Halloween vs Xmas 2010

[scareviewzombies.com]

For 2010 Halloween sales are projected to up and Xmas sales are projected to be way down. Any thoughts on these articles? My personal opinion for most people Halloween is fun! For a lot of people Xmas is stressful and the obligations and buying of expensive gifts has soured many which has been made worse by the economy.

http://www.cnbc.com/id/39325162/Cons... ... loween[url][/url]


http://www.cnbc.com/id/39312510/[url][/url]

[Murfreesboro]

Interesting articles, if accurate.

I think Halloween is more fun than Christmas, for sure, even though there are some people who are scandalized by it and refuse to participate. But, to me, Halloween is the great holiday of imagination. And the stuff I buy at Halloween may add up, but individually, it's not that expensive. So maybe it's a little easier to loosen the purse strings for Halloween.

Christmas has so many components and is a time of greatly increased workload for anyone who feels responsible to make it happen. For example, I don't just decorate and buy and wrap presents. I also have a lot of special recipes I make during the holidays that are expensive and time-consuming. And there are so many extra events on everyone's schedule. If you have kids, there are the obligatory holiday concerts, organizational parties, charity drives, parades (yes, high school band members must participate), church plays, all the rehearsals. And there are the community events that compete with each other--do I go to Franklin to see the "Dickens of a Christmas" street festival, stay in Murfreesboro for the Christmas parade, buy a ticket to the Christmas tour of homes in the historic district, etc. All that stuff, I can tell you for sure, will happen on the second weekend of December. Even if I want to do it all, I can't. The expectations are so high, and the schedule is insane.

As for my personal spending plans? I still have a little buying to do for Halloween--parts of daughter's costume, and pumpkins for sure, maybe one or two more items that I buy on impulse, just because they amuse or charm me.

W/re/to Christmas, I am going to try to spread it out a little. We can never afford a big Christmas, but basically we just buy for our own nuclear family, anyway, so I have some ideas. If I spread the spending out over three months, perhaps it won't clobber me in January.

[iHaunt]

I do agree with you, Murfreesboro! Halloween is more fun than Christmas!

[Halloweennut08]

I agree I love the background around Christmas but Halloween is fun and its a little bit warmer to.

[Shadow_of_the_31st]

No more contest for whos the best Christoween will solve all

[MacPhantom]

Heh heh heh... Nicely nicely!

[scareviewzombies.com]

That is awesome Shadow_of_the_31st

[Ciuin]

Look at the little girl! She's wicked awesome! Her parents are awesome! I wish I could make my daughter that awesome.


I'm in need of a thesaurus or word-a-day calender I think.

[iHaunt]

No more contest for whos the best Christoween will solve all

TWO THUMBS UP!!!!

[Pumpkin_Man]

Folks, I really hat to say it, but some of the worst, most depressing and most stressful times in my life have been during the Christmas season. Two days after Christmas of 2001, my brother died. And Christmas has been a time, that for many years, I dreaded becasue of the various disasters that have happened. It seemed, for likd 25 years plus, that every Christmas season, beginning a little after Thanksgiving, to after New Years day, that some one in my family was either in the hospital, in a car wreck or in some kind of a crises.

I do love the old Catholic traditions that go with Christmas. I love the Advent wreath, but the holiday as a whole, is very stressful, and my family has turned it into a secular game playing fest with no real tradition to it at all. I love them dearly, but there's no way they can call what they celebrate every December 25th, Christmas.

And it is also a very expensive gift giving season, and many, myself included, just cant afford to purchase expensive gifts for everyone. I do oaky, and am lucky to have a job. I am very grateful for what I have, but I am limited on what kind of gifts I can buy my loved ones. Christmas time is the only ocassion I give gifts, other then once in a life time ocassions like Weddings, Graduations and the like.

But, I can definately see how Halloween could beat out Christmas for being fun. I never had any major problems with Halloween. In fact, Halloween was one of the few things that have consistantly gone right, and I've never been in or have seen anyone I love in a crises during that time. Christmas has pretty much lost it's "magic," but Halloween still remains a fun day for horror movies, 'haunted road trips' and just plain enjoyment. I would like to see it become an official holiday, like Columbus Day or Lincolns Birthday.

Mike

[Midnite Shadow]

I prefer Halloween 100 times of Xmas...I enjoy Xmas and all but Halloween for fun, Xmas is more 'religious' and geared toward the kids with Santa and gifts and such. Halloween is fun for all...

[Murfreesboro]

Mike, I'm really sorry to hear that you have had so many family crises associated with the Christmas season! I feel blessed that, so far, the deaths in my family have happened at other times of year. I was especially grateful that my mother passed in March, because the next big holiday was Easter, and that, above all, is the one that gives hope to those who have lost loved ones.

I love the Advent wreath and devotionals, too. In fact, over the past two or three years, that's what has anchored me during the Christmas madness. You have to carve out a space for yourself in the middle of it and give yourself a few minutes to breathe.

I think it is sad that the other members of your family have lost touch with the religious roots of Christmas and celebrate it only as a secular event. They may not realize it, but they are missing out on the best part of it when they do that.

[Pumpkin_Man]

I agree with you, Murfree, and I do try to make the best of it. For me, tradition is what I love most about Christmas, and part of what depresses me most about it is that my brothers and sisters just don't bother with it any more. I still like it, but as I stated before, Halloween is really my favorite day of the year, and.

Another unfortunate aspect of Christmas is it's rapidly becoming a 'rich man's' holiday. Een buying less expensive gits for people, it can run into hundreds of dollars, and I only shop for my nieces and nephews, and grand nieces and nephews, because that's all I can afford to do. I would buy for more people if I could afford it. Anyway, event hat still runs into hundreds of dollars. I don't use credit cards, so I at least don't run up huge debt, but I do have to save up the money so I can do my Christmas shopping, and it's harder and harder every year it seems.

At any rate, I do have a tree trimming party every year at my house which the little ones love, and I do really get into the old traditions that were promenent when I was a child, but it's not what it use to be.

Mike

[Murfreesboro]

I bet your nieces and nephews will remember your tree-trimming parties for the rest of their lives, and they may not remember what they got for Christmas by next Halloween. You are giving them the gift of tradition.

[angel222]

i would say christmas so much prettier holiday and its fun time too. decorations and cooking. halloween is fun too. to enjoy both holidays, you need to take baby steps and you will enjoy it alot.