Well, actually, they were here some time in early October. But most of us managed to ignore them at least until Halloween was over.
Now, though, the holiday sales machine is in full swing. Festive commercials are every, urging us to buy sweaters and jewelry for our loved ones before the first snow has even hit the ground. The Toys ‘R Us “Big Book” of toys was in my inserts the other weekend. (Remember how amazing it was to get that book when you were a kid? I spent hours pouring over it (and circling all the things Santa absolutely HAD to bring me, haha!))
Now, I love bargains, and I LOVE love Christmas, but even for me, this is just too much.
Not to be a grinch, but…
I am the kind of person who will haul all the Christmas decorations down from the attic the day after Thanksgiving and insist we put them all up that day. (I don’t do Black Friday, but that’s a post for another time…a time closer to the actual Black Friday!) I’m one of the few people in the world who actually likes it when the local radio stations start playing 24/7 Christmas carols. I listen to those carols, and I sing along at the top of my merry little lungs.
I am a huge little kid (is that an oxymoron?) when it comes to Christmas. Bring on the eggnog! Bring on the old Claymation holiday specials! Bring on the red Starbucks cups that everyone and their mom is apparently talking about online lately.
But bring them on the day after Thanksgiving.
You know when I knew it was officially Christmas time when I was a kid? When Santa Claus’s sled came out at the end of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. That seemed pretty clear-cut, right? The Thanksgiving parade was over, and Santa (the real one, of course) had flown down to NYC from his busy toy shop in the North Pole to announce to the world that it was officially ho ho ho season.
He did not sneak into Target in early October to start setting up the special holiday decorations section. He did not make a special flight down from The Pole to turn all the pumpkin spice lattes into gingerbread lattes a month before anyone had any real pumpkin pie. He didn’t tell the producers when he was shooting that “They are real!” M&M’s commercial (because clearly that was also the real Santa) that it was OK if they started airing it the instant the kids got home from trick or treating.
Because you know what that kind of stuff does?
It makes everyone…even me, who owns no less than 10 pairs of holiday socks and wears them proudly…get sick of the Christmas spirit before the turkey has even hit the Thanksgiving table. And that’s just sad.
How do you avoid getting tired of Christmas before it’s even Thanksgiving? And when you do think “Christmas” will start next year? (I’m guessing some time around Labor Day.)
~Heart,
Em
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photo credit: Monica Arellano-Ongpin
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I completely agree with you. I LOVE Christmas, but I can’t get excited until after I have had my turkey. If I start any earlier than that I get burnt out and I’m over it by the time the actual holiday rolls around. What is wrong with people? Are we really that desperate to boost the economy to start celebrating this early. What a damn shame!
Exactly! I hate it, because it ruins Christmas for people who are already not very Christmasy, and even those of us who try to hold on to that holiday spirit find it exhausting by the end.
What I find silly is, do people really buy into this “Christmas in October” thing enough to make it worth retailers’ trouble? It’s kind of hard to get all hyped up over a “holiday sale THIS WEEKEND!” when you know you’ve got like 2 months of sales coming up to take advantage of!
In Canada we have our Thanksgiving in early October…so it pretty much starts on Nov 1st right after Halloween!! Just like Lauren, starting so early really tires me out too that by the time Christmas rolls around, the build-up stretches for almost 2 months!
However, I am very excited for Black Friday…this will be my very first time taking part in the shopping frenzy south of the border! 🙂 On other shopping trips, I usually go shopping in Buffalo or the Premium Outlet mall in Pennsylvania….but this time i am thinking of visiting the Premium Outlet mall in New York. Em – do you have any advice on which outlet mall is better?
Oh, ugh. I don’t think I could stand that. (Although Christmas is probably going to creep closer to that date in the U.S. in only a matter of time!)
I’m actually not familiar with outlet malls in those areas, so I’ll throw this one out to the readers: Anyone have any tips for Sue?
I love Christmas – a LOT. I also listen to the all-Christmas-music-all-the-time station starting after Thanksgiving. I have been getting sucked into thinking about Christmas waaay too early this year. I feel surrounded – Target put out their Christmas displays in mid-October and my neighbor hung his Christmas wreaths a few weeks later.
Also, after two straight months of playing Halloween music (did you know there was such a thing? I didn’t!), on Nov. 1 the elevators in my office building switched to playing exclusively Christmas music. Help!!
Aack…there are 2 straight months’ worth of Halloween music? OK, I think you just found the one thing that could make me feel not so bad about early Christmas!