No! Not yet! Dear God, not already!

*sob*

If it's December 26, then you're my mother. ;-)

Oh no, we're losing the war against Christmas!

Oh, Jesus. Not another global warming thread. . . .

If you're already shopping for Christmas presents in July, don't worry. You're perfectly normal and you probably have kids you need to quit shopping so much and get a farking life.

How I hate that holiday. Every year I come thisclose to emailing everyone in my family and telling them I quit. Will this finally be the year? Thanks, subby, for making me think about Christmas in July.

I expect to start seeing Christmas decorations in stores around October 1. Last year was about October 15. Every year it moves up a week or two.

oukewldave: I expect to start seeing Christmas decorations in stores around October 1. Last year was about October 15. Every year it moves up a week or two.

The stuff is already in the stores by that time, just waiting in the backrooms, so don't be surprised (at least it was when I worked in the grocery business).

I don't necessarily call it 'shopping for Christmas', but undoubtedly, I end up in stores I don't often frequent and I'll take my time looking at what they have in case something strikes me interesting/unusual for someone on my normal shopping list. Yes, I have kids, but if you casually do this throughout the year, I at least, often end up with half my shopping done by the time Thanksgiving rolls around. Makes Christmas shopping season far easier to handle.

cryinoutloud: If you're already shopping for Christmas presents in July, don't worry. You're perfectly normal and you probably have kids you need to quit shopping so much and get a farking life.

See that's the thing, you're judging this shiat all wrong. It's not that people (well, at least me) are "Christmas shopping" in July, they just happen to be living their lives, like my vacation in NH in a couple weeks, where, during the course of your escapades, you invariably end up in a place that sells shiat. If I see something that I think would be interesting for someone on my normal Christmas list, I'll pick it up. Then, through no conscious thought about Christmas at all, I ended up "Christmas shopping" without even knowing it. I guess it has something to do with being able to think about other people even when you aren't forced to by social convention.

Meh, I have so many November birthdays to shop for that I'll often do my Christmas shopping then too. I'm usually basically done with my Christmas shopping by Thanksgiving.

One of my exes thought I was some hyper-organized freak, but that couldn't be further from the truth.

One of the added perks, though, is that I don't have to deal with all the idiots at the mall.

Hey, a deal is a deal. It's not my kids I have to worry about buying for. It's my wife. I'm not a good shopper at the best of times, and the closer it gets to Christmas the more pressure I feel just to put it off and put it off, until it's 10:00 p.m. December 24th and they're booting me out of the mall. I hate shopping. I learned though that buying early takes the pressure off, I find some great deals, and I can spend a bit more on her that way as I stretch out the buying over a couple of months.
Oh, and throwing this in before "Add Comment" - buying on line is the best way to buy stuff.

Single guy with no kids and no nieces or nephews. But I did see something on sale yesterday so I went ahead and knocked my sister off the list.

What's more thoughtful, spree shopping the week before Christmas or remembering folks throughout the year?

Also I'm poor, so it's nice to spread the expense as far as I can.

Ashtrey: Single guy with no kids and no nieces or nephews. But I did see something on sale yesterday so I went ahead and knocked my sister off the list.

What's more thoughtful, spree shopping the week before Christmas or remembering folks throughout the year?

Also I'm poor, so it's nice to spread the expense as far as I can.

I concur.

I shop early so I can buy one gift one week, another for someone else the following week and so on till Christmas. It's not a strain on the the budget so I can get more gifts for more people.

indarwinsshadow: until it's 10:00 p.m. December 24th

You're not really procrastinating until you're at Walgreens at 2 AM Christmas morning.

It's so much fun - I can't wait (that was sarcasm). Actually do Amazon and eBay now to avoid stress later. However, subby obviously doesn't have kids or you'd know you gotta wait until the week before for their shopping because they change their mind daily on what they "really, really, really want".

12349876: indarwinsshadow: until it's 10:00 p.m. December 24th

You're not really procrastinating until you're at Walgreens at 2 AM Christmas morning.

Or UPS knocks on your door the day after boxing day. And you hand your significant other her main present with a big sh*t eating grin and say "Merry Christmas...still love me"?

..
...

Christ, if only that weren't true.

I shop for my dad year-round now - meaning if I see a toy car of anything between about 1946 and 1963, I buy it for him. It's annoying how almost all of the Hot Wheels you see are 60s and 70s muscle cars, and you see fewer and fewer '55 Chevys.

Dad is easy to shop for - toy cars, a couple of HO-scale pieces of rolling stock, anything related to Roy Rogers westerns or Marx Brothers movies, and the occasional replacement saw blade or drill bit.

balki1867

One of the added perks, though, is that I don't have to deal with all the idiots at the mall.


The... "mall"?

*googles "mall"*

Oh, okay - it's like Amazon in a building!


:-)

wildstarr: Ashtrey: Single guy with no kids and no nieces or nephews. But I did see something on sale yesterday so I went ahead and knocked my sister off the list.

What's more thoughtful, spree shopping the week before Christmas or remembering folks throughout the year?

Also I'm poor, so it's nice to spread the expense as far as I can.

I concur.

I shop early so I can buy one gift one week, another for someone else the following week and so on till Christmas. It's not a strain on the the budget so I can get more gifts for more people.

In fact, since reading this thread I saw something for my mother. So I'm either mostly done shopping, or I can give more.

*Every year I say I'm going to do this. This is the first year I actually have.

Nothing new. The wife and I have been doing it for years, even before having our kid.

oukewldave: I expect to start seeing Christmas decorations in stores around October 1. Last year was about October 15. Every year it moves up a week or two.

One time I saw a store with the christmas items across from the summer items and thought since they finally overlapped, why bother putting either away?

If you're a parent and you're doing this.. you're most likely an ass.
I literally NEVER, and do mean NEVER, EVER got a single thing as a kid that I had ever asked for. Really wonderful growing up seeing your friends get great xmas gifts and you get a slew of crap. I would get things boxed in the size of the item I wanted so I would be happy and excited until I opened the damned thing... only to find out the Atari was a blanket. Open the Coleco Vision to find out it was an old Atari (with NO games except the tank game that came in it). Wanted a boombox, got a battery operated TV that ate batteries in about 3 hours max (and nothing quite as fun as jamming out to Days Of Our Lives in a sunny summer afternoon!)
Found out a few years ago my mother was doing the Xmas shopping at the end of December and January when everything "overstock" was marked down because it didn't sell for Xmas.

/on the bright side, I have a basement full of 40 year old Tonka toys that have hardly been touched - or never been played with (because I never wanted the damned things) that I am planning to put on Ebay soon

UNC_Samurai: I shop for my dad year-round now - meaning if I see a toy car of anything between about 1946 and 1963, I buy it for him. It's annoying how almost all of the Hot Wheels you see are 60s and 70s muscle cars, and you see fewer and fewer '55 Chevys.

Dad is easy to shop for - toy cars, a couple of HO-scale pieces of rolling stock, anything related to Roy Rogers westerns or Marx Brothers movies, and the occasional replacement saw blade or drill bit.


Sounds like my father in law. Everything is golf with him. The family buys him all this tacky crap I'm sure he never uses. Who the hell buys golf ball shaped ice cubes?

No, but I'm squirrelling away 20 bucks a week into an envelope so it doesn't feel like we're spending any money when Christmas season arrives.

I save a lot of money every year by not buying Christmas presents at all! I'll do birthdays, maybe. With my nieces they always get clothing or educational materials for birthdays. Friends get dinner and/or drinks. Possibly a trip somewhere for lulz.

I'd like to invent a holiday where I do something awesome for people, just because. That would be really cool. And my nieces and nephew would think I'm the coolest auntie ever for inventing something just for them.

I'm totally going to do that! Taking suggestions on the name and/or day!

Schemgicky Sez: Celebrate New Years instead of Christmas and $ave!

Why not? If you see something great for a present at a reasonable price early in the year, and you can afford it at the time, go for it! It could save you money compared to the price just before Christmas.

To answer people in this thread who were upset about not getting what they wanted for Christmas as kids, I always used to make a list of several items, give it to my parents, and say "please get me just one of these." That way it would still be kind of a surprise on Christmas Day, but I knew it would be something I wanted.