One of my car radio presets for SiriusXM was on Yacht Rock for the summer. After Labor Day, it reverts to Love. Today it is Hallmark Radio. Christmas music. I did not like it this early.

It will be a while for that here (I think). First will come our local radio station's broadcast of Alice's Restaurant on Thanksgiving - twice. Once in the morning and again at noon. It's announced way in advance and has been a Thanksgiving tradition for years. Just a fun little thing I enjoy.

Gotta love your enthusiasm!

I can only stand Christmas music after Thanksgiving and only a sprinkling in between regular music. Last night and tonight I seen 2 houses with Christmas lights. Really! Our township isn't having Halloween till tomorrow. It was postponed due to the weather.

Nope, nope, and nope. Will not be turning on the radio for a long time. Went shopping in Wal-Mart on Thursday, all the Halloween candy isle was gone and replaced by Christmas candy?!!!!! I still have spiderwebs on the roof and bushes....

You have a radio station that plays real music - Wow!

I will be looking for such a station. Our cable channel that plays the fish tank will turn over to a fireplace and begin playing Christmas music until New Years. I won't tune in regularly until after Thanksgiving but I will be anxious to begin once the turkeys are all put away!!

Not for me, thanks...I was in Macy's yesterday and already their xmas stuff is starting to look shabby...no idea what it will look like by Dec.

When I was a little girl, the time before xmas was dark and more somber and it wasn't until xmas that the light and celebration began. We would often spend xmas eve decorating the tree in anticipation of xmas day. It seems to me it made the day and the days that followed that much more special.

Amy, I am with you, love Christmas music!! Yay for Magic 96!

I like Christmas music but I do not listen to the radio.

Sue

amylou....love your posts. Love your enthusiasm for Christmas carols. But....I like talk radio these days...lol

Because we start practicing a Christmas choral music right after Labor Day, I am tired of most Christmas music by Thanksgiving. We start our first choir practice with our first song, The Hallelujah Chorus from Handel’s Messiah because everyone already knows it from memory. Gets us going.

amylou, I love your stories. I wish I could visit your work place and see your works of art, your decorations. What fun!

Amylou, can you take pictures of your Christmas decorating for us to enjoy?? I know it's hard working with such downers (and selfish, not sharing any of their treats), but your attitude is terrific!!!!

I do not want to hear any Christmas music until December, but a couple of our stations start it in mid-Nov. I prefer it sprinkled in with the regular music but some play only Christmas songs.

Hubby and I listened to Holly a couple of years ago on a December car trip. We both enjoyed it which was a surprise to both of us, since neither of us are particularly into that music. But it was fun, on the trip.

I like Christmas music, the old carols, the familiar ones, instrumentals, but NO rap, rock and roll and such. I wince when "All I Want Is You" for Christmas or whatever it is. It plays over and over and over.

I don't tune into the radio at home, I find the Christmas music stations online. Can't remember which ones right now, but you have a choice of genre and there are few interruptions except for radio channel acknowledgement.

I'll wait until after Thanksgiving.

I don't mind it as I love Christmas music.

While I love Christmas music it is a little early for that for me. The only time I listen to the radio is in the car and that's tuned to the news highlights and traffic report.

There is a station that plays only Christmas music starting in December and once I've listened to the traffic report and know the best route to get to where I'm going I'll switch it over.

Sorry, Amy, I'm not ready to hear Christmas music until the day after Thanksgiving. I like to enjoy one holiday at a time. But, I love that you love it so much, I love the joy you take from Christmas music and I love that you have shared that joy with all of us. I will carry it with me for the rest of the day and I thank you for that.

I'm not sure what station it is, but we listen to a classic rock station that plays more modern versions of Christmas carols like Bruce Springsteen's "Santa Claus is Coming to Town", The Beach Boys "Little St. Nick" and Bobby Helms "Jingle Bell Rock."

No thank you! I can't imagine anything worse. I really dislike how Christmas takes over the last few months of the year, so early displays, early sales of Christmas products or stuff and early Christmas music really turn me off and I avoid them. Way too much commercialization - it is all about sales and the early intro of Christmas paraphernalia and celebration is just to get you shopping and spending earlier. That is not what Christmas is about to me and I do not wish to encourage it.

And I'm not a grinch :-) I like Christmas......but not before its time, which for me is not before mid December!

While I really do love your enthusiasm, I just can't bring myself to listen to Christmas music until December. Maybe it's because I remember Christmas as Annie does, and prefer to put up decorations in mid-December. When we moved to California almost 40 years ago, I found people put their trees up the weekend of Thanksgiving and was so surprised. Even now, I just can't do it!

You do sound like a hoot to work with, Amy. :) I'm sorry you have to work with Debby Downers who can't be cajoled into joining in with your efforts.

Can you share some pics? It’s too bad they don’t appreciate your effort. I haven’t heard any music yet but I’ve seen store displays for over a month now.

Sure! Ill post some pictures when it goes up! I posted some last year and this years decor will likely be pretty much the same. I wrap all the walls,the fridge, the file cabinets, and each ceiling tile is wrapped. All different papers. I like to use foil paper because the lights reflect off of it and sparkles. Lots of lights. Different kinds of lights. Lots of little Christmas doodads. Yes, I do have a leg lamp. And my boss mounted a projector for me a few years ago and i play Christmas Movies on it all month long....

I am gonna go try to find those pics i posted last year.

https://www.gardenweb.com/discussions/5558094/we-are-safely-in-december

Okay. This is the thread that has pictures of my decor from last year. I usually have all the lights OFF, but turned them on in some of the pictures so you can see some of the details.....

You get paid to do that? Who is doing "your" work while you decorate? Does your company pay for all the lights, paper, decorations? Your co-workers are expected to work in that environment? Oh, h*'ll no! I would walk out in a heartbeat! Call me Debby downer all you want, that is not conducive to MY productivity in the workplace.

I work alone 12 hours overnight. So I do my "own" work,as no one else is here to do "my" work for me. My work varies night to night,some nights its steady,some nights its completely dead. I put Halloween up the last saturday in September and Christmas up (usually) an Thanksgiving, as I usually work that night. This year will be the friday before thanksgiving. Friday and Saturday nights are painfully slow.

No, the company does not pay for the decorations, and I dont get "paid" extra to do it either. I get paid by the hour,no matter if I spend those hours sitting at my desk staring at the door waiting for work to come through it or if i spend them wrapping the walls. I do it because a lot of people enjoy it including me. Most people. Even the fuddy duddies enjoy the Halloween decor to a point,and everyone likes Christmas. I suspect that one of the fuddy duddies in question is just an old grump who likes to have something to *itch about, and the other is a drama queen who hates to have anything take attention away from her. At least they get into the free candy if nothing else. If I mention maybe NOT decorating, all the people who work with me try to convince me otherwise. Even the fuddy duddies, which makes their behavior when the decor is up even more baffling and frustrating! They ALL claim they LOVE it, but then they turn the lights on and hide stuff WHY? GRRRRR.

People that work for this company that I have never met before often call to see when I am working in October and December so that they can sneak their children in here to see it. They have heard(quite correctly) that you need to see it when I am here. Because i have all the decor up and working and looking like its SUPPOSED to when I am here. The president of our company heard about the legend of amylous Christmas decorations and came to see it 2 years ago and was absolutely thrilled by it. I was thrilled to get a personally written (by someone anyway) thank you note from him for "contributing to the companies efforts to raise and maintain the moral of its employees."

If someone were so offended by it that they walked out, everyone would probably be happy to see them go,fuddy duddies included. Even THEY are not THAT set on ruining so many peoples fun. That takes a special kind of miserable fuddy duddy and one I would hate to meet,let alone work with. There are benefits to being a lone night minion.

I can't imagine twinkling lights and wrapping paper causing a loss of productivity in a normal healthy individual. I have only heard of one complaint. From some shrew who doesn't even work in our office or anywhere near it and has no reason to venture anywhere near let alone come inside to cry about it. I dont remember her objection to it but when HR brought it to my attention I pointed out the Christmas is a paid company holiday. And if the hateful shrew has no objection to taking that pay and not coming to work that day, she should have no objection to people in other departments that are in no way connected to hers decorating for it. They agreed. There is always one rotten cranberry in the bag,doesn't mean you should cancel thanksgiving dinner.

She no longer works here, and no one is upset about it. No doubt she found a job throwing cold water on laughing children somewhere.....

Amy, I just love your verbage, you had me laughing at your wit.

I just checked your link from last year. I don't know how, but I obviously missed it at the time. W O W!! When you need to replace lights and decorations, be sure to do a shout-out on Freecycle/Craigslist or whatever you use. Then there's no money out of pocket :-)

Amylou, I hate to click the 'like' icon on your posts, because I seriously LOVE them! ! I love your enthusiasm, your joy, your sense of humor, and your ability to get a point across in a kindly and humorous manner.

I haven't noticed any Christmas music publicly yet, but I don't listen to the radio, except for the short time it comes on in the morning as my alarm. But I have been know to play Christmas CD's in the summer, especially in July & August when our temperature is often in the three digit range. I also have been known to have a Christmas themed wallpaper on my computer during that time. It kind of reminds me that the heat will end. For a couple of months, anyhow.

Thank you for posting pictures of your Halloween decorations! I love it!

Rusty

This is the site I go to every year:

internet radio for Christmas

Amylou...your posts are always like a breath of fresh air on here...keep them coming!

Whoop WHOOP! 2 more stations started the Christmas music today! This is GREAT, because the one that was playing it gets staticky when I get out of civilization so I could only listen to it halfway home. The other two are clear as day even in the sticks. Forgive me. This calls for memes!!!

WOW!!!!!!! That's a LOT of work! I know how much you enjoy it and how much everybody but your co-workers enjoy it, but a part of me wonders what would happen if one year you didn't do it. Maybe the co-workers secretly enjoy it and miss it if it wasn't there. Years ago I would put up an artificial tree in the family room and we would decorate it. One year I surprised everyone with a live tree in the living room. I asked each of the children (4) individually, what was their favorite gift that year and one by one they said the real tree! So, it began a tradition. DH would complain about the money spent every year so one year I decided not to buy one. Guess who was the first one to say "aren't you going to put up a real tree this year? Nope, not in the mood. Guess who went out Christmas Eve day and bought a real tree! He actually liked it but wouldn't admit it.

Georgysmom, some of them do love it. Its just a couple who, IMO, have an unfortunate personality type in general. But the main trait of their personalities is the utter enjoyment of having something to complain about. They ALL tell me they look forward to it, but when it goes up,its always something to whine about.

For example, their excuse for turning the regular office lights on,thus making MY lights look shabby is that they cant see the desk. (Lies, i can work just fine with just the decoration lights, and when their are NO decorations up, the main office lights are mostly off anyway, as we have LARGE windows that let enough natural light in that we don't need artificial light, except at night. The night fuddy duddy has exactly one light on at night during non decor times.(same as me) When the decorations go up, all of a sudden he needs stadium lighting to see 6 inches in front of him. ) But whatever, I accommodate. They claim that all they need would be a way to see the desk and keyboard, that's all. Okay,I bought a very bright desk lamp so that they can see the desk. Made no difference.

Last year, the day fuddy duddy made the comment that they were all sitting here one day and making note of how many times i repeated the same paper on the ceiling tiles the year before. (UTTER LIES!!) I told her she was mistaken. No, she said, there were at least 3 with "Ho Ho Ho" on the. Well, yes dear, its Christmas. It wasn't the same paper. I think she enjoys trying to get under my skin. I am proud of myself that i didn't ask her how many pounds she put on plowing through all the flavored candy canes i bought. That is NOT in the Christmas spirit, and i refuse to sink that low, as i know she has a problem with such things.

This year she apparently had a great deal of fun telling all the people who have never seen my Halloween decorations before that "they have been better, she scaled back this year." When they complimented on it. Its true, i did scale back a bit. But still, why say that to EVERYONE to minimize their enjoyment of it?!?!?!

My SO told me that i should let them decorate one year, and see how many people talk straight smack about how pitiful it looks compared to mine. (Because of course, if i were to throw such a tantrum, i would be extra petty and remove the truckloads of decorations i store up here so that they couldn't use them.) Perhaps i should. But that would take away a great source of joy to me. And besides, MY day person and my supervisor are into it and thoroughly enjoy it. I often prevail upon my boss to help with some technical matters, such as mounting my projector and he also often fixes light strings that go out and changes any bulbs that have blown as he sees them. He spent 2 days last year rewiring my leg lamp, as it stopped lighting up, and i just had a small string of white lights crammed in it to make it light up. Also, every year, he takes down one of each size ceiling tile so that i can precut the wrapping paper that will cover them, thus saving me hours on "decorating day." That is a huge help. So it is not ALL negative in here, and I TRY to focus on the positive.

SO rolled his eyes at me when I ordered a 20 foot tall inflatable snowman for the house. He is a bit of a fuddy duddy, having grown up in poverty with pretty sad Christmases. The first year we lived there he told me that i could decorate however i wanted, but he was not going to help. OK. Well, that year Alabama lost the Iron Bowl, and i was REALLY bummed about it. I worked the night that they lost. When I came home in the morning, he had not only set up the giant snowman he went out and bought some of those projectors that make Christmas pictures rotate on the house. I was so touched. He told me he was afraid that I would be so upset about Alabama losing that I wouldn't even want to decorate, and that i would regret it later. So sweet (but i think he really secretly likes that giant snowman,but wont admit it.)

'leg lamp' as in Christmas Story leg lamp?? Very cool!!

Oh yes! It's a smaller version, but a leg lamp no less! People really get giddy over it.

(Confession: I don't like that movie. At all! I just put it up as a tribute to such a classic, and because I KNOW so many people love the movie)

Amylou you should send your post above to the New York Times and maybe it will be published and resonate with Christmas decorators all over the world who like yourself are plagued with fuddy duddies. Realization that the FDs are like fleas, ubiquitous and irritating, may give them the courage and incentive to do what gives them (and most of their coworkers) joy.

Lucille would you believe I was accused of creating a fuddy duddy atmosphere at work one year!??! The reason for the slanderous accusations???? They had a "door decorating" contest one year for office personnel. And I crushed everyone so badly that they haven't had one since.

IN MY DEFENSE:

1.) My decorations were up and operational weeks before they conceived the idea for a cute little door decorating contest.

2.) I do not consider myself "office personnel" as we are not treated as such in any other instance and are officially under "production and operations" not administration.

3.) I did not enter myself into the contest. It was a DOOR decorating contest. Not a standard decorating contest. I didn't even think I would qualify! Again,we are NOT treated as office personnel. There was such outrage when people heard i wasn't being considered that they caved and came and took a couple blurry, crooked pictures of it to enter. (The announcement naming the winners was pitiful, you could see 2nd and 3rd place clear as day, you couldn't make out anything in the whole picture of mine!)

4.) This was the 5th or 6th year of me decorating. Anyone wanting to have a true decorating contest would certainly know what they were up against. They could have done just as well and better if they wanted to make the effort.

5.) I OFFERED to abstain from any future decorating contest I only asked that they put it in writing in the contest announcement that it's okay to enter. "Amylou has agreed not to enter to give the peasants a chance." That way ,I could laminate it and add it to my display. (Tee hee) Really though,I did say I would not enter just as I didn't enter this one. But they didn't go for it. They just stopped doing the contest. They only had it the one time.I hate a sore loser don't you?

Anyway,the tabbies that organized it were sure that I heard them mention my decor, using words like "tacky" "obnoxious" and "trying to hard." Well, yeah. I have 40 different prints of wrapping paper, hundreds of lights, and a leg lamp. I was not really going for subtle elegance was I? Lol!!!!

You have some serious mental issues! We need a block feature on this site!

Hmmmm, while I disagree with half your statement, I wholeheartedly agree on the other half. One guess which half is which....

Luckily in the absence of a block feature,people still presumably have to choice and ability NOT to engage in conversations that disturb them for whatever reason. Just a friendly reminder....

Amylou, you are gloriously different and I am glad you are here.

You have some serious mental issues! We need a block feature on this site!

I don't think Amylou has mental issues, but if someone did, it doesn't seem like it would be helpful to mention blocking to them. Mentally ill people are ill and generally need help, not criticism.

Amy - are you aware that some light patterns can give some people headaches, even migraines? That might be the reason that some want to turn on lights, they may not even be aware that it's happening but know they feel better with more lighting.

I love Christmas music! I have lots of it - including Bing! and Reba, Joe Diffie, the Statlers and more. I often start early and keep playing it months after Christmas. I love to listen to it while cooking, doing dishes, other cleaning. my car radio quit years back and I never replaced it, so can't listen to it in the car anymore. a local radio station here just announced the other day that their Christmas music has started.

Raye, I am absolutely positive that if the lights gave them headaches i would hear about it endlessly. As I said those people who whine LOVE to do so about anything and everything they can. So if they had a solid medical reason to complain they would without hesitation. They turn them on because they are fuddy duddies which is not a medical condition but a character flaw.

How do I know? For years there was an orange tabby cat named Joe at the facility. Some of us would let him in the office to sleep or hang out from time to time. The night fuddy duddy did not know this for around 6 months. When he found out,all of a sudden he feigned an allergy to cats. I still let the cat in. I do have an allergy to cats,a pretty severe one and simply took a Claritin every day. Didnt bother me.I told night fuddy duddy I stopped letting him in. Magicaly his deathly cat allergy didnt bother him anymore when he didn't think there was something to back it up. (He has 3 cats in his home now,btw. They belong to his grandaughter, who lives with him. This was a few years ago and he denies any of it happened) This man has had every joint replaced or tuned up in the years I have been there. And I JUST worked two of HIS shifts in a row because he got a flu shot and now thinks he's is on deaths door. If the lights gave him a headache, I would know about it. He calls me at least twice a week while I am at work to list his ailments.

The day fuddy duddy decorates her own home and was VERY proud of her tree which rotates and changes colors and has several different light patterns. She only makes snide comments about MY decor. As I said before,she has a difficult and undesirable personality that leads her to disparage others efforts for whatever reason. And that does not apply to just me or my decor. Anything positive or fun that any of us try to do she has something nasty to say about it. Its. WEIRD.

Besides, both of them declare they LOVE the decor and look forward to it and ask me when it's going up. Then it goes up, and the mood changes.....

Tell you what. I'll mention your headache suggestion to them. They probably just haven't thought of it,as it doesn't apply to them. The would LOVE another reason to complain. Even if it's a lie.

Amylou, I’m totally cracking up here because I can relate to your #1 fuddy duddy, the guy with all the ailments. Have known and worked with him, or maybe it was his ancestors since I am much older than you.

Angela ID, where did that come from? Mental issues?