Discobot is getting finicky with me again… 
Wheels
1 Like
Same here!
All year long! But I’m…special… 
2 Likes
Too soon for Christmas light? Think Kmart already has them on display.
Wheels
3 Likes
How about now? 
Wheels
5 Likes
There is a special place in hell reserved for those that put up Christmas decorations before December… Just sayin 
4 Likes
Do you know what really sucks.
Going into the attic to get the poxy decorations down, manual handling all the bits downstairs, seeing all the excitement in the kids, pretending to be moody about it all because thats what happens when its still November
Then getting sent outside to pressure wash the patio and pathways in the rain, while wife and kids build and decorated the tree.
7 Likes
8 Likes
I had to go and jinx it didn’t I…
Wife: (from the other room) “Can you give me a hand with the tree?”
Me: “What tree?” (I know, but I really need her to say it)
Wife: “The Christmas tree”
Me: “No”
Wife: “Why?”
Me: “It’s still November”
Wife: “I guess I will do it myself then!”
Me: (Mutters under his breath) “Or you could wait two days”
Wife: “What was that!”
Me: “Nothing dear, I will be there in a minute…”
9 Likes
Here in .nl we have slightly different holiday traditions: on the 5th of december it’s sinterklaas. (St. Nicholas). In the weeks running up to that, from about the 12th of november iirc, they get to put their shoes in the mudroom and in the night we put some sweets or very small gifts in them. At pakjesavond (gift evening) they get their “big gifts” in a merry happening with all the family. The gifts come with little verses, written by the grownups and big kids who no longer believe sinterklaas is real. They are meant to poke fun at the giftee.
Sinterklaas is very much our version of the anglo-saxon Santa Claus. Instead of a magical sled pulled by reindeer he rides a pale horse, and instead of elves he has people named Pete. (those used to be people in blackface makeup with costumes reminiscent of 18th century house slaves, very ugly but we as a nation kicked that tradition to the curb over the last ten years or so)
It’s only after sinterklaas that we put up the christmas decorations.
And to complicate things, my youngest has her birthday at the 12th of the 12th. I managed to get her to accept having her party a couple months later, when it’s warmer
10 Likes
The fun thing about Santa Claus (we just call him Nikolaus in Germany and his day is the 6th of December) is that my children don’t believe in him at all, but they are convinced that their grandma believes in him, so they play along while she is present, and it is the cutest thing.
We are not religious, so same goes for the protestantic tradition of baby Jesus himself delivering presents on Christmas, (which tbh has always kinda weirded me out anyway), but I encourage them to respect other people’s beliefs so they don’t call out their grandma (or anyone else) for telling what they see as some kind of ghost story.
They just drop the pretense when they hug grandma and say thanks for the gifts, even though they know that grandma will claim to have nothing to do with them.
But to me a gift from beloved grandma is just worth more than one from some imaginary person. I want them to know who thought of them and picked gifts they like.
Oh, and in case you wondered:
That doesn’t prevent us from giving them gifts (like the chocolate in the boots on Dec 6th) of course, we just omit the religious stuff attached to it.
5 Likes
Really interesting to hear about the different Christmas traditions from around the world.
Although my parents are not religious and neither am I, my Grandmother was a devout Catholic. As a child Christmas ‘began’ on the 1st of December with the advent calendar that Grandma gave to me and my brother every year.
Christmas day always started with mass at the local church with all the family, followed by a roast lunch (rarely turkey - usually chicken and lamb) at Grandmas. After lunch we gathered in the living room/lounge to unwrap presents. The children were then all sent outside to play while the adults digested lunch.
These days, living in an semi-isolated rural area it usually just the wife and I on Christmas day. We open presents in the morning… I am not allowed to stay up until midnight so it is technically Christmas day and open mine, I have to wait 
The rest of the day is basically spent on the phone talking to family and friends, a light lunch because it is normally too hot for a large roast meal and we have a Christmas dinner together in the evening - the dogs favourite time of year because we always cook too much and there are lots of leftovers.
5 Likes
…Light’em up! Do it! Do it!
2 Likes
… Drumroll please.
I am sure everyone has their ‘traditional’ christmas movie. That’s ours, it isn’t Christmas if we don’t watch Xmas Vacation on the 25th. My Christmas Eve tradition is Die Hard - because technically it is a Christmas movie 
4 Likes
Its technically the BEST Christmas movie.
5 Likes
Not in this area. Germany is very diverse in such things, traveling 200km in any direction can change the name, appearance, or even the whole existence of such cultural traditions.
We have something similar in other parts of Germany, including here but it is slowly dying out. The “Knecht Ruprecht” is a companion of the Nikolaus who hits children who misbehaved.
Back when I was a child the Knecht Ruprecht accompanied St. Nikolaus to our kindergarten, but he didn’t actually hit anyone (it was the 1980s) and was more of a slightly creepy but funny figure.
I haven’t seen or heard that anybody visited children as Knecht Ruprecht in the last 20 years.
4 Likes
In just about anywhere in Europe and you have travelled through at least a dozen villages, one or two major cities and probably crossed a national border. Even as an Australian who has spent a bit of time in Europe, I still haven’t quite wrapped my head around that yet.
3 Likes
Umm, in Texas we’ll drive that just to go Bucc-ee’s to get snacks. The thought of going through a national border in less time than it takes to get good jerky blows my mind.
3 Likes
Hmmm, Jerky Vs Biltong. Let the debate begin 
Edit: Lest anyone think I am getting off topic. I quite often sit on the verandah and have an ice cold beer with biltong during the Christmas holiday
1 Like