Lets start a petition to cancel the holidays

[Laura]

I don't believe we need to get rid of any holidays. I believe we need to add more or at the least actually celebrate the ones we have. Holidays are part of the human condition - it's important to have days to gather together, to celebrate, to remember, to mourn, or to just rest. I believe all non-essential employees should have off, and essential employees are given an alternative, flexible holiday day off instead.

I believe that our lack of holidays in America and our desire to overwork contributes to some of our biggest health problems negatively.

Also, I think that we need to have more "half day" holidays. Halloween should be a half day of work so that parents and kids can get home early to prepare for that evening, and then they should have off the first half of the day for All Saints Day (celebrating Catholics and Christians can go to church that morning; everyone else can recover from their sugar highs and get extra sleep).

I have no problems with "gift giving" holidays like Valentine's Day because it's nice to show EXTRA love and acknowledge on a day. Sure, I'm a girl, but I like giving V-day gifts, too. I buy my mom her favorite chocolate, I bake a favorite dessert for my significant other.

Also, if you don't agree with the message of the original holiday, celebrate something else instead. Columbus was a huge douche and I do not see a reason to memorize him, but I'd love to use Oct 12 as a day to go leaf peeping and drink some cider as a "Happy Fall Day".

[empirestate]

We really need to sort out Memorial Day versus Veterans Day here in the U.S. I always find it a little weird when people wish a happy Memorial Day to their surviving veteran friends and relatives. If anything, wouldn't you express to them how glad you are that the day doesn't apply to them?

You have the opposite problem on Veterans Day of course, but that's compounded by the fact that in many other countries, this date actually is reserved for commemorating those lost in war.

On a mostly unrelated note, late summer and autumn is a wonderful time of year for me holiday-wise, as it seems as though almost every holiday from every religion falls on a Thursday and/or Friday, meaning I don't have to move my car those days, sometimes for weeks at a time. 

[1995hoo]

....

Also, I think that we need to have more "half day" holidays. Halloween should be a half day of work so that parents and kids can get home early to prepare for that evening, and then they should have off the first half of the day for All Saints Day (celebrating Catholics and Christians can go to church that morning; everyone else can recover from their sugar highs and get extra sleep).

....

Why the distinction? The latter includes the former.

[Big John]

....

Also, I think that we need to have more "half day" holidays. Halloween should be a half day of work so that parents and kids can get home early to prepare for that evening, and then they should have off the first half of the day for All Saints Day (celebrating Catholics and Christians can go to church that morning; everyone else can recover from their sugar highs and get extra sleep).

....

Why the distinction? The latter includes the former.

Getting more off topic, but some more fundamentalist Christian sects don't consider Catholics to be Christian.

[NE2]

Dude. Some of the more fundamentalist sects don't consider Jesus to be Christian.

[vdeane]

Nah, just take your kids to the polls with you.  There's no law that says they can't be there, they just can't cast ballots.

[Laura]

....

Also, I think that we need to have more "half day" holidays. Halloween should be a half day of work so that parents and kids can get home early to prepare for that evening, and then they should have off the first half of the day for All Saints Day (celebrating Catholics and Christians can go to church that morning; everyone else can recover from their sugar highs and get extra sleep).

....

Why the distinction? The latter includes the former.

Getting more off topic, but some more fundamentalist Christian sects don't consider Catholics to be Christian.

Glad you pointed out my typo. I meant to say "Catholics and other Christians". Catholics, Anglicans, and Episcopalians are the only ones (as far as I know) that celebrate All Saints Day on 11/1. Methodists roll the holiday into the next Sunday. Many denominations don't celebrate it at all. Being someone who attends Catholic and Methodist churches, I had no intention of excluding Catholics from other Christians!

[DaBigE]

Glad you pointed out my typo. I meant to say "Catholics and other Christians". Catholics, Anglicans, and Episcopalians are the only ones (as far as I know) that celebrate All Saints Day on 11/1. Methodists roll the holiday into the next Sunday. Many denominations don't celebrate it at all. Being someone who attends Catholic and Methodist churches, I had no intention of excluding Catholics from other Christians!

Count Lutherans in the camp that celebrate All Saints Day the following Sunday. Depending on the synod, it may get bumped another week due to the celebration of the Reformation.

[on_wisconsin]

Cancel the Christmas season, never! For me it is one of the best times of the year. How people can get so annoyed over the upcoming season has always been something of a mystery to me.

Call me odd, but I even like going to the mall on the weekends in between Thanksgiving and Christmas, there is just so much energy and excitement. (Disclaimer: I ride the bus on days like that so parking is not an issue.)

[hotdogPi]

Christmas too early is sometimes annoying. Christmas at the right time is always good.

[DaBigE]

Christmas too early is sometimes annoying. Christmas at the right time is always good.

Agreed. I had to stop at Kohls this past Friday, and they already had our "favorite" songs playing on the PA system.   Granted, at least it was only in the range of one Christmas song for every five of their regular [overplayed] mix. Mid-November is when I could better tolerate the Christmas songs starting.

I don't really like to see the Christmas departments being stocked earlier and earlier, but at least those are easier to avoid than the music. Living in a colder climate explains it, but I don't really get into the holiday spirit until the high temps are 40 and below on a regular basis.

[PHLBOS]

I still have no school on Election Day this year.

Growing up in Marblehead, MA in the 1970s & 1980s; we never had a day off from school due to elections being held.  Either the state made a change since then or such varies by town.

[Brandon]

Dude. Some of the more fundamentalist sects don't consider Jesus to be Christian.

Um, he wasn't.  Technically, he was a Jew in what is now Israel.  The term "Christian" was not used until decades afterwards.

[PHLBOS]

Dude. Some of the more fundamentalist sects don't consider Jesus to be Christian.

Um, he wasn't.  Technically, he was a Jew in what is now Israel.  The term "Christian" was not used until decades afterwards.

To add, while the term Christian wasn't used until after Jesus ascended (post-resurrection); it was first recorded (& used) in Scripture in book of Acts (of the Apostles).

...The disciples were called Christians first at Antioch. 
- Acts 11:26 (NIV)

[kkt]

Nah, just take your kids to the polls with you.  There's no law that says they can't be there, they just can't cast ballots.

Yes, that's what we did back when we had in-person voting.  We took the kid, we took turns voting and staying with the kid.  Seeing the whole neighborhood at the polls is a good way to socialize the kid to the importance of elections.

[jeffandnicole]

Nah, just take your kids to the polls with you.  There's no law that says they can't be there, they just can't cast ballots.

Yes, that's what we did back when we had in-person voting.  We took the kid, we took turns voting and staying with the kid.  Seeing the whole neighborhood at the polls is a good way to socialize the kid to the importance of elections.

Oh, so then I shouldn't be selecting "Write-In" then typing in my dogs names?

Hey - at least I'm voting!!!

[PColumbus73]

Now that Halloween has come and gone, we'll get bombarded with Christmas Everything until we are red with anger and green with nausea!

[Scott5114]

Christmas too early is sometimes annoying. Christmas at the right time is always good.

Agreed. For me, November 30 is too early. December 1, go nuts.

[Duke87]

I am fine with Christmas season beginning on Black Friday although the madness that retailers pull on that day does need to stop.

The red, white, and green garland decorations over the streets went up in my neighborhood on Halloween. This is unacceptable.

The college I went to had a policy in the dorms that students were not allowed to put up any Christmas decorations until after Thanksgiving, and they had to all come down before we went home for Christmas break.
But I think this rule existed because the college was worried about Christmas lights and stuff being a fire hazard or a trip hazard, and while they weren't going to be total scrooges and say no decorating period, they weren't going to allow such things for longer than they had to because of the liability. We also weren't allowed to have candles. Or toasters. Or irons. Or hair driers!
One year we had a Christmas decorating contest between floors where we all went nuts decorating the hallway. Which was great fun until someone in charge of safety for res life found out we were wrapping Christmas lights around the sprinkler pipes. They made us take those down. 

[ZLoth]

Stores Nationwide Begin Holiday Season Early Despite Negative Reaction. In my not so humble opinion, the only stores who should have Christmas stuff available before November is the craft stores. However, I have been told, with the long lead times, stores end up running out of storage space and are forced to put Christmas stuff out.

[kkt]

I suspect those stores that run out of storage space and put Christmas stuff out right after Halloween are the same ones that complain about disappointing Christmas sales year after year.

[jeffandnicole]

Why do stores go crazy over Christmas this time of year?  Go into a Walmart/Target etc and see how much Halloween stuff they are trying to get rid of at 75% - 90% off.  People bitch that it's Halloween in October so don't sell Christmas stuff, but then they aren't going out there and buying the Halloween stuff either.

[english si]

Stores Nationwide Begin Holiday Season Early Despite Negative Reaction. In my not so humble opinion, the only stores who should have Christmas stuff available before November is the craft stores. However, I have been told, with the long lead times, stores end up running out of storage space and are forced to put Christmas stuff out.

Don't forget shipping to far off places.

We've had Christmas adverts for about 3 weeks, however the first was Furniture ("Don't Do This to Gran this Christmas", with her eating Christmas dinner off her lap) and it was only the beginning of last week that other Xmas ads happened (food store Lidl advertising stuff that would keep) and Debenhams (clothes department store, probably doing it early as they know that their main rival's ad is always big news). However tomorrow night is the big one - the John Lewis ad!

Saw some Xmas lights on Monday - a business right next to the tracks leaving Waterloo. With the dark nights, it's a good way to draw attention to your firm with so many people passing it daily. However, the business is a fairly local one, and the trains passing close enough to read are the long distance ones...

[roadman]

I still have no school on Election Day this year.

Growing up in Marblehead, MA in the 1970s & 1980s; we never had a day off from school due to elections being held.  Either the state made a change since then or such varies by town.

As I recall, you would get Election Day off only if the school was used as a polling place.

[PHLBOS]

I still have no school on Election Day this year.

Growing up in Marblehead, MA in the 1970s & 1980s; we never had a day off from school due to elections being held.  Either the state made a change since then or such varies by town.

As I recall, you would get Election Day off only if the school was used as a polling place.

Not in Marblehead.  Nearly all schools, including the ones I attended (Eveleth & Glover), were polling places on Election Day back then and were simultaneously open for classes.  The only change was that gym class, normally done in the auditorium in elementary schools, was done at a different location for that day.