2019 Christmas Thread

[Josu]

My wife has paid my christmas present with a credit card linked to our common account.

For people who are older, was stores and restaurants being open on Xmas a common thing? By the time I was a young adult it was firmly established and I feel like it was a relatively new thing in the late 90's but can't be sure.

Here, only hospitals and some bakeries open the 25th.
The 24th everything opens until 2 pm, then most commerces close

 

[Arwon]

So this is interesting. How do you think that plays out for most people? Are you saying lower class people have a more or less stressful holiday period?

Congrats on your break!

The retail and hospitality sector get busier and more stressed because of the extra commercial and leisure activity. And emergency services and public utilities still need to operate.

Office workers like the civil service tend mostly to wind down into December and January because so many people are on annual leave.

 

[civvver]

My wife has paid my christmas present with a credit card linked to our common account.

That's why I essentially think gift giving between me and my wife is stupid. We only have joint accounts, so I'm basically telling her to buy me stuff I would just buy anyway and I get annoyed when she buys something I wasn't going to buy myself cus I don't want to spend the money. But she likes the thought that goes into gift giving so I do it begrudgingly to make her happy.

 

[rah]

Happy wife, happy life.
We give "HINTS" but I like to buy a couple of items that will surprise her.
She does also. So we get the best of both worlds.

 

[Arwon]

For people who are older, was stores and restaurants being open on Xmas a common thing? By the time I was a young adult it was firmly established and I feel like it was a relatively new thing in the late 90's but can't be sure.

Virtually nothing in Australia is open on the 25th itself, it's still a strictly observed public holiday in most labour contexts. It and Good Friday tend to be the least commercially active days of the year with most other public holidays, including Boxing Day on the 26th, having more stuff open.

The NBA having Christmas as a huge event day is alien here, there is not yet any cricket on Xmas Day though it's being talked about as a possibility if the athletes agree.

 

[rah]

Back when Jordan was playing, if you lived in Chicago. you thought it was an honor to have them playing on Christmas, but if all you have to do on Christmas is watch a day full of basketball, you're having a pretty crappy holiday.

 

[Arwon]

Back when Jordan was playing, if you lived in Chicago. you thought it was an honor to have them playing on Christmas, but if all you have to do on Christmas is watch a day full of basketball, you're having a pretty crappy holiday.

There comes a time in the afternoon or evening, after a giant meal, with too much heat around to do much of anything, when sitting in front of a game of cricket would be very very appealing...

 

[MaryKB]

There comes a time in the afternoon or evening, after a giant meal, with too much heat around to do much of anything, when sitting in front of a game of cricket would be very very appealing...

That's usually when dishes need to get done ...

 

[Arwon]

We tend to have cold meats and other stuff appeopriate to summer, with fairly limited dishes, plus you can watch cricket while cleaning them

 

[Darsnan]

The annual cursing of the Christmas lights was relatively brief this year, as most of the strands I pulled out of last years storage worked!

And on an even more Christmasy note our daughter's boyfriend called the wifey and I and asked us for permission to marry our daughter: official announcement will come Christmas morning!

D

 

[MaryKB]

Beware: if he's asking your permission, that's a sign he views her as your property, and soon to be his.

A woman doesn't need her father's permission to marry.

 

[Darsnan]

Beware: if he's asking your permission, that's a sign he views her as your property, and soon to be his.

A woman doesn't need her father's permission to marry.

Can't agree more, as that was how my generation (or our, as the wife was obviously involved) handled it, as the wife simply told her dad that we needed to get married.

Regardless, I wouldn't have announced this in a thread about celebration if it wasn't intended for celebration!

D

 

[rah]

Sometimes it's just a sign of respect. Never a bad idea to show some to your future father-in-law.

 

[Takhisis]

Virtually nothing in Australia is open on the 25th itself, it's still a strictly observed public holiday in most labour contexts. It and Good Friday tend to be the least commercially active days of the year with most other public holidays, including Boxing Day on the 26th, having more stuff open.

The NBA having Christmas as a huge event day is alien here, there is not yet any cricket on Xmas Day though it's being talked about as a possibility if the athletes agree.

Old Firm derbies FTW!

 

[rah]

There comes a time in the afternoon or evening, after a giant meal, with too much heat around to do much of anything, when sitting in front of a game of cricket would be very very appealing...

I dream of too much heat on Christmas. One year I remember that it got up to 65 the day after and we all went to the golf course and played in shorts.

 

[Takhisis]

I dream of too much heat on Christmas.

31 degrees, shirtless, sockless at 5 past 9 tonight. Looking promising.

 

[Arwon]

I dream of too much heat on Christmas. One year I remember that it got up to 65 the day after and we all went to the golf course and played in shorts.

How's 105 and eye-stinging bushfire smoke sound

 

[hobbsyoyo]

The retail and hospitality sector get busier and more stressed because of the extra commercial and leisure activity. And emergency services and public utilities still need to operate.

Office workers like the civil service tend mostly to wind down into December and January because so many people are on annual leave.

I guess I'm so used to seeing poorly paid people in office settings that this phenomenon didn't register as a class difference.

 

[Valka D'Ur]

For people who are older, was stores and restaurants being open on Xmas a common thing? By the time I was a young adult it was firmly established and I feel like it was a relatively new thing in the late 90's but can't be sure.

It used to be that everything here shut down on Sundays, never mind Christmas. It was in the '80s that we had a plebiscite to ask if the Sunday shopping bylaw should be repealed. It was, and now most places are open on Sunday (some of the smaller stores in the malls weren't happy, but their lease said they have to be open when the mall is open). Some of the smaller independent stores still observe traditional Sunday and holiday closings.

I've been in the position of needing my pharmacy to be open on weekends, as emergencies can't be scheduled. Thank goodness for Walmart and a couple of pharmacists with common sense - not to mention that records are linked now so they can access my records. At first one of them said, "We need a prescription" and I asked them, "You expect me to track my doctor down TODAY?" So they told me to bring photo ID and my health card, and that was enough. I guess it also helped that I was already in their system due to getting my flu shots there for the past couple of years.

So pharmacies should be in the "open every day" category. There really are some medications and procedures that matter a great deal if you miss a dose.

When I was a kid nothing was open on Xmas but the hospital and Chinese restaurants. Seriously... all the local Chinese restaurants were always open on Christmas.

It's not a holiday for the non-Christian staff, and it's an opportunity to make some money from people who don't do fancy turkey dinners with the family.

I usually have Chinese either for Christmas or New Years Eve, and my favorite place does observe holiday closing. So I have to get my order in by 3 pm, since they close early.

 

[MaryKB]

Sometimes it's just a sign of respect.

Not for his future wife ...