Retailers have been telling us that for weeks now. Isn't there supposed to be another holiday in there some place? Remember when the official kick-off of Christmas was the day
after Thanksgiving, with Santa making his appearance at the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade?
I was in Kohl's yesterday afternoon, and for a brief moment I shared a connection with two other women. We were all equally irritated that Christmas music was blaring over the speaker system. One of the ladies even commented that Halloween had barely been swept up. I was glad to hear that I wasn't alone in my thinking.
I guess we're lucky that a few stores have waited this long. Some retailers had Christmas merchandise out in mid-June.
As a crafter and artist, I understand craft stores getting holiday merchandise in before other stores. Crafters need to get a jump on things, especially if doing the show circuit. However, when I see Christmas merchandise in department stores (of which I'm in so seldom these days you can not even imagine), thrift stores, even the local nurseries (at a nearby nursery the Christmas tree lane was up two weeks
before Halloween), it does nothing to "warm my heart". The music just makes me angry. I do not want to hear about '
chestnuts roasting on an open fire' when it's still Halloween. Call me Scrooge, or the Great Pumpkin.
What has happened to Thanksgiving? Do those of us who celebrate it just do so quietly so as not to be noticed?
Do we need a reality check?
People have been talking about this subject for years. And it
is getting worse. We can't all be imagining things. The Christmas season starts earlier each year, but there seems to be little we can do about it. Even sustaining from buying doesn't seem to do much. I ignore it as best as I can. I don't look at the merchandise, I don't buy the merchandise. I'm still shocked when I see it arrive, but I don't buy in to it. I actually saw Easter stuff the other day (one store did that last year too). Who the heck is thinking about Easter now?
Even as people cut back from spending, afraid of job loss, or simply working to try and keep their mortgages paid and food on the table, retailers are still hopeful. The merchandise is there, ready, waiting. Enticing us to spend.
And we wonder why people end up panicky and stressed during the holidays. We're hit early and hard by advertising, reminding us about finding the
right gift (whatever
that is), and about all the people we
need to buy for (do we really need to buy something for our aunts husbands brother that we've met once?). We're mentally bombarded weeks in advance with music, decorations, commercials (I saw two Christmas commercials the day after Halloween), and ideas for having that
perfect family holiday (just a note - there is
no such thing).
People are starting to dig their heels in. Or so I've heard.
After listening to a local radio talk show a week or so back I was left wondering. At least about my own viewpoint. This very topic was discussed, but from listening to the callers I got the distinct feeling that I'm in the minority where women are concerned. Apparently most women view the earliness of the season as a time for nesting and making their homes warm and inviting. Men are labeled as Scrooges.
I'm all for warm and inviting, for hot cocoa and freshly baked cookies, but seeing Christmas in June doesn't do a thing for me. Actually, seeing Christmas in October doesn't do it for me either. I long for the days when holidays had their place. I
like Thanksgiving.
For me, no matter how many decorations and things are put out there to help us make our house a home, it isn't the store bought items that do that, or that necessarily make it warm and inviting. It's the people, the pets, the life, the love, the heart inside those four walls. That's what
really makes a home warm and inviting. That's what all of the holidays are about. But that's just my viewpoint.
A side note....There is one department store here in the NW that never puts up holiday decor or plays music until the day after Thanksgiving. Thank you Nordstrom.
You get it.
