the commercial part.  A few years ago I watched a school nativity play which included Santa, elves and Rudolf… 

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In those post war year very few families were affluent and the treats that we children received at Christmas were very special. Christmas now has turned, for many, into a Bacchanalian orgy of greed and overindulgence. My tastes are still very simple and I don’t want to join in with the display of mass hysteria that the season has become. Our Christmas dinner will consist of turkey breast slices and a modest pudding, both purchased from Lidl, washed down with a glasses of tap water. I don’t want your sympathy, I’m content with my lot.

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On 12/1/2021 at 9:49 PM, letsavagoo said:

He’s done this for the last few years and raises money for charity. I think I’ve got a photo from last year if I can find it. I'll take one anyway when I’m passing in a day or so.

 

Here’s the house Phil mentioned. Took this yesterday.

F34-F42-DB-155-E-41-A7-8-B11-5520-D9-D2-

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3 hours ago, letsavagoo said:

Here’s the house Phil mentioned. Took this yesterday.

 

Strange, to my poor old eyes there is nothing I would consider disgusting or tat on display - then again what do I know...

 

31 minutes ago, catfan said:

Jesus & Christmas aren't allowed in this multicultural country anymore.

Happy holidays.

 

I'm afraid multiculturals can stick it where the sun don't shine, it will always be Merry Christmas to me

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37 minutes ago, catfan said:

Jesus & Christmas aren't allowed in this multicultural country anymore.

Happy holidays.

Actually, Hindus accept Jesus as an incarnation of God.  A friend of mine who is Hindu says Jesus is the same as Krishna!  She is coming to our Christmas services at church along with her husband who is Buddhist and her two children.

They also  decorate their house for  Christmas.  When my mother in law lived in Leicester, her Sikh neighbours all had Christmas trees in their windows and exchanged presents with her - and she was a committed Christian …

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I was given my yearly job of putting the suitcases back in the loft & while your up there can get the trimming down & our tree/trimmings/lights went up about 3 weeks ago, looking @ how long we may live & the weeks we are shaving off Christmas, our tree will eventually be going up around June/July.

 

  

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21 minutes ago, MargieH said:

Actually, Hindus accept Jesus as an incarnation of God.  A friend of mine who is Hindu says Jesus is the same as Krishna!  She is coming to our Christmas services at church along with her husband who is Buddhist and her two children.

They also  decorate their house for  Christmas.  When my mother in law lived in Leicester, her Sikh neighbours all had Christmas trees in their windows and exchanged presents with her - and she was a committed Christian …

Actually Muslims don't celebrate Christmas & Britain will soon be a Muslim country.

Bradford as we know it will be the new UK capital renamed

Bradistan.

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Yes but Christianity isn’t as popular as it used to be. Certainly not in this country. There are five parishes in this area with seven churches that now support just one vicar. The Church of England is struggling. Some of the ‘fringe’ churches seem to do OK but are more popular with ethnic minorities. You don’t necessarily have to be a Christian to lead a decent and honest life though. I’m an example of that! 

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I have a Muslim friend as well and she and her children took part in our Nativity at church a couple of years ago. I believe that it’s mainly extreme factions of certain religions and certain British political leanings that cause any trouble.

The problem was perfectly expressed in Eastenders over the last 2 episodes…. Most Muslims believe in peace, as do Christians.

 

FWIW I agree with the sentiments expressed in your last sentence @philmayfield

Except I can’t possibly form any opinion of you personally as I haven’t seen you for 67 years - and anyway, who am I to judge as I knows I’m still a work in progress! x

 

 

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If people followed the major tenets of their religion, whatever it might be, all would be fine and dandy but there will always be those who don't and the few get the majority a bad name.

 

All religions, it must be said, are man made.  The many are expected to follow the religious interpretations of the few who, in some cases, don't themselves adhere to their own teachings.

 

We are all, ultimately, on our own. We arrive here alone and we will leave the same way. We'll just have to try to find a path which suits our own individual conscience.

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