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'Tis the season.....already?
It's November 21. Only 34 shopping days left 'til Christmas! (Unless you live in a place that still has "blue laws" on the books and the stores don't open for business on Sundays.)
In the past several years, I've noticed a rather disturbing trend.....the stores bring out the Christmas decorations earlier and earlier. When I was growing up, it was taboo for any store to bring out any Christmas decorations until the day after Thanksgiving. Santa's appearance at the end of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade was the official "kick-off" of the Christmas season.
This year, I saw a Christmas-themed commercial for a store -- I forgot which store -- two days before Halloween! That's much too early.
I can appreciate not wanting to wait until the last minute to go out and buy gifts, and avoid getting "shopping mauled" by the hordes of people out there doing the same thing. But for everything there is a season, and the season gets longer and longer. Pretty soon we'll be seeing Christmas items for sale in July, next to the back-to-school items.
Maybe I'm just jaded and cynical, but I fell the holiday has become overmerchandized, and it's one big long buildup until December 25. Then it's business as usual on the 26th. It's like inflating a balloon with as much air as it can handle without bursting, and then it's let go, making a thpffft! sound as it sails through the air while deflating.
In the past several years, I've noticed a rather disturbing trend.....the stores bring out the Christmas decorations earlier and earlier. When I was growing up, it was taboo for any store to bring out any Christmas decorations until the day after Thanksgiving. Santa's appearance at the end of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade was the official "kick-off" of the Christmas season.
This year, I saw a Christmas-themed commercial for a store -- I forgot which store -- two days before Halloween! That's much too early.
I can appreciate not wanting to wait until the last minute to go out and buy gifts, and avoid getting "shopping mauled" by the hordes of people out there doing the same thing. But for everything there is a season, and the season gets longer and longer. Pretty soon we'll be seeing Christmas items for sale in July, next to the back-to-school items.
Maybe I'm just jaded and cynical, but I fell the holiday has become overmerchandized, and it's one big long buildup until December 25. Then it's business as usual on the 26th. It's like inflating a balloon with as much air as it can handle without bursting, and then it's let go, making a thpffft! sound as it sails through the air while deflating.