Christmas huh? Thanks, but I don't want to! Is this normal?

I'm standing in a drugstore, it's a busy time and the shelves are sagging under the weight of chocolate snowmen, plastic reindeer and elves with pompoms instead of noses!

I remember how we looked forward to the first Sunday of Advent as children. Only then did the boxes of decorations come out, the cookies started to bake, and the first candle on the wreath was lit. Advent had its own rhythm. Its own atmosphere. It was a time of anticipation – and that was what was magical.

Today? Stores will launch their Christmas offensive before All Souls' Day. We still have pumpkins from Halloween at home and someone is already stuffing fluffy Santas with the inscription in our baskets. Ho Ho Ho.

And you know what annoys me the most about it? It takes away everything that made Christmas a holiday. The magic. The intimacy. The calm before the storm. Instead: consumer hell from November to New Year's Eve.

I don't know if it's just me or if I'm just plain old, but... where did Santa come from? We had Santa. Quiet, mysterious, someone who just... came, when we were not at home (or were in the kitchen). No one was waiting for him by the chimney.

Now it feels like someone from abroad sent us a Christmas package and we honestly unwrapped it and accepted it – including the plastic, kitsch and aggressive marketing. Reindeer instead of carp. The North Pole instead of Bethlehem. Consumption instead of peace.

And I know – everyone can celebrate as they want. But it's not really about choice here. This wave will simply sweep you over, whether you want it or not. Try to find in the store today just beautiful Czech glass ornaments without a Santa Claus motif. Or gingerbread cookies that look like gingerbread cookies, not like some chemical co-production from Disney.

The classic Czech Christmas, associated with the Advent calm, Lent and the time of expectation, collides with the noisy, flashing and often superficial imported model, where the main character is Santa (who replaces Jesus) and the main content is the accumulation of gifts. The spiritual holiday becomes a dustless consumerism, as you aptly write. The pressure to buy the "perfect" gifts and decorations starts in November and creates stress rather than joyful anticipation.

Even during the First Republic, people complained about excessive consumption around Christmas. So the problem is not new. But now another one has joined it – pace!

The Christmas assortment in stores appears earlier every year. This year I saw the first gingerbread in October. IN OCTOBER!!! That's beyond common sense, isn't it?

The result? By December, we're all fed up. We can't hear or see the music, the decorations, the merriment. The very thing that was supposed to be beautiful becomes annoying - because we're bombarded with it three months in advance.

The magic wears off when you stretch it too far. Just like a cake: if you have it every day a week in advance, you won't be excited about it on your birthday.

Fortunately, there are still Christmas markets. And those – no matter how beautiful they are in commercial settings – still maintain at least some order. They open at the end of November, around the first Sunday of Advent. Not two months earlier.

I like going to them. Not for the shopping (although I sometimes buy something beautiful handmade), but for the atmosphere. The smell and taste of the bratwurst. The sound of carols. The wooden stalls. Seeing people walking around, talking, laughing.

This is not the same as mindlessly buying Santa decorations at the checkout counter in a megamarket in October. This is a meeting. And maybe that's why markets work – because they still have a piece of the original essence in them. Advent as a time, not a product.

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I can't change the marketing strategies of chains. I can't ban Santas. I can't order stores to wait until Advent to decorate. It's only November!!!

So:

→ I ignore the Christmas assortment in October. I just don't see it.
→ I'm waiting for Advent. For the right time.
→ I buy less, but better quality – I'd rather have two beautiful Czech ornaments than a plastic bag.
→ I go to markets – for the feeling, not for the purchase.
→ I keep my traditions – baking, decorating, silence, peace.

Because this is not a fight against Christmas. This is a fight for Christmas. For its true nature. For a magic that deserves more than three months of advertising hype.

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And I wouldn't trade my Santa Claus for any fat Santa. Not even for his entire reindeer circus. I think sometimes less is more. We have beautiful Czech Christmas traditions and I want to enjoy them — not be tired of carols and marketing pressure in mid-December and wish it would finally end.

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Write me down: Am I crazy? How are you? If you are a team „"peace and candle"“ or „"bells already in October"?

November Scorpios and Sagittarius Who Didn't Let Us Sleep