Many stores started clearing space for Xmas product weeks ago, and lately more and more of them are running Xmas music. How does the November onset of Xmas decor and music make you feel?

Take the poll. :)

It seems retailers have been doing the Christmas thing beginning November 1st for years.

I don't mind it, though I wish every retailer waited until after Nov 11th to put up decorations and start playing Holiday music. When I used to work retail, by mid-December I was fed up of all of it though.

Good point about Remembrance Day, which I'm sure is such an inconvenience to retailers.

During my trip to the Philippines last year, Christmas decorations were out in full force by the last week of October - not just malls/businesses, but many homes as well. I think it's to compensate for the lack of snow :)

I don't step foot in a mall for the entire month of November. If that's their goal - to turn away customers - then it's working. Great marketing!!

My boss asked when we should put up Christmas decorations and I said if it's any earlier than Dec 1st, don't expect me to show up for work.

Don't get me wrong, I love Christmas. But it's not meant to be celebrated for two months straight. The USA does it right: the day after Thanksgiving is the start of the Christmas (shopping) season. I could see some Canadian retailers taking that lead and start playing Frosty the Snowman at the beginning of October :p

Good point about Remembrance Day, which I'm sure is such an inconvenience to retailers.
When I worked in a Bell store, we were told to have Holiday decorations out Nov 1. My boss wouldn't put out decorations until her Rememberance Day wreath came down on the 12th (being in northern Ontario pretty much guaranteed that no one from Toronto head office would pop in and check up) :D

At the mall (Billings Bridge) near my office, they usually start the music on the 15th of November. Sure enough, the Santa station is in place today and the Christmas music is playing.

I wouldn't mind it so much if it weren't for the fact that I'm going to hear some crappy songs - or some decent songs far too many times* - over the course of the next month and a half. :o

(*The one exception is Linus & Lucy (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linus_and_Lucy). I never get tired of that song.)

My previous rants/suggestions on Christmas can be found via the following link:

http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/showthread.php?t=32554

I just pity the people who have to work under those conditions. For me it would be torture - they do this for prisoners when they want them to stay awake, or to keep people away from certain sections of town don't they?

I don't do any shopping at this time of year unless there is an emergency item that I need to purchase.

I just pity the people who have to work under those conditionsIndeed. One winter in the mid-1980s I was in between jobs and was going to apply at a Radio Shack store to make some holiday dough but between the endless loop of Top Gun on their TVs and the Xmas music blaring over the ceiling speakers I walked away.

I just pity the people who have to work under those conditions. For me it would be torture - they do this for prisoners when they want them to stay awake, or to keep people away from certain sections of town don't they?

It was never a fun job working retail during the Holiday season, but you do what you have to to make ends meet. I am happy that the city I am in still has a shopping ban on Holidays so that retail employees get Boxing Day off to rest.

I love Christmas! :D We usually put up our Tree around November 25, and take it down before January 15.

I love seeing Christmas decor around the malls! But I guess it varies when the decorations go up in stores. I've seen some put them up in the first week of October, and some in November.

I think it's great to be selling the Christmas merchandise in November, but they should probably wait until December 1 to start playing the tunes

I guess being a young person (18) that's why I love it so much, but probably when I get older, I won't like it as much as I did as a kid, since I will have to do the spending ;)

Irate! :mad: A month before a holiday is sufficient for putting out the holiday stuff. No more.

I was in HBC over the Turker Day weekend and they had Xmas trees and decorations everywhere.

Don't remember any music playing.

Noticed the decorations started going up November 1. I would have preferred they waited until after Remembrance Day.

XM started their "Holiday Traditions" and "Holly" channels today. I'm enjoying listening to them now. However, ask me in about four weeks! :D

XM started their "Holiday Traditions" and "Holly" channels today. I'm enjoying listening to them now. However, ask me in about four weeks! :D Yup there is a Buffalo radio station (102.5 FM) that plays all Christmas music starting around Remembrance Day (Veterans Day in the US). I haven't checked to see it was playing yet, and I have no intention to do so.

I find the music just gets overloaded after about 2 weeks. I try to avoid it as long as possible.

We noticed on Nov. 3rd (my birthday) that a local restaurant was decorating it's interior for Christmas - my 18-month-old spent a good portion of the evening trying to pull ornaments off the tree. I really had no desire to stop him!

There is a house in my neighbourhood that has lights up all year. I noticed that they turned them on November 1st.

cheers.

In the Vancouver area Xmas lights start showing up in stores in late October due to the celebration of Diwali (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diwali) by many households. We have neighbours who put up outdoor lights for that and leave them up for Xmas. I put ours up usually in early December, and when the holidays are over and I don't feel like taking ours down I just tell people that we're observing the Eastern Orthodox holidays too (we are not of that faith), which are 2 calendar weeks later (Julian calendar). :)

I start listening to Xmas music on Dec 1st. Usually about a week later, I'm done.

I hate xmas music as a whole. Not a big fan of xmas decorations either. To me xmas is from December 24 to the 25... don't even mention boxing day. I stay away from shopping mals, stores on that day unless my mom makes me feel bad by not taking her shopping. Then I curse and swear the whole time were out shopping.

Ironically though, I usually wait till December 23 or 24 to do my xmas shopping where the mals are packed which is when people annoy me the most. This year however is different. It took me 20 years to learn but I have finally learned my lesson. My xmas shopping is pretty much all done. The rest, if anything else is needed will be done online.

The lack of a Thanksgiving in late November in Canada really paves the way for early Christmas music here. Like most others I'm mildly annoyed by it, but the Christmas season just keeps expanding and I don't expect it to stop any time soon. The ironic thing about it is that most Canadian retailers and companies won't even utter the word "Christmas" throughout the entire season — it's now become "holiday" almost exclusively everywhere. We're beginning to forget what and why we're even celebrating anything.