When Should We Start Thinking About Christmas?

Whoville 'How The Grinch Stole Christmas (2000)'

It's the 25th October, only 60 days until Christmas! I know to lots of people it probably feels like quite a long way away, but I can't help feeling it's closer than we realise. I absolutely love Christmas. I've been known to start playing Christmas music early in November and I've already bought at least one present. I'm always the first to start decorating the house with tinsel and lights, and to place our plastic Christmas wreath on the front door. I think a lot of people grow out of Christmas, but I'm certainly not planning to. 

What I'm wondering is, when should we start thinking about Christmas? When I say thinking, I mean seriously thinking about it - choosing what presents to buy friends and family, what meat to eat on Christmas day etc.. Supermarkets have started trying to sell decorations and I have seen a lot of advent calendars in the 99p store this week; magazines will have already made their December issues, including where to buy the latest Christmas jumpers and ideas of things to fill your stocking; and restaurants have already started taking Christmas bookings. So it's clear that some of us already are thinking about it, but when is it socially acceptable to start talking about Christmas with others? 

Got enough presents there Lou? 'How The Grinch Stole Christmas' (2000)

For a lot of people nowadays Christmas revolves around presents. It seems to be the main feature of the day. Whether we are eagerly anticipating opening a present we've been waiting months to get our hands on or anxiously watching our parent's reaction when they receive a set of body wash for the third year running,  a lot of time is spent thinking about presents. Sometimes finding the prefect Christmas present can be quite stressful, not to mention expensive. No one likes to be caught in the last minute rush on Christmas Eve where you end up choosing something completely impersonal or out of budget just because you have no time and/or patience left. Believe me, I've made that mistake a lot of times! 

With online shopping some of these problems can be averted but preparation is still key. Deliveries around Christmas time can be unpredictable and I wouldn't advise ordering something in the week running up to the big day, unless you are willing to risk presenting a wrapped up receipt. More and more people are starting to buy Christmas presents earlier. Having worked in retail for the last month, I've had quite a few questions about whether there will be any Christmas deals and I've heard the phrase 'early Christmas present' more than once. In fact, just today one of my colleagues mentioned having already bought all of her Christmas presents! Now I'm not suggesting we should all be that organised but perhaps thinking about them now would be sensible. Especially as spacing out the buying process could help keep our bank balances healthy. 

Another question I'm interested in is when should we start decorating, thinking about the food we're going to eat and playing Christmas music? A lot of people follow the 1st December rule. But if you are going to order your meat from a butcher then you'll need to do this well before December (I'm not sure when exactly because we just get a turkey from Sainsbury's each year). Even if you're just getting a turkey though, you need to work out how many people are coming to lunch or dinner, and if you're inviting family to stay. You may have to work this out earlier than you think, they might already have a couple of options and you'll need to make your offer known before they make plans. If you're going to go away for Christmas, you'll start planning even earlier. 

'The Bare and The Hare' (2013) by John Lewis

Finally when is it okay for Christmas advertisements to start appearing on TV? I said in my post last year's about Christmas advertisements, that as soon as the Coca Cola ad had been seen the Christmas season had officially started but of course not all companies can wait for Coca Cola. In fact I am sure that all the big department stores have already made plans for this years advertisements, if not already filmed them. I'm keeping my eyes out for the first one I see. 

There is a lot of growing resentment out there that Christmas has been taken over by commercialism. It's turning into a display of decadence rather than a time of good cheer or a religious holiday. I can't deny that Christmas has got a bit out of hand, but thinking about it earlier can prevent this. Last year the government predicted that on average British households will spend £820 on Christmas and I wouldn't be surprised if they predicted even higher figures this year. But by being prepared for Christmas you should be able to cut down the amount you spend. 

My conclusion, it's comes down to personal preference. But if you want to spend less time and money worrying about it, then starting to think about it soon might be a good idea. 

Whose Is Your Favourite Christmas Advertisement 2013?

Each year everyone eagerly awaits the Coca Cola Christmas advertisement (perhaps the best Christmas advertisement of all time - although my mum seems to prefer the Old Grouse one) as a sign that it is okay to start celebrating Christmas. From here on we have the excuse to get out last year's iconic snowman jumper that looks like something out of Bridget Jones's Diary (or in my case a 10 year old GAP snowflake one), blast out Christmas tunes in the car or shower, and start eating mince pies like the apocalypse is coming.

Once this initial excitement is over and the generic 'I just saw the Coca Cola advert on TV' statuses have passed, people start to turn their attention to the newer Christmas advertisements, mostly the supermarket ones. I thought it would be interesting to do an evaluation of a few of them, hopefully spark some debate or at least get people think about the process of advertising itself.

My least favourite has got to be M&S's one this year. It's awful. Firstly, what have fairy tales got to do with Christmas? The modern day depictions of Alice and Wonderland, Little Red Riding Hood, Hansel and Gretel,  Aladdin and The Wizard of Oz (starting Helena Bonham Cater) are far from engaging or unusual. Secondly, since when has it been okay to have women parading around in lingerie on a Christmas advertisement? Not exactly fun for all the family!What is worse is that the protagonist, played by Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, shows no ounce genuine emotion throughout the whole advertisement. M&S have put too much hope (and money) into the power of star attraction and not enough thought or creativity. Perhaps if they had exchanged the protagonist for a young child (and cut the lingerie scenes obviously) they might have instilled the viewer with a bit more compassion, like some of the more successful Christmas adverts do.

Another advertisement I'm not particularly impressed with is the Waitrose one. Other than the fact that it's not exactly the first thing to want to think about when you're eating your Christmas dinner, whether the turkey had a good time running around in the farmyard before it got killed for you to eat, it has the same feel to it as all their other advertisements. It's almost as though they don't care that it's Christmas! It also suggests that the perfect Christmas dinner is just about the turkey, and not the atmosphere of the day itself. It is neither feel-good nor memorable in my books, and is a serious let down on their money-saving 'Community Matters' advertisement of last year.

While writing this post and re-watching some of these advertisements, I managed to stumble across Morrison's Christmas advert staring Ant and Dec. This is a festive themed re-make of the Disney song 'Be Our Guest' from Beauty and the Beast, with a gingerbread man as the host rather than Lumière. It's quite inventive with its re-writing of the lyrics and for Disney lovers out there (of which I most certainly am) it's sure to be popular. I also like the fact that it's centered around food. Other than the fact that I like food, I think it's sensible for food-focused supermarkets to advertise what they're known for, rather than making any ridiculous attempts at covering the whole of Christmas.

This year's Tesco advertisement is one I'm really not sure of. It's a nostalgic, home-video-style presentation of a family's experiences of Christmas with Rod Stewart's 'Forever Young' playing in the background. Although it's inoffensive it's not exactly exciting either. It's fairly reminiscent of John Lewis's 2010 'Always a Woman' advertisement but obviously with the added Christmas theme.  It's got enough community spirit and festive attraction for me but I think it's that fact that they don't appear to be trying to sell anything that annoys me. I mean what is the point they are try to get across here? Christmas advertisements need to be original in my eyes to be considered interesting and there just isn't enough here to earn my approval.

Next is my evaluation of the John Lewis advertisement, although not technically a supermarket it deserves to be compared alongside these. With almost 8 million views on YouTube and it's not even December it's true to say that a lot of people have seen this advertisement already, probably even a couple of times. It's first impression to me was of it's resemblance with 'Watership Down', a children's TV programme I used to watch when I was younger, but then on a second viewing the startling differences between the basic sketching animation and the vivid shots of reflecting water as the hare crosses the river and the life-like present left in the snow, really show just how much thought has gone into the creation of this advertisement. Although the idea behind the advertisement is relatively simple - a bear who has never seen Christmas because of hibernation is awoken my an alarm clock left my his best friend the hare and gets to see Christmas for the first time - along with its appropriately chosen backing song, 'Somewhere Only We Know' sung by Lily Allen, and careful animation, this advertisement manages to create in the viewer a real sense of involvement in the story line and the emotions of the animals. It has everything it needs to be a fantastic Christmas advertisement (which it really is): the ability to create empathy within the viewer; a good backing track; unusual and engaging initial idea; Christmas spirit; a sense of community and something that is accessible and enjoyable for every member of the family. Christmas is about spending time with the ones you love and this advertisement cleverly reminds you of that whilst still promoting the importance of choosing and buying the right present.

Lastly, I'd like to share my opinion of Sainsbury's full length Christmas advertisement. Although a lot of people have seen the last clip at the end of the advertisement where a young family are sending Christmas wishes to their father, who is away fight in areas of conflict, who then walks through the door at the end to the children's delight, the whole advertisement is definitely worth a watch through. My favourite moment is around 1 minute 32 seconds in when a little boy dressed in Toy Story pyjamas is SO happy with the present he's been given. He goes crazy! We all know that Christmas isn't about presents but we can't deny that the happiness brought to our friends and families faces when we have given them the perfect present isn't worth paying for. And this is what the Sainsbury's advert cleverly plays on. Another section that really stood out to me was the gentleman who we initially see explaining about his Christmas cooking schedule and then later we see him sitting alone eating this meal. This loneliness seems odd against the rest of the clips and serves to suggest one of two things, either Christmas is okay alone if you have all the trimmings or don't let your relatives end up like this, buy more and invite them around yours! I'm more inclined to think it's the latter but either way it's very clever advertising by Sainsbury's. I can't, of course, evaluate this advertisement without talking about the final clip I touched on early. The honest happiness and surprise of having a separated  family member unexpectedly return home for Christmas evokes emotion within the viewer immediately and is truly special to watch. The home-video-style film and blurriness of footage adds to this unforced scene and the genuine response felt by the viewer. Whether Sainsbury's had any help in getting leave for the father to come home or whether it was merely coincidental I don't know (and I don't want to read about the creation of the advertisement because I don't want to see other's opinions before I post this - I want this to be my responses to the advertisements), but as the viewer we feel privileged to be a part of this scene and thus feel grateful to Sainsbury's for giving us the opportunity to partake in this intimate reunion. Like the John Lewis advertisement this has all that factors required to make it a great Christmas advertisement and as a viewer we are left with a feeling of festiveness and excitement because of Sainsbury's, I therefore think it's a great advertisement, perhaps even as good as John Lewis's.

I hope the length of this post hasn't been too long for everyone and you've all persevered to the end.
Sorry it's technically not Thursday anymore, it was when I started writing it!
Any comments or opinions are always welcome!!