The C Word

[Buenchico]

Last weekend the DJs on Radio Caroline were promoting their new C........ cards. ( http://rcsocietysales.co.uk/posters.html )

On Thursday of last week I noted that the Cancer Research shop in Maldon had got a big display of C........ cards.

Back on 29 July, Selfridge's opened their C........ department.

Has the C word started to intrude into your life yet?

( . . . and have you got the sprouts on yet?)

[Captain2]

I've really, really, really gone off you now Buenchico for mentioning that!

[ummmm]

It's ridiculously early. Months and months of pressure put on parents when some are already playing catch up from buying the school uniforms.

[Mamyalynne]

I have started to peruse and purchase new embellishments for making this years crop of C???????? Cards.

[Buenchico]

Yes, sorry, Cap'n!

It does seem a little early - but that was exactly my point ;-)

[237SJ]

Radio Caroline needs to raise lots of money for restoration of their ship so I guess that's one way to do it

[Buenchico]

Ah well, if you've actually got to make your cards, Mamya, I can see that there might be some point to starting early. (I've not got around to thinking up a new design to use in my DTP software yet though. I like to design my own cards but I'm not 'crafty').

It's good to see that we think alike for once, Ummmm ;-)

[ummmm]

My mate all through school would tell us a pack of lies about what she'd got for xmas. It wasn't until we left school that she told us that they never got any presents.

It wasn't anything to do with money or being mean just that her Italian parents celebrated it as they did in the small village they grew up in.

[Buenchico]

Yes, 237SJ, to be fair to them, Radio Caroline had probably got far more listeners than usual last weekend, as they were broadcasting from the Ross Revenge (moored in the River Blackwater) on the Medium Wave as a special event. (They usually broadcast only online, from their studio in Maldon). So it made sense to promote the cards when there were lots of people listening.

[gingejbee]

Having finished watching a TV show last week, I flicked over to one of the "shopping channels" (a few minutes a night can be very entertaining) only to find "early Christmas deals"....

[237SJ]

I went out to visit Radio Caroline last year. They were hoping to get charity status so that they could get a grant from the National Lottery. I went out there in the spring but if people go at this time of year then buying christmas cards will be a way of raising money.

[Buenchico]

That's one of the nasty things about Christmas, Ummmm. Santa always seems to give the best presents to kids who've got rich parents (unless, possibly, they live in Italian villages?)

When I was teaching, I asked one of our Year 7 pupils what he'd got for Christmas. (I knew that his mother struggled with money but I'd hoped that she'd found some way to make his Christmas special). The only gift he'd received was a pair of gloves from Poundland. (That kid was in the same class as others who'd had ponies for Christmas and dozens of other presents too).

[ummmm]

And that's why I hate it Chris. Even though I could afford it I begrudged it. I hate shopping at the best of times but shopping when you haven't a clue what you're shopping for...my idea of hell.

I don't buy any presents now.

[Buenchico]

I've been out to a (re-creation of a) pirate radio ship, 237SJ, back in the early 1990s. It was when Radio London had a ship moored just off the coast of Walton-on-the-Naze, using a special event licence. Getting up (and worse, down) the rope ladder on the side of the ship was a bit tricky!

At that time I had friends who ran a café in Walton-on-the-Naze, which sold takeaway pizzas in the evenings. A sign in the café advertised 'free delivery to anywhere within a 1 mile radius'. Of course the DJs could resist testing out whether that included out to sea, so they ordered some pizzas to be delivered to the ship.

My friends decided to meet the challenge and, after hurriedly phoning around to find someone with a boat, they got the pizzas out to the ship ;-)

[Buenchico]

I still quite enjoy Christmas shopping for presents, Ummmm, partly because it gives me the chance to work out which Lego set (or electronics kit, etc) I'd want myself if I was 9 years old ;-)

However the actual day itself has little real significance to me. It's largely 'just another day' for me.

[TonyV]

When my Sister and BIL were low on money one C, they sketched and printed their own Christmas cards and made puzzle games for gifts.

[MrsLadyBug]

I have already started making the cards and as I have so many grandchildren I have stopped buying presents for them and always make some kind of c...massy thing ,eg a bauble. So have started that too.
I do it to keep my mind and fingers busy and always get a lot of pleasure doing and giving them.
But I do agree it hits the shops way too early and seems to put pressure on people to make sure they are doing it right.

[Buenchico]

Oops, Gingejbee! I somehow missed your post there!

You're right, of course. Some TV channels seem to think that it's already Christmas (or very close to it). It probably won't be long before the 'True Entertainment' channel gets rebranded to 'True Christmas'. I seem to recall that it happened in early September last year, with several old (but totally unmemorable) Christmas movies featuring in their schedules every day from then on.

[Buenchico]

I think it's a great idea to make one's own Christmas cards, Tony, but as you can buy a box of 20 cards for a quid in Poundland (et al) these days, I can't see that it can save much money!

As I wrote above, I like to design my own, using graphics nicked from the web and a DTP program. I've posted this here before but I still reckon that it's one of my best to date ;-)
https://i.postimg.cc/vmKpVC2N/Cardpicture.jpg

Mrs LB:
I wish that I'd got your obvious crafting skills. If I can't design and make something with my computer, I'm lost!

[sherrardk]

C...... seriously does my head in! There seems to be so much pressure to make everything special, wonderful and momentous. This year will be better though as no one is in primary school anymore but I will do the advent calendar bag of doom (been thinking I will send. boy #1’s share to him at uni so he’s still part of it) but mine are only really bothered about the food :)

[Buenchico]

Thanks for your post, Sherrardk. I wasn't really expecting a great deal of support for the idea of starting Christmas in August, so your sentiments seem to tie in well with those of most of us here.

I used to work with someone whose mobile phone ringtone was always Christmas music, 365 days of the year, because she 'wanted every day to be Christmas Day'. Her phone ringing drove everyone else crazy!