Smock referenced my annual rant about the too early promotion of Christmas in our stores. Well, it's time for the 2006 edition, I suppose.
First let me say that I understand that there are reasons for beginning holiday preparations early. I certainly attempt to spread my Christmas shopping out over several months, lessening the cash flow impact of gift-giving on any given month. I also realize that if you are mailing presents or cards overseas, especially to servicemen and women, that you might need to get your act in gear before December 1.
So, I understand the need for stores to begin stocking Christmas stuff early. Certainly, contrary to some-men-I-know-who-will-remain-nameless's ideas, Christmas does not spring, fully formed, into the living room without a lot of work before hand.
What I object to, however, is the wholesale, all-out, Christmas carol playing promotion of Christmas before Thanksgiving. Sure, put up your aisle of Christmas paper and decorations, WalMart. And Dillards, start selling your tiny houses that make up a Christmas village. JUST DON'T TURN YOUR STORE INTO A WINTER WONDERLAND AND DRIVE YOUR EMPLOYEES CRAZY WITH CHRISTMAS BEGINNING OCTOBER FIRST!
If I had to listen to Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer on Muzak for more than two solid months, I would become a psycho employee and plot to destroy the entire "North Pole Shoppe" section of the store with the dedication of jihadist. I think it's a wonder we don't read more about that in the paper as it is.
Anyway, the winner of the Mama T "Yes, I Know I'm a Grinch but Get Your Christmas Stuff Out of My Face" award goes to the Kroger grocery store near my house. I walked in to go to the pharmacy, and there I was met, right by the front door, with a table stacked FULL of Christmas cards. With garland wrapped around it and everything.
Sigh.
Stop it, people. Just stop it.
My daughter-in-law is already playing Christmas music if'n you can believe that. She says why should Christmas only be confined to twelve days? I felt like a Grinch saying that we should limit Christmas - it's like saying we should limit, oh, fresh air.
"Stop it, people. Just stop it."
Amen
I was thinking the same thing at the drugstore the other day.
And then yesterday iTunes slipped in some Christmas carols while shuffling music (it's a conspiracy!) and I didn't quite have the heart to turn them off. I do love those songs.
But I also love following the seasons. When Christmas stretches back to envelop November and October, then I don't get to properly enjoy those months in their own right. I like Advent. It's a great season. But it isn't Christmas. Its colors are purple and pink, not red and green. Its emotions are anticipatory, preparatory, not celebrator.
And I much prefer to stretch Christmas the other way, the way it was meant to be. (How many people are aware theat the twelve days of Christmas are the days after Christmas, between that and Epiphany (or Twelfth Night, as it used to be called)?