Christmas music

Lounge
1

The one radio station that comes in clear in my office is a great oldies station. But they’ve started all Christmas music all the time. Now don’t get me wrong, I love :heart: Chirstmas music. But I’m not sure how to feel about this. Starting it after Thanksgiving is one thing but Veteran’s Day? That’s a little early.

2

I am with ya but here it right after Halloween!:tap:In fact Halloween isn’t over when the Christmas stuff is on the shelves :thud:Oh well just have to get used to it. At least I can get my halloween stuff 75% earlier every year.:roflhard::roflhard:

3

The clinic I work in has already started putting up Christmas Decorations. They are having some kind of contest and every area is trying to out do the next. It is overboard and excessive. Sick people don’t want to have to be in a room that looks like Santa vomited all over the walls.

I hate to be a GRINCH but I have declared my area a “Christmas Free” zone. I live in an area where there is a great deal of cultural diversity and not everyone is Christian. I think it is inconsiderate of those who do not celebrate the holiday to start so early and have so much.

I love Christmas music and decorations, during the season. WHich in my opinion is a couple weeks before and the week between Christmas and New Years.

4

No Christmas music yet here. They have started cranking it up before Thanksgiving though so I’m expecting it in a week or so. I kinda like Christmas music but I swear every single one of the songs sticks in my head and I go around humming them all day long, I can’t help it, it drives me nuts.

5

Last year, our local station–the one I like to listen to in the car–started Christmas music right after Halloween. It was awful!

I sent an email to the station objecting, and got an answer with a bunch of hooey about how Christmas makes everyone feel better, especially when there’s a war going on :??, blah, blah, blah.

I answered, pointing out that Christmas is a time for serious depression for a lot of people, it gets kids crazed, it makes people worry about affording all the things their children see on TV, and as for a war, how is Christmas music on Nov. 1 going to make loved ones feel better? I told him that I’d make a point NOT to listen to the station until January.

Another email basically saying, OK, see you then.

It turns out that it was a fiasco, after all. Even the DJ’s made comments after it was over, and that particular General Manager is no longer with the station.

So there!

6

Before Halloween!! Now that’s just crazy. We’ve had the Christmas decorations in the stores since before Halloween, but the music? That’s just way too early!

7

i have to admit it…
[SIZE=“1”]i started listening to it…[/SIZE]:hiding:

you have to understand, i played in bands/orchestras the entire time i was growing up, and we started practicing it around this time of year. so when it starts to smell like fall, and has that crisp bite in the air, it’s natural for me to want to hear it. so, i popped in charlie brown’s christmas while i knitted up some gifts this past weekend. and, i started practicing my christmas music on my harp.

now that i work from home, i don’t bother anyone with my early christmas music anticipation for the holidays silliness.
i guess i still manage to have that excitement feeling i had the entire time i was growing up around this time of year. i don’t shop in malls, so i never get overwhelmed with holiday shopping or commercialism. yes. i manage to live in a baking/knitting/online shopping bubble. and i love it!
i’ll go back to my corner now…:teehee:

8

It’s true, the Holidays are very hard on many people unfortunately. My mom is a counsellor and she gets very busy around Christmas. :pout: It’s supposed to be a time of happiness, but for those who are facing emotional difficulties, it can get worst.

Maybe I’m too cynical, but I think stores do it to make people buy gifts as early as possible, hoping they will keep buying until December 24 and forget about their budget. :wall:

For me, because they start so early, I get so fed up by Christmas time I don’t even feel like celebrating it anymore. :shrug: I love Christmas music and the Christmas spirit, but… not in November!

9

I don’t want to ruffle any feathers, but doesn’t everyone have the right to do what they want, when they want? And what does “cultural diversity” have to do with it? Just because my neighbor is of a different culture and doesn’t celebrate the holidays doesn’t mean I should not decorate my house. It’s something I celebrate and that should be the end of it.

Yes I know it’s a religious holiday and all, but if you aren’t a Christian and are of a different religious backround, don’t others have to put up with the things you celebrate when they don’t believe what you believe?

And when I say “you”, I don’t mean you personally Ginny. I mean “you” in the sense of everyone.

Christmas is a wonderful time of year simply for the fact that everyone seems to treat everyone better than any other time of the year. It brings out the goodness in people. And I do realize that it is also a hard time of year for a lot of people, but that doesn’t mean those who do have some good in their lives shouldn’t be able to celebrate when they want to.

I do think that Christmas music before Thanksgiving is a little early, but this is the world we live in, everything is rushed. We must get used to it, it isn’t going to slow down anytime soon.

10

I understand what you are saying and I am not saying that Christmas should be totally ignore BUT I think in our society it goes WAY BEYOND just celebrating the good in our lives. Plastering every square inch of space with Christmas Decorations and playing Christmas music moorning noon and night for 8 weeks before a holiday has little to do with celebration. It’s commercial and it’s crass in addition to being insensitive.

Many years ago I was in a very difficult place around the holidays. I had lost a child and the Holidays were the first “milestone” occasion I needed to get through. For the weeks before Christmas everywhere I went people were wishing me a MERRY CHRISTMAS and a HAPPY HOLIDAY. Their intentions may have been good but for me it was a very painful and constant reminder that, at least for that year, my Holiday was not going to be Merry or Happy.

Christmas is a wonderful time of year, for those who celebrate it and those who have reason to celebrate. I just think that we need to be a bit more sensitive to those around us who are not Christian or who may not want to be reminded with every encouter in a store or business that Christmas is coming.

I never wish anyone a Merry Christmas unless I know for a fact that they are celebrating the holiday. In my area there are many Muslims, Hindus and Buddhist’s, I can imagine it must be rather hard for them when for weeks out of the year people are wishing them a Merry Christmas. So I guess my answer is no, I don’t think that everyone should have to put up with my celebrations if they don’t believe the same as I do.

I’m REALLY not trying to be ornery but I think that in addition to Christmas being a time for celebration it is a time for compassion and understanding.

11

This is a subject that totally pisses me off. Stores are only in it for the retail sales angle. All they are there for is to make money.
I do not need to hear christmas music on the radio, or in store’s until 2 weeks before christmas!
It’s gotten to the point, and I don’t think i’m the only one, that by the time christmas comes I just want it over with.
Sort of like the end of hockey season. everything has it’s time and place, but it dosen’t have to go on forever…
And yes “Bailsmom” everyone has the right to what they want when they want it, but retailers are stuffing holidays down our throats!
As far as those who do not celebrate christmas, or any other holiday for that matter, people have to realize that in “North America” most of us do. If I moved to a country that did not celebrate, lets say…Easter, Thanksgiving or Christmas… do I have the right to Bitch about the fact that they don’t?
We have gotten so concerned about being politically correct, that most people don’t have the balls to stand up for what they believe in or consider traditions in their own lives.
Don’t mean to step on any toes, but christmas in October is not needed…

12

I listen to Christmas music all year long, though not constantly. I have it on my extensive mp3 playlist. And it’s usually set to random, so I hear it now and then. And I rarely listen to the radio, as I can access my mp3 playlist from anywhere in the world, radio has pretty much become pointless.

13

I hate to play devil’s advocate :shifty: , esp considering I think that Christmas is excessively commercialized, but as my brother is married et spends Xmas Eve, Xmas, et the day after with her family, my mother et I decided to do Xmas with them the night of Thanksgiving.

We celebrate Thanksgiving at dinner et Xmas that night or the next morning. That way there isn’t any rushing et getting to see their girls for an hour et have them on their way somewhere else.

I am glad the music plays et the season can be smelled in the air because then it is more Christmassy for us when we get together.

14

I get more and more tired of Christmas every year. The garbage in the stores, the ugly “decorations” all over the place, the stupid commercials, and the ghastly “music” being played incessantly from the day after hallowe’en on. In fact, the only good thig about Christmas these days is that people take down their Hallowe’en “decorations”.

I love a lot of Christmas music, but not the crap generally played on radio stations and piped into stores. If I had to listen to that crap for 2 months, I would be stark staring mad!

15

Just for the sake of discussion, not argument I’m not sure I agree the “most” people celebrate Christmas. Of course “most” is relative but a recent Harris poll I found online indicates that only 79% of the population is “Christian” and of that population only 56% profess to actually believe in God. The 79% also includes religions such as Jehova’s Witness who do not celebrate Christmas. So while I think it is fair to say that a “majority” celebrate Christmas I think there are a significant number who do not.

Being “politically correct” does not mean that a person cannot celebrate a tradition in their own life it simply means being aware that not everyone around them shares those beliefs.

I absolutely believe that Christmas should be celebrated with all the gusto one choses in your home or church. It is after all a personal religious holiday.

It seems we all agree that the Holiday has become too commercial and that retailers have marketed it too aggressively.

16

But you also have to remember that just because only 56% believe in God doesn’t mean they don’t Celebrate Christmas. Its like how a lot of people who aren’t Christian celebrate Christmas because it has made such a move away from being a religious holiday to almost a secular holiday (for many people, not all though).

That being said, I do really like Christmas music, I just really get sick of it when you hear the same songs over and over for a month and a half. It’d be the same if the raido station only played 50 songs on random repeat for a month. You get sick of it even if you like it.

17

I am so glad that I’m not the only one! I start listening to Christmas music in October because of all my years in band and chorus. I listen to it at home or in my car so I don’t bother anyone. I do get picked on by one of my friends, but it’s all in good nature. I admit, I did take my cd’s to work yesterday, but I’m a preschool teacher and they are already starting to get the Christmas high…besides, they sing Roudolph all year so they don’t care. :teehee:

18

I enjoy the music but wish they would hold off until after Thanksgiving. As far as I am concerned, Thanksgiving marks the beginning of the holiday season, not Halloween.

19

[FONT=Georgia][COLOR=black]ok well first I don’t think the retailers commercialized the holiday…we did…they would not have Christmas out right now if we didn’t buy it… if it sat on the shelves till after Thanksgiving they would then put the shelves to better use…however many of us have to buy things here and there and not all at once…so for us it makes it easier to start earlier so we are ready to go, come the holiday season time… [/COLOR][/FONT]

[FONT=Georgia][COLOR=black]Second, I think I have a right to celebrate Christmas and I’m sorry if I say Merry Christmas to you and it offends you it’s not my intent…but it is what I celebrate and I will not censor myself to make others more comfy…I have no problem with others wishing me a happy or blessed whatever they are celebrating… I have no problems with their decorations… I choose to celebrate Christmas and I will do so freely not behind closed doors… I just wish we had more tolerance for those who celebrate whatever brings them joy and peace…instead of bickering learn about each other’s religions and see we are all content in our decisions and for the most part mean no harm…[/COLOR][/FONT]

[FONT=Georgia][COLOR=black]Third, I love Christmas music… right now we are listening to non stop Christmas play music in the house…but I love when I can turn XM holiday channel on and listen to the music… I love the baking of the holiday season with my kids… I love the excitement I see in their little eyes that glows brighter each day we get closer… why because of Santa of course…but also because they love the traditions… it’s so much fun… bringing out our nativity scene and having them now tell me the story as we place baby Jesus in the manager…doing the little Advent calendar each year and them already asking me about it… it’s seeing the excitement as they prepare for their Christmas play and that final night that they get to show it to us at the Church…it’s the big meal we share and the excitement they have in helping me prepare it… it’s the drive home to WV with them all giddy in the back seat and can’t wait to see their grandparents…It’s the joy of the season… I love it…[/COLOR][/FONT]

[FONT=Georgia][COLOR=black]I’m still like a big kid when it gets close to Christmas…dh says I make it so contagious you have to join… my dad is the same way and that is one of my fondest memories growing up… the way he would get come Nov and then in Dec… he made it so much fun… and I want to do the same for my kids…I’ve always been pretty much if your going to whine go find someone else to stand beside… you get to chose how you feel this Christmas season… I choose to be happy and live through my kids and their excitement… I choose not to let the gripers and the stores turn me into a griper… I will wish everyone a very Merry Christmas cause that is just who I am… [/COLOR][/FONT]

20

I agree I think that Christmas music should start at Thanksgiving. I start the season with watching the Macy’s parade and seeing Santa come into town. all the little ones stayed glued to the TV for this, and then its Christmas season–at least here in my house :wink: .