Thursday 5 December 2019

December 5th and Bah Humbug!


BAH HUMBUG - Button Pinback Badge 1.5" Anti Christmas | eBay
image from internet somewhere
Imagine being around in 1652 when the message went round the country that Christmas was banned henceforth. The Puritan Parliament had abolished Christmas and even sat in parliament on Christmas Day.

When Christmas was despised and banned for 22 years in ...
image from boing boing.net

  Would people still have sneaked out to bring in a bit of greenery?........ would they have quietly made a Christmas pie?.......(not a pudding, that came a bit later). I have no idea.

A man called Hezekiah Woodward who was a nonconformist minister of the day and also well known for writing and distributing pamphlets - or tracts as they were called then, wrote in 1656..........

" We are persuaded, no one thing more hindreth the gospel work all year long, than doth the observation of that Idol Day once in a year, having so many days of cursed observation with it".

Is he saying - Christmas went on for Far Too Long?.................Nothing new then!



  After loving Christmas when our children were young and Col's Mum was alive I was a bit Bah Humbug for a few years in the early 2000's, everything was hard work and I didn't know what to do for presents, or who was coming and going where and when. All Christmas organising was always my job and maybe I got resentful that most of the work and every decision had to be made by me.



No More Bah Humbug
image from somewhere else on internet

 But I've not been Bah Humbug for several years now........ I got over the grump.  So I'm quite happy for supermarkets to play Christmas music for weeks and love to see houses with all their decorations outside from early December. I ignore all the hype about buying and do my own thing. I've got over the dread of "weird presents" and making Christmas Hampers solved the what-to-give problem.
 I'm not even going to let the 'being on my own' thing spoil the fun and Christmas for me started last Saturday and will last all month.

I wrote the above paragraph and thought  "sure I've written that before?"  I went onto the old blog and thanks to looking in Christmas in the Labels...found this from 2013....In fact NOVEMBER 12th 2013!

Every year some people seem to  get themselves into a tizzy about the approach of Christmas. They are worrying about the commercialism, the never ending ads on TV. The over eating. The debt. But I can't see the point of getting all "het up" about it ( as we say in Suffolk).
You can preach all you like but there will always be some people who go completely OTT. This is the time that shops take the most money, so of course they are going to advertise. You don't HAVE to buy what they are trying to persuade you to spend on. However much money you give some people they would still spend it on things others consider unnecessary. However little money other people have some will still spend it all and borrow more.
You can be annoyed at the shops playing Christmas songs in November, but there's no point in raising your blood pressure over it. Just do your shopping and leave.
 You can be an all-the-year-round Christian or at only-at -Christmas-church visitor but you will be made welcome whoever you are. And if you are not - then find another church next year because if a church doesn't make a stranger feel welcome then they are not doing what they should be doing.
You can be Pagan or Atheist as long as no one is hurt by your beliefs or non beliefs.
You can stay at home, read a good book, watch TV  or go to huge family parties, in the whole great scheme of things as long as you are not hurting anyone then it doesn't matter.
You can spend a fortune on presents, make them or buy them secondhand. If the recipient doesn't like it then it's their problem not yours.
CHILL
It's just Christmas, it happens every year. Enjoy it or not.
BUT DON'T GO ON AND ON ABOUT IT!


 Blimey, I was a bit  preachy back then!

For me to have written this in the first half of November Christmas must have been starting very, very early in blogland........ much earlier than nowadays.

I disabled/dismantled comments on the old blog so have no idea what people said when I wrote that!

Yesterday I met up with Rachel-in-Norfolk for a coffee and catch-up in Diss Morrisons (Didn't notice any Christmas music). They were doing free top-ups of coffee, but had all toilets out-of-order.............. which must have caused some people a problem - luckily I was alright until I got home! Me and Rachel (sorry Rachel and I) have now met up several times and still have plenty to talk about.








Back Tomorrow
Sue


22 comments:

  1. You may feel it was a bit preachy but there's a lot of truthy in what you say above, I think. People will be people in all the variety and range of interest and living.
    I'm glad you do your own thing and get considerable enjoyment from it. Me too. Spreading the loadf might make it go on for longer, but it's less pressure all round and I love the sparkly and brightness at such a dark time of year.
    But maybe that's just me - it dpoesn't matter!

    A fine of five shillings. Goodness, that was a lot of money in those days!

    xx

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    1. Forgot to add - I'm glad you had a lovely time with Rachel.
      xx

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  2. preachy or not, the message is right. Celebrate in your own way, and don't worry about what other people think. Everyone does it differently - or not at all - and it's all ok.

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  3. We didn't really mention Christmas yesterday until we were about to leave did we. Sort of sums up what you are saying here. Each to their own and I will enjoy the day eating what I want, listening to the radio. I enjoyed our chat. See you after Christmas.

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  4. Nothing wrong with a bit of preaching now and then especially when it's a good sermon like that! At the end of Christmas Carol, the reformed Scrooge say "I will keep Christmas in my heart and honour it all year". The message of vlove, peace and goodwill to allv should be an year round thing. I suspect that was what Cromwell & Co were trying to say, and trying to stop the excess and bad behaviour which happened each December!

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  5. Christmas has changed over the years for us many times and we just adapt to whatever those changes are. Presently we have new younger members arrived into our family to share Christmas with as the older generation are no longer with us, save my mum. So we are back to early mornings and visits to see Santa and endless excitement.
    I like the fact that Christmas can be whatever you want it to be, whatever you make it. x

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  6. Christmas was definitely more fun (hard work) when the boys were young - the decorating, the games and the festive themed shenanigans seemed by to be driven by them coming back from school with stories and ideas. Now they are adults(ish) the festive stuff has toned down and part of me is relieved, and part of me actually misses it - but not enough to put the tree up just yet!

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  7. I love Christmas, but don't go overboard with it now. My daughter was born in the middle of November and up until she was about six always had a party with her friends from playschool then school. Relatives would also come from Yorkshire and Hampshire, so there was a lot going on with baking, organising games for the little ones, prizes, party bags etc etc. It wasn't until after the party was over and relatives had gone home could I think or do anything about Christmas, although I did make the Christmas cake and some chutneys and bought the odd thing. Now I am retired and have all the time in the world I don't seem to be as organised. Happy days!

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  8. I thought Christmas was a magical time when I was a child, as an adult not so much. I now take what I like from Christmas, the food, decorations and lights. I refuse to get into the consumer gross fest, leave that to everyone else. A shop had a display saying "Your Christmas, your rules". The spirit of Christmas, Goodwill to all Men (and women!) Is my thing.

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  9. I kind of like that post. I shall try to think about it a bit as a reminder when I'm getting annoyed. I think that it's the crowds that bother me. The older I get the harder I find it is to be around a lot of people.

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  10. Love Christmas but have had some life times when it was painful! Blog blog blog-we love it!!!!

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  11. The way things are going it won't be long before they ban Christmas again in case we offend other religions.
    Briony
    x

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  12. A great deal of truth in that old blog post!!

    God bless.

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  13. I can be Bah Humbug one day and all Holly Jolly the next, mostly it depends on the weather and the type of Christmas music on offer.

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  14. As a young mother, and for too long after, I was Bahhh Humbug about Christmas. Alllll the pressssure to do everything. So silly. With age has come Wisdom! -smile-

    I do Christmas on my own terms now. And it is so much better. We enjoy it more.

    😊🎄😊

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  15. I've found my happy place for Christmas these days. With the grand kids and great grandchild all dotted around the country and rarely seen by us I have no idea what they are 'in to' at the moment, so I simply send their Dads, my son and grandson, money to buy them what they really want or need. I give my sons money for themselves and their partners, and Alan does the same for his step-daughter and her family. Then we settle down on the peripheries of Christmas enjoying the bits we like and ignoring the bits we don't.

    Like you I'm not in the slightest bah-humbug anymore either, but I just like a quiet simple Christmas and always feel that once the cash is distributed and a few treats are purchased we can sit back and do things our own much more simple way. There's always an open invitation for anyone that wants to come to visit us, it's sort of open house and we make sure there are some festive nibbles in case the offer is taken up, but with the grandchildren and little people expanding rapidly this year I think most family will be staying put in their own homes. We have a new grand daughter arriving this Saturday and then our niece is having a little boy who's due on Christmas Day.

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  16. Thank goodness for William Winstanley...he's known as the man who saved Christmas! Arilx

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  17. Preachy? Maybe. But I think what you said was spot on back in 2013! I've rarely been Bah Humbug, although some Christmases have been much merrier than others. I'll be posting my article about grieving during the holiday season -- that's when it is hardest for me. But I think some of the bah humbuggers are those who are also grieving, even if they don't think they are -- perhaps grieving something they never felt, that never was for them, and now they don't know how to find it. I'm glad you have found your cheer!

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  18. I agree with what you said in 2013!! Well said!!!

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