Christmas decorations
It's Christmas - official.
This week our breakfast rivals stuck up their festive decorations, tree and all. Their studio now resembles some kind of grotto.
We don't generally watch our rivals that nervously, because we do generally aim to be different in the morning.
But, many of our viewers flick between the two shows - and they are currently demanding to know where our decorations are.
Problem. Our decorations are all planned (the design process takes a while), but they weren't due to go up until Monday 18th December. The thought of holding out another ten days is too much to bear. We've changed our minds - the decorations will go up this Monday instead.
This, I guess, represents a victory for the viewer. Some of our emailers and texters were polite - "would it be possible to have decorations please?", some were concerned - "why is there no tree? Is this political correctness?" and some forgot about the season of goodwill in their choice of words.
There are plenty of people who think Christmas starts far too early, of course. This morning we heard some top drawer humbug from one of the creators of 'Grumpy old men'.
So when is the correct day to put up your decorations please...?
Comments
I don't put up my decorations at home until the week before christmas. I do love christmas but by it all starting so early it loses the excitment and usually makes the day itself a bit of a let down.
I say the 18th was a good choice, shame you didn't stick to your guns.
Oh well another christian festival taken over by media, retail and the masses....
Right, it's not a Christian festival, it's based on a Pagan one. And as to when to put up the decorations, may I suggest never?
Really couldn't care less for Christmas if I tried.
Agreed. About the week before.
And whats with people leaving their trees up well into January!? I'm usually so christmased out that i'm dying for some green tea, the annual trip to the gym and no more christmas lights!
Breakfast being different from GMTV is a good thing and that is why I prefer it.
18th December was a good choice and plenty early enough to put up Christmas decorations - shouldn't the Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú be a leader not a follower?
SCROOOGE ALERT!!!!
I really can't get excited about when your decorations go up.
What does worry me however is how your output is increasingly mirroring the dreadful GMTV. Please go back to hard news and less chit chat between presenters.
It just goes to show what an unenviable position the Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú is in: it can't win. Stick to your guns and put up the decorations on the 18th, and people will play the "political correctness" card and go on about how other religions wouldn't stand for it. Put them up early (I say early, but early should be reserved for supermarkets and the like that roll out the festive fare in October!) and people will complain about the festive season being too long and so on.
I'm just surprised noone has asked for a "red button" interactive service which allows you to choose between sets with decorations or not!
Please don't put them up yet. It is much better to wait and then we don't get so fed up of them over Christmas.
Personally, I tend to go for the Saturday before Christmas day (avoiding going out into the scrums). Obviously, for a business or public location, earlier is probably required, but 18th seems good to me...
The decorations in my work's entrance hall went up today though, accompanied by mince pies for all workers, so can't complain!
Christmas can be a lovely time of year, with Mistletoe and a girlfriend, Snow out the windows and log fires in the hearth, but not pan pipe carols in the local WH Smiths, and cheesy Argos adverts on TV every 5 minutes.
Still, that being said, I thought decorations are supposed to go up 12 days before Christmas, not 12 weeks...
Well - the 'noes' seem to have it so far!
I'll second that. The 18th is as early as I plan to get 'humbug'-ed!
One can reason why retailers get so jumpy with all that stock to clear. One can reasonably see why commercial channels want to show early too. But Aunty! Why hang up YOUR stockings so early?
You don't have a New Year's resolution to go 'commie' do you?
Dum de dum....-ing down? :-/
We put up our tree and display on Christmas Eve, and remove everything on 6 January. No kids, no pester-power!
But I always like to see the houses with outdoor lights - it reminds me of all the excited childred who can hardly wait until December 25th!
18th would be quite early enough!
If we have 12 days of Christmas after the event, why not have 12 days before? My decorations are going up around the 13th...
I would say that the time to put up Christmas decorations is on the first day of Advent. In our house, Advent calendars went up then, but other decorations are being left till later on pragmatic grounds (we don't want the kids or the cats to wreck them before Christmas)!
To Silas: A little knowledge is a dangerous thing. Christmas is a Christian festival that celebrates the birth of Christ. The date was chosen for that festival because it was already the date of the Roman festival of Saturnalia, and was not so much "based" on it, as intended to supplant it, as the Roman Empire was Christianised in the 4th Century AD. Various of the traditions associated with Christmas are also adopted from numerous pagan traditions, but to say that Christmas "is not a Christian festival" on that basis makes no more sense than saying that if two people share the same birthday, only the elder one has a right to celebrate it.
the goverment are embarassed this year. they put "Happy Holidays" up, not "Happy Christmas" which it should be. We have to be multi-culterised now.. right?
Early enough to avoid having to put them up over Christmas and down as soon afterwards as energy becomes available.
Are any of the other news programmes on the Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú going festive. Is Hugh Edwards getting all the trimmings? Will Jeremy Paxman be presenting under a sprig of mistletoe.
i think putting them up on the 18th was a good idea - christmas seems to start earlier and earlier every year and people are probably getting sick of that (i have a lot of friends who work in shops that are sick of having to hear christmas songs every day on the shop radio for weeks or months before christmas!). christmas decorations are for christmas - i like them as much as the next person but if you have them too often then it can make them seem less special.
The correct day to put up your decorations is the day YOU decide to do it: Who cares what anyone else says !
18th December is by far a better day. Putting them up a week earlier and probably leaving them until wk2 in 2007 will get annoying. Bad enough the the beeb has decided that 2nd December arrived, lets advertise the Christmas programmes. Give it a rest
18th was a good choice - show some resolve!!
Since when have you had to look to GMTV for direction?
12 days before Christmas is the right time to put them up!
I was always told that it is 12 days before that the decorations go up, and 12 days after Christmas that they come down. So as long as they go up around the 13th, then you are fine
:)
"What does worry me however is how your output is increasingly mirroring the dreadful GMTV. Please go back to hard news and less chit chat between presenters."
Well said Elizabeth!
12 days before and then 12 days after
Life is simple when taken by the dozen!
"So when is the correct day to put up your decorations please...?"
Allthough not a christian, I celebrate Yule, in Germany it is normal to EITHER put up deccorations the first day of "advent" (whatever THAT may be), in public places or offices. In private homes it is most often 24 December.
You are stating that some offices are banning decorations so that other faiths are not upset. What on earth is it coming to when we cannot celebrate it. I follow my parents tradition and the decorations are up 12 days before and are taken down 12 days after.
Hi there,
'Tis the season to be jolly, peace to all mankind, where do these people spend the festive season, obviously on ther own, and the only way to vent their anger is to try and spoil it for everyone else, get a life i say and just enjoy the moment, after all once a year is surely no hardship, visit a happy family and enjoy the meaning of Christ.
Yours sincerely,
A very decorative member of the human race.
Personally I think 2 weeks before is perfect, down before 12 night, making 3 weeks in all.
Unlike here in France where decorations can still be seen tatty & fluttering at Easter !!!
The 18th of December would have been a good decision because the decorations are not up for way too long & it helps to keep CHRISTmas special.
It is a shame you have bowed under pressure to do it earlier!
You might like to ask some of your viewers to submit some photos of their trees for inspiration . . .
I think Christmas decorations should be put up about the 18 December until 6 January. The idea that because England is multicultural, should no have any Christmas decorations and celebrations is odd.
Look, Christmas proper is great. But since when did Christmas cover all of December? Soon we'll get rid of calendar months completely and simply refer to time as "Before-Christmas" and "After-Christmas", and we all know what a silly idea it is to do things like that.
It's got so bad that there is now an anti-Christmas movement starting up (and hell, i'm part of it). Why can't we just enjoy Christmas but keep it close to Christmas Day?
HERE IN CORP-RAT CAPITALIST CONSUMER AMERIKA, THE KRIST-MESS $EASON STARTS EVEN BEFORE HALLOWEEN. CASE IN POINT: A LARGE CHAIN BOOK STORE ("BARNUM AND $NOB-HELL") HAVE BEEN PLAYING KRIST-MESS MUSIC SINCE THE MIDDLE OF OCTOBER!
KRIST-MESS IS THE BIGGEST CONSUMER HOLIDAY OF THE YEAR OVER HERE... AND $ANTA KLAUS IS THE BIGGEST GOD.
It is not 'a victory for the viewer'. There has been no debate. To call it such displays a lack of analysis - very common on Breakfast these days. Those of us who wish you had not caved in have had no opportunity to say so, until it is too late. In fact it is a victory for GMTV. They lead, you follow.
At home, if you have young children, then I see nothing wrong with putting Decorations up the moment you're into December.
(Some of those complaining may well have forgotten what a magical and exciting time this is when your very young, and that as a festival A LOT OF IT is for children).
In a work environment I think the earliest is 2 weeks before, the latest is 1 week before, (anything any later and you might as well not bother with all the hassle).
It's long been my belief that the anti Christmas brigade isn't led by other cultures and PC facists but more those who for their own personal reasons have a problem with the holiday.
Those miseries we all know who spend their lives in perpetual grumpyness and loathing for the world around them.
(The same petty people who get so worked up about people talking on mobile phones).
I can't wait to put up my tree and decorations - i can't see why everyone is saying the 18th is fine - it's just too late. I've had mine up since last weekend!!Come on everyone - it's Christmas so enjoy it for as long as you can. Merry Christmas!!
>> I'm just surprised noone has asked for a "red button" interactive service which allows you to choose between sets with decorations or not!
Genius!
When I was little, the habbit was to decorate the tree on Christmas Eve's. And hide all evidence of it soon after New Year's.
Why not put the decorations up on the same day as the Christmas Tree in Trafalgar Square? Surely that would make some sense rather than mirror rival programmes.
The 'correct' date for decorations to go up is Christmas Eve, and they should remain up for the 12 days of Christmas until Epiphany. No properly-informed Christian should complain of 'political correctness' if you delay putting up the decorations until the proper time, because they ought to know that Advent isn't over yet, so Christmas hasn't started.
You could compromise by decorating the studio in something purple coloured for Advent and then shift to Christmassy colours, tinsel and other nonsense for Christmas itself (Purple is the proper liturgical colour for Advent). That way you would be doing *something* to mark the approach of Christmas, but wouldn't have to inflcit yet another premature tree on your hapless viewers.
Good Wishes
The Christmas Pedant
with regards to the Christmas Decorations, I agree a couple of weeks before Christmas its self is early enough, and why shouldn't they go up in the work place. There may be other religions celebrating in other ways but we are still in Britain and should stick to our guns about how we celebrate, or not, our festivals. The "political correctness" goes too far and doesn't support our own.
As we have 12 days after Christmas, why not 12 before? My decorations will be going up around the 13th...
I'm with your original stance! - Far too many people and places put up their decorations far too early! REAL Christmas doesn't start until Christmas Day itself -But not to put up decorations until then is definitely rather pedantic and Puritanical - So a couple of weeks before is surely fine?
As another pedant has said elsewhere - It is really more of a pagan than Christian festival in truth anyway!Easter is far and away the more significant festival to anyone who understands the Christian message. Without Easter - Jesus could well have been just another Eastern Mediterranean Prophet/Mystic{And there were many of them around at his time}. The resurrection is the whole point and reason for Christianity's existance. Without it Chritianity as such cannot exist and it becomes just another personality cult.If you do not or cannot believe in it - You are NOT a Christian - Not that that this stops you from being a good person!Christ's teachings were , after all, pretty good rules for living whether you believe in His resurrection from the dead or not!But being a Christian requires at the very basic staring point a belief in his Resurrection from the dead after the crucifiction. Enough said I hope other than to say- Happy Christmas to all readers of this whoever you are and whatever your belief!
Stick to your guns. Your breakfast rivals resemble some kind of horrid gaudy grotto for the rest of the year too, and you don't try to copy them.
The traditional time to put up decorations is Christmas Eve. However, in such as the college at which I work, there's little point in leaving them that late as we'll all have finished work by then!
Oh dear, Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú, you should have stuck to your original date, not given in to the views of a moaning minority.
Christmas has become far too commercial thanks to the Americans. We're heading down the same route regarding Halloween. Putting decorations up too early takes away the magic of Christmas and any meaning it has.
I remember the days when the 'Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú Globe' disappeared on Cristmas Eve and reappeared after Boxing Day. There used to be an element of childish excitement of seeing skating snowmen from an otherwise austere broadcaster. The Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú was relaxing over Christmas which was exciting in itself. That has long since gone.
Let ITV continue its demise by providing consumer programming aimed at red-top newspaper viewers. You're better than that Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú.
My Christmas tree is going up this evening, a compromise between my roommate ( who is from the 12 days before school of thought) and I (the sooner the better).
Merry Christmas!
Hi David, long time Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú Breakfast watcher, first time poster (I felt the need on this topic!).
Are you trying to say that Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú Breakfast wish to emulate GMTV? Surely not.
Maybe you should put chaser lights around the camera now too. Then you can have Keith Chegwin on an outside broadcast, offering the chance for viewers to win £5000 if they answer a question like "how many days of Christmas are there?" a) 1 b) 12 c)137.
Keep them in the box til the 18th!
I put some Christmas decorations up yesterday, and took most of them straigt back off again. Christmas grotto, indeed. Now I've just got a silver angel pyramid that goes "ding ding ding" when you light the candles, and I've got some baubles around the mirror.
I hope the Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú decorations aren't too Christmas-grotto-ish either!
Christmas Trees should go up Christmas Eve. It should be part of the ritual, to spend all Eve decorating and placing the presents, stockings etc out.
Go to Midnight Mass (or Eucharist, etc).
Christmas morning should be all about cooking and food. Christmas afternoon about presents and family-fun... the evening about some major Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú TV programme (Only Fools in yesteryear, Doctor Who this year)
Boxing Day should be about clearing up.
The correct time to put decorations up is 12 days beforexmas (hence the song 12 days of xmas)and should comedown 12 days after for the epiphany - - Happy Christmas :o)
Actually, as far as Im aware decorations should go up on Dec 13th (12 days before Christmas) and come down on January 6th (12 days after Christmas)
In all honesty I'm not really concerned about when the decorations go up. Mine will go up this weekend, mainly because it's quite a lot of work when you have 11' high ceilings / windows - and hence a waste of energy to leave them up for about 5 days as some of the purists and pedants here advocate!
At any rate, I find myself watching the Breakfast show less and less, mainly for the reasons highlighted by Elizabeth O'Hare (#4) - the increasingly 'magazine-y', informal style of the show and its news agenda. Last night's movie premieres / lifestyle features are not news. Neither are the latest set of hystrionic, 'sky-is-falling' figures by obscure researchers about the doomsday scale of the obesity / binge drinking / insert other health 'problem' in Britain. (In particular I remember a week-long period last summer where a 'scary' weight-related story was at or near the top of the agenda almost every day.)
Your morning output these days seems to be taking its cues from the morning 'Metro' tabloid - hardly a benchmark of quality reporting. Against such a backdrop I would argue that the date on which you deck the studio with shiny paper is of relatively minor importance...
Angela seems to be missing a small but important point in suggesting that a 'christian festival has been taken over'. If you look back far enough, you will remember that our winter celebrations are pagan festivals that were taken over by the christians.
PS All decorations should be put up and taken down on the 25th December. That is christmas day and that is all.
Bah Humbug.
Don't let yourselves be bullied by the sensationalist brigade. Put them up when you think it's right.
I suspect most people would rather see Christmas decorations go up later in the year, not at the end of August as they do on the High Street...
Here in Boston, one fellow has enough Santa-inspired lights up for a $1000 electric bill. In the US it seems the "holidays" start when the hours of sunlight fall below 9 hours.
Why don't you donate to a global-warming-reduction cause instead of fretting about how many days you should decorate?
ps
do you ever decorate the set for the other world faiths?
If the Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú wanted to be true to the real meaning of Christmas, they would not have decorations up before Christmas Eve. The period from the beginning of December up to Christmas Day is Advent, not Christmas. At most they should have an Advent Calander or Wreath on show but it is not necessary. Christmas lasts for 12 days, starting 25th December, not before.
Thanks for all the comments above. I've responded to some in a new post, which you can find here....
Electronic expertise being as advanced as it is today it should be possible to satisfy both the normal who like to celebrate Christmas at Christmas and the lunatics who like to start with decorations and shopping in January.
Press the Red Button on your remote control and Voila!
Come on Beeb! Wrong foot the opposition.
What a lot of sad and boring people watch television.All they have to do is sit and moan about what day Christmas decorations should be put up.I put my decorations up when it suits me and the Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú did the same.When has anyone listened to public opinion?.
Does it really matter when the decs go up? I'm astonished people dont have anything more important to worry about! Whats wrong with being festive and celebrating - the world is full of such conflict and sadness, why dont we just think ourselves lucky this is all we have to worry about. Couldn't care less about gmtv i dont even class it as a news prog. Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú gets my vote every time. Love breakfast and it's presenters... happy christmas to you all !!!
I was brought up that Christmas Eve was the time, I guess these days a couple of days earlier might be acceptable but no more
some one told me her decorations and all were up by the 1st of dec. apperantly she starts on with the christmas theme at her home as early as the 24th of nov. just after thanksgiving. So would you listen to her or any of her family member's opinions about when when the christmas decortns shld go up?
I think Christmas season is much more than decorating your house or studio. So much more. i should check out how your tree looks like thou.
Christmas begins on christmas day and lasts for 12 days. howeven, advent begins on the 1st which is when I put my decorations up to cheer up the darkening months and moods.
Merry Christmas!! ..even to the grumpy scrooges and pc grinches out there. SimLeeds x
If I had my way, they'd go up on Christmas Eve and be down by Boxing Day and there would be a separate set of decorations for the New Year.
I really do nt know what has happened this year our shop's don't look as though it's Christmas, But then on my way home i passed several mixed cultures "pople with different beliefs" and find that they have the whole of there house covered with Sign's of Chritmas! "COME ON LETS GET IT RIGHT FOR NEXT YEAR PLEASE"
Happy New Year
My mother always told me that decorations go up 12 days before Christmas and come down 12 days after so that's what I've always done. I think that dragging Christmas out as people do these days, dilutes it. I found myself driving past houses lit up with flashing lights in November. Are they playing "my carbon footprint is bigger than your carbon footprint"?.