Let's just hope that Shoptember doesn't have the kind of crappy weather that Smarch does.

jetzzfan: Let's just hope that Shoptember doesn't have the kind of crappy weather that Smarch does.

It feels like Smarch here in Portland.

I farking HATE how commerce treats Christmas.

Big business has an enormous, throbbing hard-on for the Christmas season...it makes me ill. What used to be my favorite time of year, a time of spending time with family and friends celebrating a another year has become instead a gigantic capitalist bukkake.

Ugh.

</grinch>

Is Shoptember anything like Febtober?

All I want for xmas is a new mobo+cpu+4gigs of ram for
/a cheap bastard is me

I was with my son at the mall yesterday getting something non-christmas related. I told him I hate Christmas because it reminds me of starving people fighting over scraps of food.

Die_ Ubermensch: I farking HATE how commerce treats Christmas.

Big business has an enormous, throbbing hard-on for the Christmas season...it makes me ill. What used to be my favorite time of year, a time of spending time with family and friends celebrating a another year has become instead a gigantic capitalist bukkake.

Ugh.

</grinch>

See, that's not actually anti-Grinch. He thought that the objects were the point, and learned that it's the family/friendship meaning that should drive the season.

Attaching yourself to objects is a recipe for disaster. You'll never have enough. It'll never make you really happy. Collecting crap that ultimately decays makes your life into a meaningless endless drive with a constant soundtrack of Want and Dissatisfaction.

Considering how packed all the stores have been over the holiday I'm not too worried about this economy ....

Well, retailers just as well shouldn't pack the holiday shiat up.

Just like people don't take their lights down until May anyway.

Duh - it IS actually anti-Grinch to complain about commercialization. Sorry.

/blame it on the nog.

Dane Cook isn't going to sponsor it, is he?

Why the stupid tag? They are trying to stay in business. They need cash to pay the bills and employees, and discounting is the only hope they have for boosting sales.

i bought my present today...a $125 floor model toro pressure washer with a 2600psi blast. sweet buy.

/kids get cameras. sd cards. clothes. and more...

all the stores here(nola) are open till 10ish...and they were pretty empty after 9...

The whole system is dysfunctional: some 30-40% of annual retail sales happen in December. People run up balances on their credit cards buying shiat nobody wants with money they don't have, and spend the rest of the year paying usurious interest to the banks, hoping to dig out of the hole in time for NEXT Christmas. And THAT is the whole basis of the American economy.

Disgusting.

All you people complaining about the commercialization of Christmas...I just ignore it. I avoid stores and shopping malls after thanksgiving, and concentrate on spending time with family. it's not easy but it can be done. It's easier now that you can just buy all your gifts online.

The one thing that really bugs me is the Christmas muzak. Can't avoid going to the grocery store at least a few times during that period and you get an earful.

I just wish they weren't stuck on a broken record...the same 10 - 20 songs, only difference is they try to make them poppy and urban by having them covered by young top 40 stars who don't really have unique or attractive voices. It's trying to re-live an era of musical standards that is long past. We have not been able to live up to that level of genuine creativity in quite a while.

Febtober.

I work in retail, and have run an advertizing agency. Christmas starts in June for me. I recall seeing, as a child -- 1957 or 1958, a Dennis the Menace panel where Dennis & Joey are entering a variety store (5 and dime, remember them?) where the owner is putting up Christmas decorations. The caption has Dennis saying "Look, Joey! Christmas stuff! It's nearly Halloween!"

This is nothing new, not even in my lifetime.

Sales at my store are 2/3rds what they were last year, and last year was the worst November & December in a decade. The economy's in the crapper, and retailers are farked. Tiny profit is better than no profit and lots of inventory. We'll discount whatever we need to in order to keep the lights on and our employees paid. Or would you rather have every retailer out of business before this next spring?

I do all my shopping in Janfebmaraprimajunjulaugsepoctnovecember.

try fect taa daa: i bought my present today...a $125 floor model toro pressure washer with a 2600psi blast. sweet buy.

/kids get cameras. sd cards. clothes. and more...

all the stores here(nola) are open till 10ish...and they were pretty empty after 9...


You ROCK!!!!!

hey look how anti-establishment and counter-corporate culture I am! I use the words "disgusted" and "sickened" by people buying stuff for people they love instead of war and poverty and famine. It goes perfectly well with my Che Guevara t-shirt (that my mom got me for Christmas last year, ironically)!

Faptober.

"I say, boy. This may very well be my new favorite month. And it makes perfect sense too, what with your retailers all being bigger whores than Trebeck's mother! HA!"

/Just kidding.
//No one is as big a whore as Trebeck's mom.
///Febtober FTW!

dmax: Attaching yourself to objects is a recipe for disaster.

Especially if you use a staplegun.

harlock: All you people complaining about the commercialization of Christmas...I just ignore it. I avoid stores and shopping malls after thanksgiving, and concentrate on spending time with family. it's not easy but it can be done. It's easier now that you can just buy all your gifts online.

The one thing that really bugs me is the Christmas muzak. Can't avoid going to the grocery store at least a few times during that period and you get an earful.

I just wish they weren't stuck on a broken record...the same 10 - 20 songs, only difference is they try to make them poppy and urban by having them covered by young top 40 stars who don't really have unique or attractive voices. It's trying to re-live an era of musical standards that is long past. We have not been able to live up to that level of genuine creativity in quite a while.

So much truth in that.

VibroCount: would you rather have every retailer out of business before this next spring?

Frankly, yes. If you're in retail, you know what I mean about Xmas sales being the driving fore of the US economy. I worked in a record store (yeah, vinyl) back in the day, and it was empty all year, with one bored cashier, me. From thanksgiving to xmas, three registers running full blast from open to close, with massive queues. The whole store just sat and waited for xmas shopping, and ran at a loss the rest of the year.

\The Enchanted land of OZ Records and Tapes, Eastwood Mall, B'ham

/ random-sexy-pic

Dubai Vol: The whole system is dysfunctional: some 30-40% of annual retail sales happen in December. People run up balances on their credit cards buying shiat nobody wants with money they don't have, and spend the rest of the year paying usurious interest to the banks, hoping to dig out of the hole in time for NEXT Christmas. And THAT is the whole basis of the American economy.

Disgusting.

Try something closer to reality:

People buy most of their "fun sh*t" in December, to give to each other or for themselves. People DO want these things, seeing as they are big-screen TV's, Nintendo Wii's, books, movies, clothes, etc. They don't buy these things as much throughout the year because they are not on sale all year long. Why pay more for your kid's first game console in September when you can wait 2 months and save 30%? Do you like paying full price? Does it make you feel warm and/or fuzzy? It makes me feel kinda queazy.

I don't know anybody digging themselves into a large hole of debt over Christmas. That's the fantasy people like to have about American shoppers, but I don't know anybody shopping out of their means for Christmas presents for other people. For themselves? Maybe, but that's not really a Christmas-only thing. That's more of a year-long bipolar manic thing.

When it comes to giving to others, people are re-gifting and buying cheap sh*t to save money, or buying gift cards to ensure that people can get what they want. Besides, I have never seen anyone file bankruptcy over buying their nephew a Harry Potter book.

I know it's fun to paint with a broad brush and make a bunch of assumptions, but I find that it's much more fun when to talk about reality.

Meh, this whole recession thing is just a clever marketing ploy by WalMart to drive their profit margin up. Don't believe me? Check out their lo-lo-Xmas-prices ads and notice how they're pushing the "affordable xmas presents" theme.

Most of the people in my immediate family used to get severely depressed during the Christmas season, to the point where hanging out on December 25th wasn't very much fun anymore. We're a happy enough bunch, but for some reason Christmas didn't feel like something to look forward to - instead it felt like an event that merely marked the end of a few weeks of stress.

One Christmas around 10 years ago we talked about it, and collectively decided to stop celebrating Christmas. A few of us are atheist, and the rest aren't very into the whole church thing anyway. So why bother getting together on that specific day over another?

Since then, I've found that we actually get together more often throughout the rest of the year, and occasional gifts tend to feel much more meaningful. And we all just use December 24th/25th to do things like clean the house or catch up on sleep.

-when

/i'm tired = i can't type

eeeleeet: harlock: All you people complaining about the commercialization of Christmas...I just ignore it. I avoid stores and shopping malls after thanksgiving, and concentrate on spending time with family. it's not easy but it can be done. It's easier now that you can just buy all your gifts online.

The one thing that really bugs me is the Christmas muzak. Can't avoid going to the grocery store at least a few times during that period and you get an earful.

I just wish they weren't stuck on a broken record...the same 10 - 20 songs, only difference is they try to make them poppy and urban by having them covered by young top 40 stars who don't really have unique or attractive voices. It's trying to re-live an era of musical standards that is long past. We have not been able to live up to that level of genuine creativity in quite a while.

So much truth in that.

If you're in a concert band, you have to start practicing the music in early October.

Gyrfalcon: Meh, this whole recession thing is just a clever marketing ploy by WalMart to drive their profit margin up. Don't believe me? Check out their lo-lo-Xmas-prices ads and notice how they're pushing the "affordable xmas presents" theme.

...

You don't know much about business, do you?

/when you're in a recession, it's smart business to target the low-end, because people don't have enough money for the high-end

If Jebus were alive today, he'd be pissed.

If Jebus were undead today, he'd be a zombie.

JonnyBongo: occasional gifts tend to feel much more meaningful.

Why give the occasional gift? What's the point? I mean, there's no god or anything dude. All these traditions are so passè and pedestrian and for the prole religious people. I'm glad to see that your family is so far above those shenanigans. I mean, you guys get it. You're totally level 5 atheists - not even your holidays cast a shadow.

adrienne barbeaubot: Faptober.

Raise one and celebrate Faptoberfist.

I don't know anybody digging themselves into a large hole of debt over Christmas.

I'm sure there are people who put a lot of Christmas stuff on their credit cards, but there are also going to be a lot of people who have been saving. I started my Christmas shopping in early November just so I'd be able to budget better. I'd buy gifts for a two or three people on each paycheck.

Then the company I work for declared Ch 11 bankruptcy, and their creditors want to force them to file a Ch 7, and our jobs/paychecks are pretty much in limbo.

Now some people have pretty nice gifts. As for the rest, I'm going through random things I bought for myself (handsoap from Bath & Body Works!) or used books to find gifts.

Bleg, I hate getting presents but I do enjoy free money, I guess I'm just a prostitute at heart.

Truthfully, I'd rather Christmas be a time of doing favors for people instead of buying crap. I don't need any more stuff, but I could use some new brakes or you could pay my phone bill this month or something. Or if you don't have any money, make me dinner or arrange to meet me somewhere interesting so we can spend some time together. My favorite present this year would be somebody cleaning out my car truthfully but I'll probably get a bunch of well intended junk that will end up at the Salvation Army come October of next year.

/Christmas fatigue, I has it

dave2198:
Try something closer to reality:

Why pay more for your kid's first game console in September when you can wait 2 months and save 30%? Do you like paying full price?

Reality, Gracie? Since when do stores have sales BEFORE Christmas? Since never, until this year, because they are THAT desperate. Reality is AFTER xmas sales, in JANUARY, or were you just born this year?

The rest of your "reality" is about as coherent. Yes, people DO max out their cards buying crap for xmas. Look at the stats. Reality ain't the little bubble around you, sunshine, it's the whole world, including people who don't live next door to you in the suburbs. Do you somehow thing Farkers are average people? 20% of Americans are functionally illiterate. None of them are here on Fark. I bet 1 in 5 of your friends and family aren't illiterate, either. Skews the stats a bit, snowflake.

Our Christmas Countdown.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/kingpowercinema/68062077/in/set-72157594529176046/

I'm really glad my family decided to just do a secret santa thing, amongst everyone, with a maximum of $20 spent on the gift. So instead of us all distributing stupid crap, everyone only wastes $20 on stupid crap.

Oh and I pretty much hope retail dies, so that our country can replace it with something better. I don't know what, I just don't like it. We will figure it out, we always do.

Screw gifts. Try something that actually embodies the spirit of Jesus (you know, other than the inquisition.)

Tell your family members not to buy you anything this year, because you are donating your gift money to charity instead. I like donating to the blind -- my god, they can use the help more than you need a crappy silver necklace.

If people think you're being a cheap-ass, they can go to hell.

It'll be cathardic. Trust me.

Dihnekis: I'm really glad my family decided to just do a secret santa thing, amongst everyone, with a maximum of $20 spent on the gift. So instead of us all distributing stupid crap, everyone only wastes $20 on stupid crap.

Oh and I pretty much hope retail dies, so that our country can replace it with something better. I don't know what, I just don't like it. We will figure it out, we always do.

This. I actually do like receiving a weird, random thing from a dollar store. I should suggest this to my family. Try to find the weirdest thing you can for under $20 and do a White Elephant gift exchange.

As a single guy I sure spent a crapton of money this season. Spoiling my niece and nephew is great. If they are happy with the most annoying toys I can find that bug the crap out of my sister until she smashes batteries against the wall, then I am happy. All paid for and won't hurt financially, but I wouldn't have minded that extra 700 in my savings. Oh well.. think I'll enjoy it more this way.

/can't wait to pew pew pew some Nerf Wii game with the nephew
//which he can also shoot the sister with after converting the blaster to a dart gun

Samsaran: Christmas is my favorite time of year. I'm a guy and not a real fan of shopping but I love the crowds of people, the crisp cold air, little kids giddy with excitement. I love the idea of giving gifts and the anticipation of seeing my friends and loved ones opening the gifts. I love the music, the lights, the colors. I love the Christmas movies, "It's a Wonderful Life", "A Christmas Carol", "A Christmas Story" ... you'll shoot your eye out! I I love the smiles and "Merry Christmas" and "Happy Holidays" from everyone you meet. I love that there is at least one time of year when people think about "peace on Earth ... good will toward men".

Remember, as we all learned from Dr. Seuss, the key to happiness during the holidays is not having huge expectations, not worrying about money or gifts, but just enjoying the season and taking it for what it is.

So, Farkers ... Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays.

I can't believe I'm saying this, but I totally agree with you. This season never fails to put me in a good mood, and it's even better this year because my nephew is finally old enough to understand what's going on. Definitely good times.

Lemon-Lime Malthus: GIGANTIC CAPITALIST BUKKAKE


Now, that's a great name for a new political party. Especially in Japan.

GCB >>> LDP



adrienne barbeaubot: Faptober.


Faptober Surprise?

deltabourne:
Why give the occasional gift? What's the point? I mean, there's no god or anything dude. All these traditions are so passè and pedestrian and for the prole religious people. I'm glad to see that your family is so far above those shenanigans. I mean, you guys get it. You're totally level 5 atheists - not even your holidays cast a shadow.

Stan: "I want to join you guys. How do I be a non-conformist?"

Goth: "You have to dress exactly like we do, and listen to the same music..."