Merry February
Post Christmas
During the festive season, friends and family are greeted with the question ‘keeping up the Christmas?’, meaning: ‘it is ten o’clock in the morning, with the day now in double figures, have you had a drink yet?’. Keeping up the Christmas conveys well the situation when it comes to food and drink at this time of year. Essentially the last normal meal anyone has is Christmas dinner, thereafter everyone just tucks into what is essentially a thinning selection of leftovers until it is time to supplement it with cheese, ham, pickle and of course, a constant flow of booze.
Certainly the Christmas season was extended this year. Thanks to the snow in December bringing postal deliveries to a grinding halt, people were still getting the Christmas cards and presents delivered in mid-January.
One of the odder ways in which a Christmas continuation manifests itself is the availability of Christmas branded stuff after Christmas. I’m not talking about actual Christmas leftovers, no, they are all reduced in price by about 75% and fly of the shelves as hoards of shoppers pick up cards, wrapping and baubles, baubles, baubles. What I mean is the ordinary stuff that, around Christmas time, is sold in Christmas packaging, cola being the prime example. In December the familiar red and white can usually sports a grinning bloke in a beard and this is all very jolly in the count down to Christmas. Mid-January though, when the vending machine is still spitting out cans decorated with bewhiskered old men, all it serves to do is to turn the January blues positively indigo.
This year much was made of the early appearance of Easter eggs in the shops. This was a good way of getting a lot of free publicity and was also excellent for those us who were going into chocolate withdrawal by 29 December after all the selection boxes had been emptied, chocolate coins cashed in and things were getting so desperate that one starts eyeing up the chocolate with nuts in it.
With Easter eggs being available in December and the weather in April sometimes including a festive looking dusting of snow, there is I think a justification for making novelty chocolate snowmen available at Easter.
Then again, perhaps the attitude to adopt to ensure a smooth transition from one religious holiday to another is to say sod the chocolate and crack open the sherry.
During the festive season, friends and family are greeted with the question ‘keeping up the Christmas?’, meaning: ‘it is ten o’clock in the morning, with the day now in double figures, have you had a drink yet?’. Keeping up the Christmas conveys well the situation when it comes to food and drink at this time of year. Essentially the last normal meal anyone has is Christmas dinner, thereafter everyone just tucks into what is essentially a thinning selection of leftovers until it is time to supplement it with cheese, ham, pickle and of course, a constant flow of booze.
Certainly the Christmas season was extended this year. Thanks to the snow in December bringing postal deliveries to a grinding halt, people were still getting the Christmas cards and presents delivered in mid-January.
One of the odder ways in which a Christmas continuation manifests itself is the availability of Christmas branded stuff after Christmas. I’m not talking about actual Christmas leftovers, no, they are all reduced in price by about 75% and fly of the shelves as hoards of shoppers pick up cards, wrapping and baubles, baubles, baubles. What I mean is the ordinary stuff that, around Christmas time, is sold in Christmas packaging, cola being the prime example. In December the familiar red and white can usually sports a grinning bloke in a beard and this is all very jolly in the count down to Christmas. Mid-January though, when the vending machine is still spitting out cans decorated with bewhiskered old men, all it serves to do is to turn the January blues positively indigo.
This year much was made of the early appearance of Easter eggs in the shops. This was a good way of getting a lot of free publicity and was also excellent for those us who were going into chocolate withdrawal by 29 December after all the selection boxes had been emptied, chocolate coins cashed in and things were getting so desperate that one starts eyeing up the chocolate with nuts in it.
With Easter eggs being available in December and the weather in April sometimes including a festive looking dusting of snow, there is I think a justification for making novelty chocolate snowmen available at Easter.
Then again, perhaps the attitude to adopt to ensure a smooth transition from one religious holiday to another is to say sod the chocolate and crack open the sherry.
Labels: Advertising, Alcohol, Christmas, Coca cola, Coke, Cola, Consumerism, Drinking, Exploitation, Festive, Food, Sherry
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