This is quite usual… and wherever the flowers go… they will bring pleasure… something good out of a dark day.
Same at my lycée - pupils don’t get a vote though, Christmas lunch is fantastic. Our pupils are slightly older so perhaps pizza or pasta aren’t seen as so desirable. We get lovely interesting food all year round
Our buffets d’entrée and de fromage are wonderful.
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it could have been me you are referring too and I am still doing it !
You don’t have to wait until christmas. You can spend tomorrow building and decorating a hut in your garden, and then celebrate Sukkot with a bountiful dinner outside full of lots of fuit & veg and stuffed dumplings. Celebrates the end of 40 years wandering in the desert, which is why you decamp to a temporary shelter.
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Just wandering through this thread has got me smiling - so thanks for that.
and you’ve reminded me how time is flying…
… and the carol sheets aren’t ready for printing yet… almost, but not quite… aaargh
I’d thought there was plenty of time, so put them one side… now I’m in a pickle and things might well be a last minute rush… which I hate.
Ah well… if push comes to shove, we’ll have to re-use those from 2019.
Must think calm thoughts… there’s plenty of time… 
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I love Christmas! I’ve been the organiser of our, very good, artisinal Christmas market for probably 5 years now. We’ll be having regular meetings from here on in!
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we’re down to our last jars of mincemeat… bought a load in UK prior covid.
This Christmas we might have to ration the goût de noël… it’s very popular here…
oh dear, the neighbours might riot 
Wonderful thoughts can never come soon enough. I’m afraid @SuePJ may need to permanently mute me because I like to celebrate every holiday of every religion. 
Christmas can be enjoyed in every country in the world and is, I think, the better for spreading its message of peace and brotherly/sisterly love.
In Jakarta, world’s largest Moslem country, the Christmas decorations would include Disney characters in technicoloured everything.
In Manila Christmas begins in July.
In Hong Kong and Macau Santa is carefully prepared so that with a very minor adjustment to ‘accoutrements’ he can rather incongruously turn into Guan Gong (God of War and patron saint of police and triads!) for Chinese New Year, which closely follows Christmas.
In Singapore with added Disney characters and fake snow as temperatures melt candles at the equator.
Japan celebrates Christmas as more a celebration of happiness and romance with some rather unique touches - strawberry Christmas shortcake and the throwback WHAM’s ‘Last Christmas’ everywhere you go.
And then there is France…. How amazing is the huge Santons historic diorama set up in our village hall and church! Taking 2 weeks and over half a dozen volunteers to carefully erect hills and waterfalls and trees and houses and community. If you look very closely you can see some of the characters are up to something…
And in the church, on Christmas Eve during mass the baby Jesus is finally laid in his crêche…
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I like the way decorations stay in place across our commune… until the old folks christmas party is done and dusted… some time late january/early february…
makes everyone smile…
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Here in french catalonia the crêche has a figure with no trousers on having a pee, wellthat is what my DIL told me.
That’s " le ravi" who is the village idiot. If someone is a bit glaikit they can be called “le ravi de la creche”
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He stopped outside our house yesterday. He got out of his tractor and peed on the road behind it. He hadn’t noticed me in the porch.
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Indeed. Our muslim neighbours celebrate Christmas every year, which did surprise us at first. Perhaps not this year though, as they’re going back to Morocco to see family, and the parents are apparently a lot more orthodox.
Yes thats what my DIL has in the crêche she puts up every year.
Christmas has nothing to do with Religion… even those who detest religion will join in at Christmas… singing lustily…
Jesus is a prophet in the Muslim canon, Nabi Isa is his name so it may as well be celebrated. Not all Muslims celebrate even the prophet Muhammad’s birthday though (it was Friday night to last night this year acc to the lunar calendar).
Many Muslims think Christianity is ok seeing the 3 big monotheist religions are all people of the book (Ahl al-kitab) but that Christmas is a silly made up thing with an arbitrary solstice-linked date and a lot of syncretic Mithras influenced stuff. But there you are.
Of course loads of Arabs are Christian and there are Christians in lots of predominantly Muslim countries so they celebrate more or less discreetly depending.
Edited to add eg fine in Egypt when I was there, but probably tense now, fine in Syria and Lebanon, tense in Pakistan, fine in India, fine in Malaysia and so on.
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They may have a point. Wasn’t it handily timed to smoothly convert from the (possibly even more fun) of Saturnalia? And, is not much of what we enjoy today actually from German tradition, Saint Nicholas the festive pine tree et all?
Isn’t the point really that these celebrations bind people together in a happy dance that everyone (more or less) knows the steps to and joyous bacchanal of that thing we all love, food!
I may not have a correct viewpoint, and a Catholic French man did once admonish me for partaking of all religions “like a smorgesborg” but, I just look for the good and enjoy the companionship.
Of course, made up like all religions and frequently silly 