The Lady Guide to Modern Manners: 15 November
Dear Thomas,
Am I right that Christmas started in the shops even earlier than usual this year? If only there were a campaign to stick to the 12 days of Christmas. But it’s not very clear when they actually are, is it? Can you give us some guidance on Christmas timings – when to send cards, put up the tree, etc?
Bee Sutton, Hazlemere
Dear Bee,
Yes, you’re right. In America, Kmart aired its first Christmas ad on 8 September. With my own eyes I saw Heston Blumenthal’s Christmas pudding-with-an-orange-inside-it on offer in Waitrose weeks ago. Not very attractive.
What’s to be done? Christmas is when retailers make most of their money. Huge for them. To be fair, the majority have the decency (or marketing sense) to wait until Bonfire Night is out of the way before launching their campaigns.
You could join The Movement For The Containment Of Christmas, but it appears to be a dubious organisation that glues up the locks of charity shops in Leeds for selling Christmas cards in September.
The pre-Christmas shopping rat race (‘20 shopping days to Christmas’) creates panic and hysteria and perhaps drains enjoyment from the festival when it eventually arrives. But it can be resisted privately.
‘Stir-up Sunday’ is the first date in your diary for Christmas, this year falling on 24 November, when you make the cake and Christmas pudding. Christmas cards bang on 1 December (never before December), it looks a bit too efficient for me.
Dispatching cards (if you do it and I hope you do) is in fact one of the biggest Christmas tasks. Friday 20 December is officially the last posting day.
It’s certainly not ‘last minute’ to buy presents the week before Christmas. You can wrap them in your bedroom on Christmas Day. But early shopping avoids crowds and gets it well out of the way.
As for food, my friend Alastair Hendy, the great food writer and stylist, always gets his turkey at closing time on Christmas Eve – splendid reductions.
Your Christmas tree should go up on Christmas Eve and not before. Apart from anything else it must last the 12 days of Christmas. You may display your cards beforehand, but they can only be strung up on 24 December.
Christmas Eve is not the first day of Christmas, as I’ve always believed. Christmas Day is, but that means that Twelfth Night is 5 January. Forget that: 6 January is Twelfth Night, as it always has been, even though it is really the 13th night. All decorations and tree stay up until then but not beyond or else – bad luck.
Please send your questions to Thomas.blaikie@lady.co.uk or write to him at The Lady, 39-40 Bedford Street, London WC2E 9ER
It’s the same on buses in wet weather in winter. This unpleasant old dog smell coming from wet coats. People don’t wash their outer garments enough. They don’t hang and air them properly either. Let alone brush them.
I went to Harrogate once. I’ve never seen such dry-cleaning and brushing. Every coat that went by was free of hair and fluff and looked as if just taken out of the packet from the cleaners.
Washing or dry-cleaning once a year isn’t enough. A lot of these anorak- type of jackets can be bunged in the washing machine and, made of nylon or whatever, dry in no time. Your best coat you may not want to dry-clean constantly (not good for it). But monitor it carefully. Airing will do wonders for the smell of exhaust fumes or smelly cooking if you get waylaid near a chippy.
Am I right that Christmas started in the shops even earlier than usual this year? If only there were a campaign to stick to the 12 days of Christmas. But it’s not very clear when they actually are, is it? Can you give us some guidance on Christmas timings – when to send cards, put up the tree, etc?
Bee Sutton, Hazlemere
Dear Bee,
Yes, you’re right. In America, Kmart aired its first Christmas ad on 8 September. With my own eyes I saw Heston Blumenthal’s Christmas pudding-with-an-orange-inside-it on offer in Waitrose weeks ago. Not very attractive.
What’s to be done? Christmas is when retailers make most of their money. Huge for them. To be fair, the majority have the decency (or marketing sense) to wait until Bonfire Night is out of the way before launching their campaigns.
You could join The Movement For The Containment Of Christmas, but it appears to be a dubious organisation that glues up the locks of charity shops in Leeds for selling Christmas cards in September.
The pre-Christmas shopping rat race (‘20 shopping days to Christmas’) creates panic and hysteria and perhaps drains enjoyment from the festival when it eventually arrives. But it can be resisted privately.
‘Stir-up Sunday’ is the first date in your diary for Christmas, this year falling on 24 November, when you make the cake and Christmas pudding. Christmas cards bang on 1 December (never before December), it looks a bit too efficient for me.
Dispatching cards (if you do it and I hope you do) is in fact one of the biggest Christmas tasks. Friday 20 December is officially the last posting day.
It’s certainly not ‘last minute’ to buy presents the week before Christmas. You can wrap them in your bedroom on Christmas Day. But early shopping avoids crowds and gets it well out of the way.
As for food, my friend Alastair Hendy, the great food writer and stylist, always gets his turkey at closing time on Christmas Eve – splendid reductions.
Your Christmas tree should go up on Christmas Eve and not before. Apart from anything else it must last the 12 days of Christmas. You may display your cards beforehand, but they can only be strung up on 24 December.
Christmas Eve is not the first day of Christmas, as I’ve always believed. Christmas Day is, but that means that Twelfth Night is 5 January. Forget that: 6 January is Twelfth Night, as it always has been, even though it is really the 13th night. All decorations and tree stay up until then but not beyond or else – bad luck.
Please send your questions to Thomas.blaikie@lady.co.uk or write to him at The Lady, 39-40 Bedford Street, London WC2E 9ER
WHAT TO DO WITH… SMELLY OUTER GARMENTS
I went to the doctor’s last week (nothing serious). There was a distinct fug in the waiting room. A bit of a whiff . The heating was on even though it wasn’t cold. Come on, NHS – you want to save money, so turn off the heating.It’s the same on buses in wet weather in winter. This unpleasant old dog smell coming from wet coats. People don’t wash their outer garments enough. They don’t hang and air them properly either. Let alone brush them.
I went to Harrogate once. I’ve never seen such dry-cleaning and brushing. Every coat that went by was free of hair and fluff and looked as if just taken out of the packet from the cleaners.
Washing or dry-cleaning once a year isn’t enough. A lot of these anorak- type of jackets can be bunged in the washing machine and, made of nylon or whatever, dry in no time. Your best coat you may not want to dry-clean constantly (not good for it). But monitor it carefully. Airing will do wonders for the smell of exhaust fumes or smelly cooking if you get waylaid near a chippy.