Taking A Stand: Holiday season lasts for months
Just six more shopping days until Christmas. It’s about time.
I think the holiday shopping season actually began sometime in early September as even then some stores began targeting the cash cow known as Christmas. It’s no longer the 12 Days of Christmas, it’s the 12 months of Christmas.
It seems like every year, Christmas season begins earlier and earlier. At its present rate, we’ll begin seeing Christmas lights in stores the day after the Fourth of July.
I doubt there’s anyone amongst us who hasn’t made the comment about how early stores are promoting Christmas. I mean, it’s fairly obvious when you walk in looking for a Halloween costume in late October only to find Santas and elves everywhere.
It begins a little less conspicuously sometime in September and October when you start seeing little displays of Christmas lights and ornaments for those who want to get a leg up on the coming holiday season. Then, once we get well into October you begin seeing the Christmas tree displays and the beginnings of complete Christmas sections. You also start seeing these empty spots in stores where a section has already been cleared out so the full-blown holiday section can be erected overnight.
By Halloween, all bets are off as it becomes overt. Never mind the old tradition of waiting until after Thanksgiving is done, it’s every man for himself. I don’t know if it’s elves or underpaid store employees who put these things up during the wee hours, but they tend to appear from nowhere.
Personally, I’m one of those old-fashioned people who likes to take it one holiday at a time. Give me time to digest my turkey and cranberry sauce before you start shoving yuletide joy in my face.
I mean, there’s only so much of Christmas people can handle. Starting the barrage so early almost burns people out by the time Christmas does arrive. Myself, I generally love this time of year, but really, it’s just worn me down because I’ve been hearing the Christmas tunes and seeing the Christmas colors for so long. It’s like a yuletide overload. If I hear Bing sing “Silver Bells” one more time or hear those dogs barking “Jingle Bells” one more time, I think I’m going to go berserk and start trashing Whoville like the Grinch.
I think it’s this overload which makes us all, seemingly every year, utter the phrase, “you know, it just doesn’t seem like Christmas.” I think the reason we get this feeling is that we’ve been exposed to the trappings of Christmas for over two months before Dec. 25 actually arrives. Come on, Christmas season runs almost as long as football season now.
I realize it’s all about the money. If I, for one minute, thought all this was just due to the Christmas spirit, I wouldn’t be writing this column. Now, I’m not going to knock anyone for trying to earn a buck, but it is a bit insulting to me, as both a consumer and Christian, to see the shameless marketing of Jesus’ birthday and to see it get longer and longer every year.
I mean, come on, what’s wrong with waiting until the day after Thanksgiving to start the Christmas assault? Most places, out of common decency, used to wait until the Thanksgiving table was cleared. I mean, it’s almost in-your-face crass to start marketing Christmas so early.
They say Santa comes but once a year. However, it appears he tends to stay for a couple of months like an annoying out-of-work uncle or something, arriving early and just kind of hanging around the house taking up space.
(Duane Sherrill is a reporter for the Standard. He can be reached at 473-2191 or by e-mail at [email protected].)