This is fine. Planning for large/corporate events means booking Christmas lunch well in advance but you'd do that for any event (wedding, special birthdays etc). We've had to move our Graduate & Student 'Christmas' lunch up to 30th Nov as our usual first Friday in Dec had been swiped by someone else last January! Can't go later as the Students go home, so November it is. Frankly Christmas hasn't got much to do with it, it's just an excuse for a knees-up.
Making presents I am knitting already but that's for imminent/extant offspring of friends. I will soon start knitting for my smaller relations' Christmas presents. Cake & pudding happen in October-ish. Homemade chocolates in the couple of days before.
While I live with PretzelMeister, my family are a long way away. We've had one conversation about possible permutations of families/locations for Christmas/Boxing Day, and will have to make decisions soon (even if it is only that we'll take a car rather than book advance flights).
I buy presents as and when I find them. Yes, that includes the January sales. It goes for birthdays as much as Christmas. I don't see the point buying something for someone just to have a thing to unwrap on a certain day (unless we're talking about kids who get small 'fun' presents) so all my close friends know they may not get a present at Xmas/b'day but will get something 'just right' at a random time. Or I hoard things for Xmas. I bought my Mum's present about 2 weeks ago because she's nearly impossible to find things for and I just happened to find something that was just right.
I absolutely loathe the crush on Christmas Eve as last-minute shoppers dash round in increasing frustration & desperation to get it all done. It also means you end up spending far more.
I buy Christmas decorations in the January sales. I am fond of the very beautiful glass baubles which usually cost upwards of £3 each. However since I am not a slave to fashion I'm happy to wait for the sales and use them next year. My Christmas decoration collection extends to two closely packed crates and I'd need a 10-foot tree to display it all. (eyes the 11ft ceilings in Pretzelmeister's flat with satisfaction...)
When I first moved away from home a tradition developed that the tree waited to be decorated on Christmas Eve, when I got home. In my own flat I moved that back so I had time to appreciate my tree before going away for 2 weeks over Xmas/New Year, but the principle is the same - the tree should be up for around 2 weeks, not from mid-November. Besides, if you put a real tree up too early it looks all draggled by Christmas Day.
So I'm not bah-humbugging, I just think Christmas should occupy 2 weeks of the year not 22.
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