Were it not for Halloween’s growing popularity as an adult drinking holiday [Christmas displays] might have broken into October by now. – “The Most Wonderful Time of the Year”
It didn’t take long for my prediction to become a reality; last year I saw Christmas displays at a farm supply store two weeks before Halloween, and this year I saw them at Lowe’s around the same time. Stores that don’t carry Halloween merchandise have now broken the Halloween barrier, and even retailers like Wal-mart are inching past it in parts of the store, with full-on Christmas displays emerging on Halloween afternoon. Long-time readers know that though I love Christmas, I like seasons to be seasonal; part of what makes Christmas fun is that it’s a special time of year, and something that occupies a quarter of the calendar can hardly be considered “special”. Did you notice the color of my nails in the photo I posted Tuesday? Brown. For autumn, and for the browned foods of Thanksgiving. They won’t go Christmas red until my next visit to the nail parlor this coming Tuesday. And they haven’t been black since shortly after Halloween; no matter what the marketers may push, black is not the appropriate color for today or for any other part of the Christmas season. If you want to go out there and risk death, dismemberment or police brutality for a chance at one of an artificially-small number of low-priced bait-and-switch items hurled down by the millionaire top-management of “big box” stores like scraps tossed off the palace balcony to the starving peasantry, be my guest; I won’t be joining you. Though I won’t be spending the day out in the country as I have for the past 10 years, I’ll mostly be spending it with friends and I’m not going anywhere near a retail store. I will, however, be continuing one of my long-standing traditions: collecting toys to donate to needy children via the Toys for Tots program. If you live in or near Seattle and would like to help me in this effort, please email me; from now until the 18th I’m also offering a special deal for clients as part of that effort, and if you’d like to take advantage of that you can click here to get in touch with me about it. Christmas is what we make it: it can be a time to rush and stress, or a time to relax and enjoy; a time to let marketers lead you around by the nose, or a time to share what you have. I know how I’m going to celebrate, and as I do every year I invite you to join me. And if you see any Sallies ringing bells, please give them this with my compliments.
