More smoke and mirrors than baubles

I RATHER think Natasha Finneran-Arm (Gazette letters, October 15) has missed my point entirely.
By The Newsroom
Published 22nd Oct 2009, 13:23 BST
Updated 8th Jun 2018, 01:26 BST

It's not so much Christmas odds and ends being sold out of season that gets me going (after all you can purchase hot cross buns, cream eggs and out-of-season vegetables/fruit all year round), but rather the overt celebration of Christmas by the hanging of decorations and the putting up of trees in the middle of September.

This is far in advance of the proper time. It is well documented that our Christmas celebrations are pagan in origin. Feasting and celebration took place around the winter solstice until early January (the 12 days of Christmas) and early Christians just tagged along.

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Celebrating a time of renewal and rebirth (for Christians and pagans alike) from September to January rather misses the point about

Christmas and makes it meaningless. After all, when a pleasure becomes a habit it is no longer a pleasure.

By the way, let's not kid ourselves that the shops concerned have our best interests at heart by allowing us to spread the cost. It is all smoke and mirrors. They are using psychology to get our money and it's nothing to do with providing a service because we have a recession.

It's rather like supermarkets baking bread in store as the smell makes you hungry and so you buy more. These shops are using the same tactics, trying to hoodwink us (or more likely our children) into believing it's nearly Christmas and, what's more, it won't be a proper Christmas unless you have bought (or Mummy buys) this or that.

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And if you're on a budget, you buy your presents all year round, as I do, and get your cards in the January sales.

Dee Hollingsworth

The Crossways

Wick

* All letters to the editor must include a name and address, which can be withheld by request

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